No program can fund Event Centre: Ontario Minister

THUNDER BAY – There was renewed optimism at city hall for the proposed Thunder Bay Event and Convention Centre on Wednesday but the provincial infrastructure minister says there’s still no program that could fund it.

A week after the city’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee returned from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual conference in Windsor, they held a press conference to declare provincial funding could rekindle efforts to build the $114-million, 5,335-seat arena and convention centre.

Members of the delegation named a number of provincial ministers as having expressed support for the project, including Minister of Infrastructure, Bob Chiarelli.

Virdriamo claimed Chiarelli told delegates to ensure their event centre proposal was “shovel ready” to qualify it for provincial infrastructure funding.

“We’ll do whatever we can to get this project ready,” Virdiramo said.

“As far as the general public, I know there has been some negative criticism on it. We’ve always said we will not go ahead unless there is federal and provincial money coming to the table.”

In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Chiarelli said the minister had suggested Thunder Bay apply for federal funding as no current provincial program would fit with its vision.

“While there are no provincial funding opportunities for a project like the Thunder Bay Event and Convention Centre, Minister Chiarelli encouraged the delegation to develop a proposal for consideration of future opportunities,” the statement reads.

“The Federal Government has not yet finalized phase two funding requirements, as part of phase one funding allocations were just announced yesterday. We encourage the city of Thunder Bay to continue working with all levels of government to best serve the needs of their municipality.”

In July, federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi sent Virdiramo and Mayor Keith Hobbs a letter informing them the event centre proposal would be ineligible for any existing federal infrastructure programs.

A follow-up telephone meeting to that letter is scheduled between city officials and Sohi's staff on Sept. 13. Virdiramo is looking forward to discussing  how the proposal could be adapted to move the event centre forward on the federal level.

“We’ve been working on this project now almost seven years and we haven’t been discouraged,” he said.

“Even though we have received letters, published in the media, that the feds said ‘no,’ the feds didn’t really say no. They said ‘no, there’s an issue with the design’ and we’re willing to do anything we can to make our project fit in the box it needs to fit in."

NOTE TO READERS: This the story contains more information that the originally published version included following an official response from the provincial government.