Capital Pride cranked up the political pressure on council before finally paying its permit fees for this weekend’s events.

The organization sounded the alarm Thursday night that it was running into red tape because the city wanted $15,000 in permit money.

At that time, organizers were still waiting for sponsorship money to come through.

Pride communications vice-chair Brodie Fraser said Friday the festival is now all paid up and the parade on Sunday is a go.

Fraser said there was money in transit to Pride and the funds arrived Friday, so organizers could pay the city.

There was no real threat that the parade would be cancelled, he said.

Deputy city treasurer Ken Hughes confirmed Capital Pride has met its funding obligations to stage the event.

An e-mail Fraser sent to council Thursday night made the fee issue sound dire.

The organization wanted the city to postpone the fee deadline until after the festival to give the necessary time for sponsor money to arrive.

“As you know, the Pride Festival is a major event for the City of Ottawa and is a highly sensitive politically-charged event,” Fraser wrote in the e-mail council obtained by the Sun.

“I feel that the negative media surrounding the cancellation of this event would look very poorly upon our wonderful city, especially in these times where members of the federal cabinet, including the prime minister, have stepped forward in defence of gay rights worldwide.”

The Capital Pride parade on Sunday begins at 1 p.m.

It will start at Gladstone and Bank streets, travel north on Bank St. and turn right on Laurier Ave. en route to City Hall.

More information about the annual festival can be found on the Capital Pride website.

jon.willing@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @JonathanWilling