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“Your government is now being unresponsive to the requests that have been made. These projects are in jeopardy without an immediate commitment by the federal government to honour the terms that were negotiated,” Deputy Premier Gord Wyant and Government Relations Minister Warren Kaeding wrote in the letter.

Saskatchewan’s government has been calling on the federal government to transfer money from a $308-million pot initially intended for transit projects, largely in Regina and Saskatoon, to pay for recreation needs in the big cities. Wyant and Kaeding say that will free up $56 million for culture and recreation projects for 800 other communities across the province to draw upon.

If Ottawa doesn’t give in, Wyant said the province will have to make some tough decisions about its own contributions to the projects in Regina and Sasktoon.

“It’s quite likely that the province would not fund the projects out of the community and cultural recreation stream without a reallocation,” he told the Leader-Post on Tuesday.

He worried that funding big city infrastructure through the existing system would leave the cultural and recreation pot dry, creating “a significant unfairness for the rest of the province.”

But Goodale disputed that argument. He noted that the federal government’s commitment is 40 per cent for each project, with the rest coming from the province, municipalities and other project proponents. That adds up to just $21 million in federal funds if urban projects valued at $52 million go forward. It would leave plenty of federal dollars in the $56 million culture and recreation stream, he said.