Opposition to the $200-million arena/events centre which city council greenlit on April 16 has begun forming.
A petition on change.org was published by community member Matthew Del Papa in opposition to the project, while Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc told Sudbury.com he plans to table a motion on April 30 calling for a referendum in the 2026 civic election.
“Not everyone is on board with their grandiose plans,” Del Papa told Sudbury.com.
“We all know the old city core is the tail that wags the dog,” he added. “It gets enormous infusions of municipal funding while the outlying regions are left to wither and die.”
Born and raised in Capreol, Del Papa said he has seen decades of preferential treatment assigned to Downtown Sudbury, and describes city council’s dreams as being “bigger than its wallet.”
“There is nothing wrong with living within your means, on an individual or municipal level,” he said. “We could be the city of ‘adequate’ Sudbury easily enough and the taxpayer would rejoice.”
The idea of a new arena has been bandied about for several years, he added.
“Sooner or later, some starry-eyed mayor was bound to ignore the financial realities and rubber stamp the project,” he said. “What surprised and disappointed me, beyond the obscene amounts of money being wasted, was that the decision passed with a unanimous vote.”
Del Papa said the current arena is serving its primary purpose as a hockey venue just fine, and that while its ongoing maintenance is projected to cost millions of dollars in the coming years, it won’t cost hundreds of millions.
Further, he noted that Greater Sudbury has “desperate needs” which need to be addressed before a want.
“Infrastructure crumbles daily,” he said, pointing to the city’s well-established infrastructure spending deficit. “Services languish. Taxes skyrocket. Drugs are ruining lives and destroying families. But where is council’s attention? On pie-in-the-sky projects.”
In conversation with Sudbury.com this week, Leduc said his vote to approve the $200-million new arena/events centre in Downtown Sudbury was made out of necessity, and not necessarily support.
His vote was one of 13 which afforded the project city council’s unanimous approval.
Only those members of city council who voted in favour of a resolution can call it up for reconsideration, which Leduc will attempt to do at the April 30 city council meeting in relation to their April 16 decision to approve the events centre.
If he gets two-third support, Leduc’s follow-up motion will ask the city clerk to prepare a report on the possibility of holding a referendum question on the construction of a new event centre on the ballot as part of the 2026 civic election.
Given city council’s unanimous support for the $200-million events centre on April 16, it appears unlikely Leduc will get the two-third majority vote he needs.
There’s a “very slim” chance the referendum vote passes on April 30, Leduc said, adding that the odds will be greater if people show up to fill the gallery and lobby at Tom Davies Square.
“I would like to see at least 1,000 people there to respectfully support this motion,” he said. “This is a respectful vote and hopefully we will be successful.”
In 2022, then-Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier tabled a motion requesting a referendum on the Kingsway Entertainment District (a since-cancelled earlier version of the events centre, to be located on The Kingsway).
The motion of the day did not pass, and was muddied by the fact it was a reconsideration and only those who voted in favour of the project were eligible to vote.
During the 2022 civic election, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin expressed support for a referendum on the events centre in response to a question by Sudbury.com.
Fortin distanced herself from these comments when Leduc brought them up during the April 16 city council meeting.
Circumstances have changed, she explained.
“Everybody that I’ve spoken to, my constituents, 20 to one (say) ‘just build it,’” she told city council on April 16. “‘Just do it. Stop talking about it and start building.’”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
