Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke of the need for a new arena in Fort McPherson. As we have a public administrator in the community for the next three years, I can see this project being held back for up to five years.
Will the Minister direct the public administrator to begin consultation with the community to design a new arena that will meet the needs of the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that they just met recently in the community, the administrator and officials, on the capital plan. I haven’t had an update on that yet. This may be part of the capital plan, because I know it was in the works before the public administrator was put in place and they may continue to do the work. But I would have to confirm that and relay that information back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With the process, it needs to be known that if it’s the wish of the community, they can make adjustments to the capital budget in that process.
Once the new arena is developed, will the Minister ensure that the next step of construction is underway?
Obviously, we want to work with the community and bring some of the wishes of the community forward, but this was a plan that was already in the works, and we will continue to see if we can carry out the plan. Once we do that, our officials at the regional level would work with them on the design, best practices, efficiency and the whole thing of financing. We will work with them on that, then the decision will be made whether to bring this forward or not, or begin the actual construction. There are some issues with the existing one, so that would almost cause this one to be a priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
