cp24.com

Federal Small Business Minister Diane Ablonczy announces a $400,000 grant to improve accessibility at Pride Toronto on Monday, June 15, 2009.

The federal government is giving $400,000 to Pride Toronto organizers to make the massive festival more accessible to people with disabilities and those accessing information on the Internet.

The money comes from the government's new Marquis Tourism Events Program and will be spent on improved infrastructure and services to help make the ten-day festival more accessible.

Cash will also be spent on marketing, programming and improving the event's website.

Small Business Minister Diane Ablonczy made the announcement from the city's Gladstone Hotel on Monday.

She says increased accessibility will help draw even more people to the event, which is already the city's second-largest summer festival next to Caribana.

Pride kicks off this Friday and will span ten days and over twenty downtown blocks. It wraps up on Sunday, June 28 with a parade down Yonge Street.