From The Daily Graphic, One of the best editorials I have read in a long time.

The road to a new multiplex on the Island in Portage la Prairie has had more than its share of ups and downs — not including the major heave in the Crescent Lake bridge.

Ratepayers of the city and rural municipality have been on a rollercoaster ride, particularly lately. The latest high was Monday’s pep rally/sod-turning ceremony at the construction site on the fairgrounds. All three levels of government were caught up in congratulating each other, as well as local native leaders, on all of their efforts to this point.

Congratulations for what? While it is good to fully secure the federal and provincial contributions to the project, the city, RM and Portage Recreation Committee still don’t have all of the funding in place. The $5 million the committee was counting on from the federal government is actually just $3.3 million. (Although, it is important to note, it usually takes many years to get any federal funding and that time was much reduced.) The Doer NDP government has now officially confirmed it will fulfill its election campaign promise of $5 million, even though not all of it will be matched by the federal Conservatives.

The $3.3 million (federal) + $5 million (provincial) + $16 million from the city + $8 million from the RM + $1.1 million in corporate sponsorships for naming rights = $33.4 million. That’s still $2.3 million short of the project’s estimated $35.7-million tab. Plus, judging by the web poll question at thedailygraphic.com, more than 85 per cent of respondents say they will not be making a personal financial contribution to the multiplex. In a story in The Daily Graphic on Aug. 15, the mayor said he is confident the individual donations will pour in once construction gets underway and the excitement starts to build.

Perhaps, but there are some things the municipal councils are going to need to address if they have a hope of swaying public opinion to the positive:

1. Sign the lease agreement already. It has been well over a year since the fairgrounds was chosen as the site of the new multiplex. Some site preparation has already begun — to the detriment of the Potato Festival’s charity slo-pitch game, it should be pointed out — and yet the city and RM don’t have the official right to do anything on that land yet. In their hurry, the municipal officials aren’t getting all of their ducks in a row.

2. Stop calling and then cancelling special council meetings. There has been too much of that lately. And, the RM should be following the same protocol for informing the public about special meetings as it does for its regular meetings. Send out an agenda to local media, just as the city council does. Putting a notice up on the municipality’s website alone looks like it has something to hide, even if it doesn’t. All of the false starts on approval of tenders and the lease agreement serve to make the councils look disorganized at best. And that’s not good when so much taxpayers’ money is on the line.

3. Communication. It can’t be stressed enough that more needs to be done to keep the city and RM residents up-to-date on the project, including pre-emptive explanations for the delay in the land-lease agreement. What is the particular wrangling that is taking the lawyers so long? The less information Joe Public has, the more likely he is to fill in the details for himself.

This multiplex will be a great venue for Portage once it is built, regardless of its location. The people it will draw to this city and the recreational opportunities it will provide are numerous. The city, RM and PRC just need to get their collective act together.

Clarise Klassen is the managing editor of The Daily Graphic.