Another Ottawa Festival Robbed

ik - remember what happened to the Ottawa Jazz Festival a few years ago?

Franco-Ontarian festival facing bankruptcy
Last updated Dec 2 2005 08:38 AM EST
CBC News


One of Ottawa's longest-running festivals, the Festival franco-ontarien, is on the verge of going bankrupt. The festival filed for bankruptcy protection a couple of months ago after discovering $380,000 was missing from its bank account.

The RCMP is being asked to investigate the company that was hired to run the festival.

For 30 years, the festival has been showcasing the province's francophone culture. Then, four years ago, the board of directors hired Cobalt Events to run the event.

After last summer's festival, Cobalt closed its doors and disappeared.

The festival was left owing creditors about $280,000, and the board of directors discovered that $380,000 had been withdrawn from the festival's account.

To protect the festival, they filed for bankruptcy protection.

The bankruptcy trustee, Claude Gingras, has asked the federal bankruptcy superintendent to call in the RCMP to investigate.

"The situation right now looks bad, doesn't smell nice, it's something that has to be looked at very closely," Gingras says.

Gingras is still waiting for an answer from the RCMP. On Friday, he is asking a court to extend the bankruptcy protection. If it doesn't, the festival will be bankrupt.

However, there is a move to organize a different festival for franco-Ontarians.

Festival promoter Graham Fox says the demand is there.

"There is this great desire from the community to see another one. I mean this festival has been acting as a gathering place for the community for 30 years," Fox says.

However, Fox and other organizers would be starting from scratch, both in terms of building a reputation and attracting funding.