$3 million for new Silver Heights/Sturgeon Creek Amalgamated Community Centre

September 11, 2009

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Honourable Steven Fletcher, Member of Parliament for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia, applauds the joint $3 million investment by the Government of Canada and Province of Manitoba to invest $3 million in St. James for the construction of a new Silver Heights/Sturgeon Creek Amalgamated Community Centre.

“Today’s $3 million investment in the Silver Heights/Sturgeon Creek Amalgamated Community Centre is part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan” said Fletcher. “This investment will mean jobs for our community in the near-term while delivering first class recreational facilities for our community for the long-term. I would like to thank City Councillor Scott Fielding and MLA Bonnie Korzeniowski for your leadership on this project. It has been a pleasure working with you to make today’s announcement a reality for our constituents.”

“This is an exciting day. The project will be meeting a great need in our community” said Bonnie Korzeniowski, MLA for St. James. “It has been a pleasure working with all levels of government as a team in the best interest of our children’s health and safety.”

Silver Heights and Sturgeon Creek Community Centres will be amalgamated into a single new facility at the Sturgeon Creek site, with a focus on a regulation-size gymnasium. This project responds to the general community centre purpose, which includes:

• Communicating with the community to determine programming needs
• Providing relevant programming for all ages
• Promoting and offering grassroots youth sports

By amalgamating facilities, the community centres plan to:

• Replace aging facilities with a new, energy efficient facility
• Combine resources (funds, staff, equipment, etc.) to address sustainability
• Remove duplication of programming, volunteer positions, etc.
• Provide the first regulation sized gymnasium in the Assiniboia Community Centre District.