Sudbury city councillor wants referendum on building $200M arena downtown
There is a big issue on the table at the city council meeting in Sudbury on Tuesday night.
A report by city staff recommends council approve spending $200 million build a new downtown arena and events centre. The other options are to renovate Sudbury Arena, which is 73 years old and the third is to do nothing.
But those options don’t sit well with Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, who wants council to defer the report.
Leduc said he wants residents to have more information and opportunities to have their questions answered by city staff.
“I want to be able to get out in front of our residents and have town hall meetings to answer all their questions,” he said.
“Since this report came out, there has been a lot of questions sent my way from various residents. This is a $200 million question or ask and we need the support of all the residents of Sudbury.”
Leduc said he will also be asking for clarification of a bylaw that was passed when the city borrowed $90 million in 2018 for the possible build of a new arena on the Kingsway.
“The bylaw specifically points to the Kingsway location and right now we are using those funds to support the arena downtown here,” he said.
“So I need to ask staff do we need to change that bylaw and if so how do we go about it?”
Leduc said the report is good but he can’t support a new downtown rink right now.
“Right now, the residents want to see a new arena but the majority of my residents want to see it in a different location,” he said.
“They don’t want to see it in the downtown core. This is on the tax levy right now and I just can’t support that at this point in time.”
Leduc said he is currently drafting a motion for a referendum on the issue that he will present to council April 30. He said the exact wording of the question is yet to be determined.
CTV News reached out to Mayor Paul Lefebvre and his office said he will be available for comment after Tuesday night's meeting.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.
Kazakhstan arrests ex-interior minister in connection with unrest that left 238 dead
Authorities in Kazakhstan arrested a former interior minister on Tuesday, in connection with deadly police crackdown on unrest that gripped the country in 2022, Kazakh news media reported.