Oshawa aid groups struggle for funding in wake of GM collapse

Some of Oshawa's community aid agencies will find out Monday how much they can expect to get — if anything — in new grants from city coffers this year.

But as the city struggles to cope with the impending GM closure, those charitable groups are being warned not to get their hopes up.

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"You're seeing a bit of a tightening of the screws," Coun. Brian Nicholson, vice-chair of the city's finance committee, told CBC Toronto. "We simply do not know where we're going to stand in the next 10 to 12 months with the GM situation. And that is a major hit for us, any way you cut it. You're talking about $8 million just to our taxes, just from General Motors alone."

Late last year, GM announced it would be closing its assembly plant in Oshawa, throwing almost 3,000 people out of work.

The city's finance committee meets just after noon today, and one of the items they'll be discussing is the 2019 partnership grants to some of the city's charitable and cultural groups.

Of the 19 agencies that applied for those grants, staff are recommending that only one — an urban farming advocacy group called We Grow Food — be approved.

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter said the apparent stinginess is a routine part of the process, because staff have strict guidelines that must be met before a request is approved.

Carter said some of the staff rejections will be overruled by local politicians at the finance committee, or, later, by city council.

Nicholson agreed that's the case. But he said he also expects that with such a drastically reduced pie this year, all entities that rely on city funds should be ready for some belt tightening — including aid and cultural agencies.

"I think they may be a little bit harder on the grants this time because we are facing the potential of a massive hit," he said.

Nicholson said GM provides the city with about $8 million annually in property taxes.

• GM plant in Oshawa, Ont., to shut down

But since the city has to tighten its belt, he said, local organizations may be asked to sacrifice too.

That's a prospect that Sandra McCormack finds "discouraging and disappointing."

She's executive director of an Oshawa women's shelter called The Denise House — one of the 18 groups staff recommended should not be receiving a partnership grant.

The shelter provides a safe place to stay and support services for about 250 women and their children every year.

She has asked the city for a one-time $5,000 partnership grant. Partnership grants, as opposed to anchor grants, are usually given to groups that can't find funding elsewhere and are not meant to be ongoing.

The $5,000 "will provide a warm bed, bedding, emergency clothing, food, for a number of families on a monthly basis," McCormack said. Without that extra money, "it will be a challenge."

Up the street, at the Canadian Automotive Museum, executive director Alex Gates has also applied for a partnership grant. Although the $5,000 he has asked for would make up a small portion of his budget, he is also counting on councillors to overturn staff's recommendation to deny the museum a grant.

"It's still important for us to do what we do here and tell the story of both Oshawa and the Canadian automobile experience," he said.

Both Gates and McCormack say they plan to attend Monday's finance committee meeting where they'll try to convince councillors to overturn the staff decisions.