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EDITORIAL: Event centre not dead, but reviving not an option for some

The event centre may not be dead, but for many councillors, it’s been tagged with a do not resuscitate label.

The event centre may not be dead, but for many councillors, it’s been tagged with a do not resuscitate label.

On Monday years of work came crashing to the halt when a dejected Mayor Keith Hobbs went public with a letter from the federal government that denied them the ability to use $23 million in gas-tax funding to help pay for the controversial $114.7-million event centre project.

And just like that, the project has been effectively shelved.

For many, including five councillors who voted last Thursday to stop the project from proceeding to Phase 5, the gas-tax plan was the final straw.

Many saw it as the mayor and city administration trying to work around being rejected for federal funding via alternate avenues, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

It wasn’t sitting well.

Still, the effort wasn’t in vain.

Yes it cost millions to get to this point, but in the end we’ve got a project that’s essentially shovel-ready should the economic climate change in Ottawa or at Queen’s Park.

Given that federal dollars are likely unavailable with the Conservatives in office, council should consider hanging onto its Renew Thunder Bay fund and saving for a rainy day, so that in 20 years when the appetite is there to replace Fort William Gardens – or it crumbles to the ground – it can happen.





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