What was long expected became official Tuesday, as the people behind a sports dome planned at Lasalle Secondary announced the province was cancelling a grant for the facility.
The $4 million grant was announced last spring by former Sudbury MPP and energy Minister Glenn Thibeault. The dome was to be named in honour of the late Fabio Belli, a city councillor who championed the project before his death in 2014.
But since the April announcement, the Liberals were trounced at the polls. The new Progressive Conservative government has been reviewing spending commitments with an eye on cutting spending and getting the deficit under control.
“The provincial government has informed the Fabio Belli Foundation of their decision to revoke a budgetary commitment of support toward an indoor sports facility in Greater Sudbury,” board member Michel Lariviere said in a news release.
The decision is particularly disappointing, Lariviere writes, after a community ceremony last spring attended by Belli's family to launch the project.
“Despite this unfortunate turn of events, the board of directors remains steadfast in its goal of fulfilling Mr. Belli's vision of community building through through physical activity, sport, recreation and culture.”
The foundation will pursue other funding opportunities, the release said.
The project had already raised some eyebrows over the summer, when it emerged the city was being asked to pay for $2.2 million in road improvements, part of which will be on school property. Greater Sudbury was also being asked to pay for a $750,000 field house for the structure, plus provide $25,000 a year in operating money.
A competing proposal also emerged that didn't require public money. The Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (French Catholic board) announced plans to build a dome of its own at Sacre-Coeur school, in partnership with the Sudbury District Sports Club, which received a $3 million private donation in 2016 for the dome.
