BY CRAIG GILBERT
The Lily Creek Sports Complex has been renamed to honour one of Sudbury?s former MPs.
City council Thursday approved a request from Sirio Bacciaglia via the Sudbury Historical Preservation Association to rename the Paris Street soccer and park annex the Honourable Jim Jerome Sports Complex.
Bacciaglia formed the association for the express purpose of renaming the park, according to city staff.
The renaming had the support of several community members, including Sudbury MP Diane Marleau. Bacciaglia collected 63 names on a petition supporting the renaming, and in contacting seven of the eight primary user groups of the complex, received no objections. He submitted 38 letters of support.
Jerome served one year as councillor for the old city?s Ward 6. He was elected MP for Sudbury in 1968. He was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons by prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1974.
His re-appointment to that position by Conservative prime minister Joe Clark in 1979 marked the first time a member of the Opposition was chosen to preside over the House.
Jerome was instrumental in bringing the Canada Revenue taxation centre to Sudbury.
The city sold the site of the former Sudbury Stadium to the federal government for $2.9 million in 1979. As a condition of the sale, new recreational facilities had to be developed.
The city used those revenues to purchase the Lily Creek property later that year for $200,000. The money was also used to build fields and field houses at the Madison and Lasalle park sites.
But the renaming was not without opposition. John Rutherford says he believes a building rather than a public park would be a better tribute to Jerome. (Read his letter to the editor).
