SUPPORT ONTARIO’S FESTIVALS and events
To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
WHEREAS Ontario’s festivals and events bring people together and offer significant economic, social, cultural and tourism benefits for the province;
WHEREAS safety and security costs required to deliver these public events have increased significantly in recent years;
WHEREAS festival and event organizers are often forced to face growing costs alone, with some allocating up to 30% of their spending toward safety and security measures;
WHEREAS many festival and event organizers have faced challenging decisions to reduce or cancel programming aspects altogether in order to absorb other costs;
WHEREAS the tragedy at Toronto’s Salsa on St. Clair festival has underscored the importance of investing in public safety at community events;
We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:
That the Government of Ontario establish a one-time security funding program to assist Ontario’s festivals and events to purchase physical security infrastructure; and
That the Government of Ontario create a more robust operational funding framework to support festivals and events as they face significant cost increases due to security requirements, such as dedicated funding streams for festival and event safety and security initiatives; and
That the Government of Ontario support shared regional security assets that can be utilized by multiple festivals, municipalities, and community organizations.
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