Uh oh, is the cash still coming our way?

Toronto Star recently reporting that the big $500 million pegged for waterfront development may not all get to the project.

The Star picks it up:

The federal government may be unable to spend all of the $500 million it has committed to the overhaul of Toronto's waterfront before it lapses, according to an internal report obtained by the Toronto Star.

Nearly $200 million is at risk, the report warns, because of unrealistic timelines, too much legal caution and the shuffling of federal responsibility for the project through six ministries since 2000.

A March 31, 2011 funding deadline is fast approaching and if it isn't met, the blame will be on all three levels of government, who have collectively turned 800 hectares of environmental contamination into a bureaucratic wasteland, said the June 2008 report, released only now to the Star under the Access to Information Act.

It's no secret that things have taken a long time to get rolling on this waterfront development. It was November 1999 when the city, province and federal government announced the landmark agreements. It was so long ago we're talking Lastman, Harris and Chretien.

The city has a chronology here which just shows how long things have taken. We think that things have speeded up considerably in the past few years and the plans for the Queens Quay redevelopment seem on track, if not still needing approval by the city later this fall. Sure, we've got the Spadina Wavedeck and the other wavedecks should be completed this summers. And yes, the East Bayfront project is well under way.

In short, it's laudable that Waterfront Toronto's got its act together, but it would be a tremendous shame that the fact it could have the rugged pulled out from underneath them because it took a long time to get started.