THUNDER BAY – The city’s mayor is pushing to get the proposed event and convention centre back on the table.
Mayor Keith Hobbs announced on Friday he is bringing a motion to next Monday’s city council meeting that would support moving forward with the proposed Thunder Bay Event and Convention Centre with the Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team as the primary tenant.
According to a media release issued by the city, the resolution would direct city administration to work with Lakehead University and the city’s intergovernmental affairs committee to negotiate the provincial and federal government for funding for the $114 million project.
The city had been seeking $36 million from each senior level of government, with a pledge to foot the remaining $42 million.
Attempts earlier this year to secure funding from the federal government for the project, which was originally planned to house the Winnipeg Jets’ American Hockey League affiliate, were denied based on criteria ruling out Ottawa contributing to venues for professional teams.
While the city was pursuing the event centre as a way of landing an AHL team, the Thunderwolves were only expected to play about a dozen of their about 20 home games per year in the new building.
The city claims a letter received from federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel states the project would be eligible for funding with the Thunderwolves serving as the primary tenant.
“The Minister’s letter outlines the conditions under which his Ministry, and the Government, would support funding the TBECC: namely if the major tenant was an amateur sports organization rather than a professional one – we have that in LU,” Hobbs is quoted in the media release.
“TBECC offers significant incremental economic benefits for our City and the entire region of Northwestern Ontario, both through the jobs to be created in its construction and in its on-going operations.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River Conservative candidate Moe Comuzzi at a forum on Thursday said an amateur hockey club would fit the funding criteria.
Lakehead University president Brian Stevenson said the specific details for the arrangement still need to be negotiated.
“We don’t know how long the agreement would be and it what it would involve,” he said. “We’re confident that whenever it was going to be a junior hockey team or now with us as a primary tenant that we would always be accommodated and we’re now more excited because we’ll be the primary tenant.”
He added the university is not being asked to directly contribute financially to the construction costs of the project.
But the facility could have multiple uses for Lakehead.
“I think we have a number of events and activities even outside varsity sports that the event centre would be helpful for us. We have a lot of activities which we’re running out of space for on campus,” he said.
