Thunder Bay city council awaits details on funding event centre

Thunder Bay city councillorsare hoping a new provincial funding scheme could help pay for the proposedevent centre.

At Monday's meeting, council opted to hold off on an upcoming report on the event centre.

The report was due in a few weeks, but the hope is the province will officiallyannouncea new programlater this fall for infrastructure funding.

City manager Tim Commisso saidmore details aboutthe Building Ontario Upprogramshould be known in a few weeks.

"The sense is, in reading it, that they haven't put a fine point on which projects would be eligible," he said.

"They certainly are looking for critical infrastructure needs, but they also speak to projects that support economic growth, create jobs."

Commisso saidpreliminary figures show the city could be eligible for $200 million over 10years.

Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs was optimistic the event centre proposal would be a good fit for the new provincial funding.

"All the indications that we're getting from all other political levels is this is the funding we've been looking for," he said.

But some citycouncillors had reservations, including Frank Pullia, who saidhe wants to see a business plan for the centre before going forward.

The event centre proposal was shelved in March after federal funding fell through.

The city originally sought $23 million from the federal government and $36 million from the province, butthe project was not eligible for federal funding because of the involvement of professional sports.