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
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Weight-loss drug Wegovy available in Canada starting May 6
The makers of Ozempic say their weight-loss drug Wegovy will be available to patients in Canada starting Monday.
Concerns about Plexiglas prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglas barriers.
Ontario man loses $1,500 applying for Nexus cards on social media
The trusted traveller program between Canada and the United States is extremely popular and almost two million Canadians have a Nexus card.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Goring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
NEW A mother's hopes to free her son from a Syrian prison is revitalized by a new human rights report
Just days before the seventh anniversary of the day Jack Letts was thrown in prison with thousands of suspected ISIS fighters, his mother, Sally Lane, delivered a small stack of envelopes to the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
NEW Companies letting customers opt out of Mother's Day ads
In an effort to balance the profitability of Mother's Day with the pain it causes some people, some brands are offering customers the choice to opt out of Mother's Day email advertising.
DEVELOPING Police begin removing barricades at a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' encampment at UCLA
Police removed barricades and began dismantling a pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ fortified encampment early Thursday at the UCLA campus after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave, about 24 hours after counter-protesters attacked a tent encampment on the campus.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.