$8.3 MILLION FOR RECREATION PROJECTS

Another $260,000 for roof repairs at Shelburne County Arena

There was a full house at the Municipality of Barrington’s Recreation Centre for an $8.3-million funding announcement that will see a new recreation centre constructed in Barrington and a state-of-the-art track facility built at École secondaire de Par-en-Bas in Tusket, Yarmouth County.

The Municipality of Barrington will receive $6 million to replace its existing 55-yearold facility. The new centre will be connected to the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena and will include an indoor track and spaces for community use.

The Municipality of Argyle will receive $2 million to transform the track and field infrastructure at École secondaire de Par-en-Bas.

Shelburne County MLA Nolan Young and Argyle

MLA and Minster of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services Colton LeBlanc were on hand to make the March 17 announcement on behalf of the Department of Communities Culture Tourism and Heritage.

“As a government we are

focused on making a healthier Nova Scotia, making it a more even desirable place to live and visit,” said Young. “It’s more than about investment in facilities. It’s an investment in Nova Scotians, helping them stay active, connecting them to their communities and drawing visitors to our beautiful province.”

Overall, almost $14.5 million was announced for 19 capital infrastructure projects across the province, including $300,000 for the Digby Area Recreation Commission (DARC) to build a splash park.

“Our government, every single day, is majorly focused on fixing health care and investing in spaces like this for people to be active and to live healthy and active; all part of overall well-being," said Minister LeBlanc. "We know that healthy people are a foundation for a healthy province and a healthy province is the foundation of a healthy economy and a strong economy.”

Barrington Warden Eddie Nickerson said the funding is a welcome announcement that will impact the municipality for generations to come.

"We believe we have produced a design that is accessible, inclusive and energy

efficient, ensuring all our residents will be able to continue to enjoy health and social benefits for years to come,” he said.

A new recreation centre has been on the municipality’s radar for several years now.

With this announcement there is no hesitation in building this building,” said Warden Nickerson, adding that once the tender packages are finalized, “We will strike while the iron is hot.”

The track and field project at École secondaire de Paren-Bas includes the paving and professional synthetic surface of a 6-lane competitive track with an eight-lane, 100-metre dash accessible to all competitors. The field events will be reorganized to better suit the needs of the track and field community.

The facility will have the capacity to host a variety of competitive events such as shot put, discus, javelin, high jump, long jump, triple jump and the addition of the steeplechase water pit.

The improvements to the facility will meet the needs of the local and regional track and field community in southwestern Nova Scotia, said Minister LeBlanc.

“Athletes from our area will no longer have to travel to a facility that meets their needs. That’s what’s really important here… these are all investments in our communities. They bring people together, they bring Nova Scotians together and allow Nova Scotians to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Argyle Warden Danny Muise said his municipality is “more than excited.”

“This track and field (facility) has been built for a number of years but we only

had so much money and we couldn’t build it the way we wanted. This is great news, a state-of-the-art track that will allow various organizations to use, it’s important to runners and active living in our community,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for the announcement, now the work begins to see who we hire. There’s only a small number of contractors that can do that type of finishing for the track. The work starts now to get it going.”

The Digby Area Recreation Commission (DARC) celebrated their funding for the splash park at a cheque presentation on March 19 with Digby-Annapolis MLA and provincial cabinet minister

Jill Balser, along with representatives from the Town and Municipality of Digby.

“We are all beyond excited and grateful for this amazing contribution from Communities, Culture, Tourism

and Heritage,” said Sharon MacAlpine. DARC recreation director.

“The Splash Park Committee is a small and passionate group of individuals who had a vision and determination to build a splash park for our community, which seemed like a “pie in sky” kind of idea, considering the expense of building one,” she said. “However, one successful fundraising initiative after another, the spark and energy for this just grew and grew and as result $190,000 was raised in less than two years. Our application was recently submitted to the province and we hoped it would bring us closer to our goal. Never did we imagine we would receive the full funding.”

MacAlpine added that $30,000 in contributions towards the project from the Town and Municipality of Digby also “really ignited the project.”

In another funding announcement on March 16, the Shelburne County Arena was one of 14 community rinks across the province to receive funding for critical upgrades. The Shelburne arena will receive $260,000 for roof repairs.

Also included in that $18.3-million funding announcement was nearly $8.2 million to the Canada Games Complex at Cape Breton University for a dedicated hockey hub for women and girls.

“Increasing access and equity in sport is a big focus of ours. Giving people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities a chance to be active is critical to building a healthier province,” said Pat Dunn, Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage in a media release. “These investments will help rinks across the province provide even more opportunities in their communities.”