Buhler expected to fund school hall

Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Friday, December 2nd, 2005
By Nick Martin

MILLIONAIRE farm implements industrialist John Buhler will build a multimillion-dollar concert hall at his hometown Morden Collegiate Institute, sources said yesterday.

Western School Division has scheduled a news conference at Morden Collegiate for Wednesday morning, at which the division says that an unnamed donor will make what Western believes could be the largest private gift to a public high school anywhere in Canada.

"I will be there. That sounds very interesting, but I'm not telling you I'm the donor," a laughing Buhler said yesterday.

"I won't confirm or deny -- it wouldn't be fair to them. You just have to guess (whether) it would be someone else," said a chuckling Buhler.

"I was born and raised there," said Buhler, adding that he made it as far as Grade 9 at Morden Collegiate before going off to find a job.

Sources said yesterday that Buhler will pay up to 90 per cent of the cost of a 600-to-700-seat concert hall to be built next to Morden Collegiate Institute.

"It's huge," said the source.

The provincial government does not pay any of the capital costs of school theatre or concert complexes -- the major reason that half a dozen campaigns around the province to build $5-to-$7-million public high school performing arts complexes have failed to get very far.

The Morden Collegiate Institute concert hall could accommodate choir, band and performing arts programs, and serve an area of 50,000 people that includes Winkler, Altona, Carman and Manitou.

Western School Division believes that it will be the largest private donation made to a school division in Canada, superintendent Linda Sullivan said.

It would surpass a recent $1-million bequest to a Nova Scotia high school, she said.

"The most we've found in Canada is $1 million -- it is larger than that," Sullivan said. "It is quite significant, the amount of money donated to Western School Division."

Sullivan said she has promised the donor she would not identify him or divulge any details about the project before Wednesday.

The owner of Buhler Industries, which has a large plant in Morden employing more than 600 people, John Buhler has become known as one of Manitoba's leading philanthropists.

Buhler previously donated $500,000 to a $5.5-million theatre now in operation at Mennonite Collegiate Institute, a private school in Gretna.

 

 

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