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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013• MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Lali named in NDP slush fund scandal By Craig Lindsay THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
Steele resolve for Walk of Stars show Country musician Duane Steele played to a crowd of about 70 people at the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame fundraiser on Saturday at the Merritt Desert Inn. The fundraiser comes on the heels of some behind-the-scenes changes that hall directors hope will secure more funding. Emily Wessel/Herald
By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Some behind-the-scenes changes at the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame are expected to create more opportunities for the facility’s funding, directors say. “Once things are ready to rock and roll, the federal Canadian Country Music Heritage Society will be charged with operationalizing the Country Music Hall of Fame,” Hall of Fame volunteer director Rob Miller said. “We’ve got a new business plan, we’re going to have the revised website ready shortly, and open for the summer. The biggest thing is getting
some programming in there to make sure it’s engaging for people and they have a reason to return.” The Merritt Walk of Stars Society will become a subcommittee of the Canadian Country Music Heritage Society, which will take over Walk of Stars activities and operation of the Hall of Fame. “The intent is to have this thing open year-round,” said Miller. “Right now, we’re just finalizing a website and doing all these things that will be used to generate more corporate sponsorship and support that will pay for ongoing operations. We’re also looking at national sponsors that have
deeper pockets and would align themselves more appropriately with a national facility like this.” Until more sponsorships are secured, money around the Hall of Fame is tight, but the group is working on improving it, director Ron Sanders said. “It’s a funding issue,” he said. “We’re still working on getting more material for inside so it’s not so static. We’ve worked with the National Music Centre, which will help us put stuff in there. We had a lot of momentum a few years ago and we’ve hit a few snags, but we’ll get it going again.” The Hall of Fame is staffed
primarily by volunteers, which Sanders said the society will put a call out for in the next few weeks leading up to its expected opening for the summer in mid-May. The changes come on the heels of $1,900 raised for the Hall of Fame at a steak dinner and performance fundraiser on Saturday. Red Deer-based country musician and Walk of Stars inductee Duane Steele said supporting the Hall of Fame was an easy decision. “I think the heritage of the arts is very important and I think this is a big part of that to sustain its legacy,” Steele said. About 70 people attended the event.
Fraser-Nicola MLA Harry Lali is once again in hot water over a scheme that saw money for local constituents funnelled to a central partisan slush fund. A Liberal press release from March 13 stated a report from the Auditor General found “funds accruing to this account were being used for partisan purposes and not for goods or services consistent with the original purpose of the constituency office.” “The concern is that money that was targeted for constituency offices was sent to Victoria and put into a slush fund for the NDP to use for items that weren’t local,” said Jackie Tegart, B.C. Liberal Party candidate for Fraser-Nicola. “My concern, of course, is that the dollars that go into the constituency office are dollars that are targeted to service the constituency and the people within it. I don’t think it’s appropriate to send money to Victoria for other purposes.” The alleged scheme involved over $460,000 from NDP constituency offices across British Columbia being diverted to conduct political outreach for the B.C. NDP. Tegart said the NDP took $200 from each of 36 NDP MLAs per month and gathered it in Victoria. “So those dollars weren’t available to deal with local issues, which is what the purpose of the constituency fund is,” she said. “The Auditor General indicated that there were concerns about that and whether that was an appropriate use of the money. There’s certainly been a call for an investigation into whether that’s an appropriate use of targeted dollars for constituencies. The bottom line is you’re given a certain amount of money to serve the people within the area you’re elected. We really believe that money should stay in the local constituency and that’s not what’s happening, obviously.” Calls to Harry Lali’s office werer not returned as of press time.
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