Thank you.
Obviously we would want to be very careful in any response we make in thinking about how government can encourage donors to step up to the plate. I will start with that one. It's finding the right balance for government not to be seen as abdicating what citizens might think are its responsibilities--in other words, pushing too much to the community. Having said that, I think one of the things the Government of Canada could do, and there are examples around the world where this happens very effectively, is work with community organizations such as the United Way/Centraide, or community foundations, for example. They are actually far better grant makers, far better at giving out money, than governments are because we actually know the communities, we know the players, we know the issues.
That kind of a partnership with a local grant-making entity like a community foundation is a very effective way for the resources that government may have to be distributed in a community. The community foundations, like the Hamilton Community Foundation in the Hamilton example, work through processes that we know around convening, bringing groups together, having them at the same table, having the conversation about the distribution of those resources, and really trying to minimize that competitive atmosphere that you've described.
This will not be a surprise to you, but on the competition I've suggested that when resources are scarce--and what governments have provided for community organizations has been scarce--we see more competition.
Some of it is just about making more resources available in better kinds of ways. I've already mentioned some of those. I would also suggest that you consider partnering with local grant makers who really know their communities and how to distribute the resources.