On October 25th of last year, the people of Timmins did its best to impress upon our municipal leaders that it was time for change. There were four new Councillors elected and all but one of the re-elected incumbents had a real fight on their hands on election night. I’m not one of those high-priced political pundits you see on Sunday morning television but it was pretty clear back in October that we as a community wanted things to change at City Hall.
I preface my blog with the above reference because it became clear while reading reports from the discussion that took place at Council on Monday regarding the idea of building a multi-sport complex in Timmins that several Councillors have forgotten the message that was sent to them in October.
More than anything I have gotten frustrated by the “double-talk” of certain Councillors who think they can get away with talking out of both sides of their mouths. I understand that it is important for our Councillors to take into account the financial impact that large projects will have on the community. This is due diligence and I would expect Council to do their due diligence on every decision they make on our behalf. However, it is difficult to listen to certain Councillors that argue with great passion that sport tourism should be one of the key areas of focus for the community and then refusing to support the development of a facility that would help the community position itself as a sport tourism mecca for the region and beyond. Notwithstanding the Under 17's and a few high school hockey tournaments which we've successfully hosted, our local arenas are limited in the scope of events they can host. Furthermore, a new facility would also include additional space where local s ports associations could expand their programming and where new sports could be introduced.
I also find it amusing when certain Councillors that raise a ruckus because they got a complaint from “a lot of people” (…usually that means 2 or 3) start arguing that there is not a “ground swell” of support for a project. The irony is that the membership for the Facebook page created for individuals that support looking into the construction of a new multi-sport easily doubles the number of votes received in the October election by three of the four Councillors who seemed opposed to the idea at Monday night’s meeting. How’s that for a ground swell?
As for hearing from the “silent majority” through a municipal referendum on the issue… well, that would not happen for another three years anyway because Councillors opposed to the idea would argue that the costs of organizing a referendum outside of the regular municipal election would not be cost-effective. If they do go forward with a referendum, I suggest that they only allow the eligible individuals that voted in the last municipal election to vote in the referendum. If people didn’t care enough to have their say on who was going to decide what is done with our 100 million dollar annual budget over the next four years by voting in our municipal election then why should they be given a say on whether or not we will move forward with the construction of a multi-sport complex?!
At some point in the future when the City is actually forced to build a multi-sport complex due to the continued deterioration of our existing facilities, I hope that an intrepid journalist will do his/her research and find out how much the City will have spent on “patch-work” repairs to these facilities and how much money each facility has lost from 2011 until the time the complex is open…only then will we know how expensive the current Council’s lack of foresight was if it decides not to pursue the construction of a new complex
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