A rendering of what the Prince Albert Events Centre would look like if it is built. (P.A. Council agenda)

By Susan McNeil

Lobbyist has

City hires lobbyist for Event Centre

Apr 24, 2024 | 5:00 PM

A paid lobbyist will have until this fall to do his best to get the City of Prince Albert some federal funding to help build a 4,500 seat event centre in The Yard.

After some debate, council agreed with a 6-3 vote to hire Douglas Richardson, a long-time lawyer in Saskatoon who has a history of lobbying and has worked in Ottawa.

“We’re now in a different land and we need someone who understands that land to help us. We’re in a time crunch,” said Coun. Dawn Kilmer.

The city first applied for funding for the large arena in 2018 and was then denied.

The Province of Saskatchewan had submitted 25 projects for joint funding to the federal government’s Integrated Bilateral Agreement fund. All were approved except Prince Albert’s arena proposal.

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It was denied because the federal government said that the Raiders, who would be the major tenant, are a semi-professional team. The city denied that as did the Raiders and the WHL. They said the team is community-owned that that the WHL is an amateur sports league.

“It ended up basically, in my opinion, costing our city millions of dollars,” said Kilmer “It’s not just for the Raiders – and we said that from the beginning – but we cannot forget the importance that the Raider organization does bring to our city and how that will support the 500 new jobs that are coming because of the new hospital.”

Coun. Tara Lennox-Zepp, who is one of three councillors to consistently vote against the arena proposal along with the twin pad arena currently under construction, asked how city staff found Richardson.

Staff and Mayor Greg Dionne confirmed that there was no bidding process with city solicitor Mitch Holash adding that while taking bids is possible, the city is not required to do so in this case.

“There’s no requirement to go that route for a legal contract under Article 3.02 of the purchasing policy or under Sec. 154 of the Cities Act,” he said.

Advertising and waiting for bids can take several months.

According to a comment by one of the councillors, the Raiders alone bring in about $10 million in economic activity to the city every year. The event centre has been designed to also be able to host larger sporting events such as bonspiels and concerts.

Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick said that council has already approved in principle all three phases of the project and hiring the lobbyist is part of making the second phase possible.

The twin pads/aquatic centre currently under construction is phase one and the third phase is listed on the city website as other development opportunities such as a convention centre or a branch library.

When the city started the Phase 1 part of the project in 2022, bids came in significantly over-budget due to inflation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city has given Richardson until Sept. 1, 2024 to finish his contract.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com