THUNDER BAY -- Mayor Keith Hobbs believes the convention centre component could be the key in the proposed event centre getting federal funding.
Hobbs met on Sunday with FedNor Minister Greg Rickford in Toronto where the two spoke about the prospects of Ottawa chipping in to help with construction of the project.
The mayor said it was confirmed the project would not be eligible to access the Building Canada Fund, though there could be other avenues that could be pursued but it could only apply to one aspect.
“It comes I think right from the Prime Minister’s Office. They don’t want to fund hockey rinks,” Hobbs said at his office on Monday.
“The funds from the feds are going to be for the convention centre, not the hockey rink.”
Without federal support the city would likely be forced to look at a scaled down version of the facility.
Despite talk of a downsized alternative that could reduce seating capacity from 5,700 seats to 5,200 and a reduction or elimination of the convention centre aspect, he wants to maintain the push for the current proposal.
“I want this to be perfectly clear that we want to stay the course on the project as we presented it to the public. That’s a $114 million project. Our share would be $42 million as a city and we’re looking at $36 million from other levels of government and then the private sector would come in,” Hobbs said.
“That’s the Plan A and I’m hoping we don’t have to present a Plan B at some point to the citizens and council.”
Hobbs said Rickford will meet with Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel to follow up.
Last week Hobbs met with a number of provincial officials, including Economic Development and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid.
While the province seemed supportive, it has not been made clear exactly how provincial dollars would come together.
“No one has told us where the funding is going to come from,” Hobbs said at his office on Monday. “It’s almost like a daily push to see if the funding is coming.”
He said he wants the event centre to be a specific line item in the upcoming Ontario budget, with other funding potentially coming through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.
“We even suggested that if we get $30 million and then $5 million maybe from the NOHFC then we could do it over two, three years,” Hobbs said.
Time is starting to become of the essence to move forward with the event centre.
The city has an agreement with a Thunder Bay Live Consortium that would see the Winnipeg Jets’ American Hockey League affiliate, the St. John’s Ice Caps, relocate to Thunder Bay.
Hobbs said True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Jets, has a “firm commitment” to keep the AHL team in the city for at least seven years if the event centre is built.
He added the team is expected to produce with city with revenues of $1.4 million per year.
The current deadline is March 31. Even though Hobbs said True North has indicated the deadline could be pushed back an unidentified American city is also pushing to have the team.
