Canada Day Parade returns

About three weeks after Pierrefonds/Roxboro's council announced it would cancel its annual Canada Day parade this year citing budgetary concerns and lack of volunteer participation, it came back on its decision this morning at a special meeting, dipping into its annual budgetary surplus to find the necessary $20,000 to fund it.

"Council did not want to cancel the parade," borough mayor Monique Worth told The Chronicle a few minutes after the decision was made. However, she added, the lack of participation last year had been a problem.

"If the parade is a success this year," she added, "we want to do it again every year."

Council had first made an announcement the parade would be cancelled after a Pierrefonds resident, Penny Michael, approached various media to inform them of the fact.

Afterward, she started a movement to reinstate the parade, gathering around 500 signatures on a petition that she deposited at the borough hall during a well-attended council meeting.

An agreement was made then and there between Michael, other parade activists, and councillor Bert Ward to meet and discuss the possibility of saving the parade.

"I asked them to come up with an action plan (during that meeting)," Ward explained, and they did. "It was very well-done, very professional."

In essence, Michael was able to gather enough commitment from various borough community groups to participate that council was convinced to come back on its decision. "I am very happy with the outcome produced by our efforts," Michael said, adding it was nice to see the borough keep an open mind.

According to Worth, the money from the budgetary surplus is kept for just such reasons as this—being able to dip in on a rainy day once the town's regular budget is used up.

Chronicle, file photo