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
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass 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 plexiglass barriers.
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada were in St. John's, N.L., Wednesday after a plane overshot the main runway at the city's airport.