Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to congratulate the City of Belleville on winning the grand prize for the Kraft Heinz Project Play.
Belleville will receive $250,000 towards its Field of Ability, which will modify Parkdale Veterans Park diamond into a fully accessible ballpark.
The Field of Ability will sport a rubberized surface and accessible dugouts, as well as improved fencing, parking and paved pathways to provide barrier-free sporting grounds. It will be home to our Challenger Baseball League, open to persons of all ages with cognitive or physical disorders. The Field of Ability will also be the first of its kind in the Bay of Quinte riding and in all of the surrounding regions between Ottawa and Toronto.
Earlier this year, when I attended a local fundraising event for the Field of Ability, the goal of raising $700,000 for this project seemed further afield than most of us would have liked. But through Project Play, we are now halfway to our goal of building it, so that more people will be able to play.
I give a big thanks to all the community volunteers behind this project.