I was in Europe when I read e-mail rumors of a big announcement regarding the Canadian government and the Toronto International Film Festival. I assumed it was a much-needed injection of cash to complete the Bell Lightbox.

The TIFF Group has been struggling to drum up the final quarter of its $196-million capital campaign. With $49 million yet to be raised, Canada’s largest film-related cultural project faces an uphill battle towards its target opening date of September 2010, a slope made steeper by the worldwide economic meltdown.

Last October, TIFFG director and CEO Piers Handling told me ‘the last 25 percent is the hardest,’ and that what the Lightbox needed was ‘an individual champion’ to step forward and close the gap.

But no, the April 27 announcement unveiled a $3-million grant ‘aimed at attracting new film lovers to experience Toronto.’ Earmarked under the fed’s Marquee Tourism Events Program, the money is to be directed to the 10-day festival in September and not TIFFG as an organization. And, as a TIFF spokesperson put it to me, ‘They want receipts.’

‘All the organizations that get [MTEP funding] can only use it… for the event, not for operational costs,’ says TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey. ‘Most of us would love to, but we can’t use it to bolster the organization.’

According to the release, the money ‘will allow TIFF to grow its out-of-town public audience, diversify programming, improve service, sustain out-of-town delegate attendance, and increase awareness both nationally and internationally.’

How will that work in practice? How do you make a popular film festival more popular? According to Bailey, ‘You tell more people about it.’ He says that while most Torontonians are aware of the festival, there is room for growth in the road-tripper zone: potential visitors from out of province and the nearby states. In terms of overseas visitors, TIFF will be luring not just film journalists but travel journalists. Money will also be directed to sustaining delegate attendance.

Sundance and Berlin were noticeably affected by the downturn, and early indicators (gauging the number of Toronto-based journalists who are Cannes regulars but will not be on the Croissette this month) suggest that Cannes will be feeling the pinch. MTEP dollars will be directed to overseas TIFF regulars who might be thinking twice about attending this year.

‘We want to make sure the people who want to be here can come,’ says Bailey. Three million bucks will buy a lot of plane tickets.

What’s good for TIFF is good for Toronto, no doubt. And no arts organization can afford to say no to free money. But directing $3 million toward those 10 days and only those 10 days feels like a deposit on the ephemeral. (If the swine flu scare continues, that will be $3 million down the toilet.)

Among the other ‘marquee’ recipients of $1 million or more are the Shaw and Stratford theater festivals, the Calgary Stampede, the Montreal Jazz Festival and Quebec City’s Summer Festival.

None of these has the potential impact of the Lightbox in terms of building a year-round cultural destination. Toronto doesn’t need more visitors in September. It needs visitors year-round. It needs people to think ‘Toronto’ when they think ‘film’.

‘When TIFF launched 34 years ago, there were no film festivals in Toronto,’ says Bailey. ‘Now there are over 50. We have a year-round cinematheque. We have developed a sophisticated film audience. The city has changed in three decades. It’s more diverse, cosmopolitan. We can do a gala of a South Korean film and pack it out… We have to restrain ourselves from showing more Bollywood galas.’

The federal government has already contributed $25 million to Lightbox, as has the Province of Ontario. But seeing the grand public projects of Europe and the level of infrastructure investment – even in much smaller states such as the Netherlands – I could not help but notice the disparity between here and there.

TIFF can reapply for another $3 million for the 2010 festival. It would be nice if the government added a zero.