The Kingsway Entertainment District was killed by city council this year, which joined a municipal election and the city pushing forward with the Junction East Cultural Hub as Greater Sudbury’s top municipal news stories of 2022
The municipal news cycle was a busy one in 2022, with the greatest coverage centered on the now-cancelled Kingsway Entertainment District project and the Oct. 24 civic election.
Another significant development has been city council greenlighting the Junction East Cultural Hub, which is poised to see a new central library constructed downtown.
This year’s city council wrap-up story covers a lot of the same ground as the 2021 year-end report, which highlighted the KED, a difficult budget and council behaving badly.
City administration’s status-quo 2023 budget from which city council will build the final budget isn’t scheduled to be tabled until Jan. 17, but has already been forecast to spark difficult conversations. City administrators have been charged with cutting $17.7 million in expenses to hit a desired tax increase of 3.7 per cent, which will pair off against a wealth of demands expressed through business cases city council will debate in February.
Tension around the council table also made news in 2022.
Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini was removed from the police board over comments he made that several of his fellow councillors said amounted to misinformation regarding the city’s homeless community. Vagnini and Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc had friction over threat allegations and Robert Swayze, the city’s integrity commissioner, looked into an accusation the Ward 2 councillor threatened a deputy fire chief. City council also voted to dock Vagnini 40 days’ pay.
On the campaign trail, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc was accused of breaking election rules by using a Grandparents’ Day event as a campaign function, and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier appeared to have incurred an election expense prior to his nomination paperwork being filed, which is against the Municipal Elections Act.
Mayor Paul Lefebvre recently told Sudbury.com that he wants to create a positive atmosphere with the new city council that includes a “healthy balance.”
“I want an atmosphere where people are allowed to express their views, and certainly to ask the right questions, and also to disagree.”
Whether decorum around council chambers has changed is yet to be determined with the newly elected group, which includes four newcomers and nine re-elected members.
The following are some of the top news items to come out of city council coverage in 2022.
Kingsway Entertainment District
The Kingsway Entertainment District was a long-proposed municipal arena project west of the city landfill site at The Kingsway projected to be accompanied by a private hotel and casino.
City council’s majority support for the project has riled up people on both sides of the argument for the past few years and led to numerous explosive debates in council chambers.
Accompanying city councillors’ debate has been public pushback against the project and a social media environment rife with misinformation.
The issue came to a decisive end on July 12, when city council voted unanimously against spending $215 million on the project, effectively killing the KED. Their newfound opposition came as a result of the project more than doubling from the $100 million initially budgeted.
With the project killed, the new city council will need to decide what they’re going to do with the approximately $85 million left of the $90 million the previous city council borrowed to pay it. Plus, there’s the question of what to do with the city’s need for a new arena, which the KED was anticipated to replace.
Sudbury Wolves owner Dario Zulich has repeatedly affirmed his intention to remain committed to Sudbury and that the team will never leave the Nickel City.
At the same time, he has also continued pushing for a new arena, and clarified the team needs a “new events centre, not a refurbished arena.”
Zulich told Sudbury.com earlier this year that it would break his heart if the team were to leave Sudbury, but the team needs a new arena.
The 71-year-old Sudbury Community Arena is holding up quite well, according to the city, but will require millions of dollars of renovations within the coming years. The KED was proposed to have a lot more amenities than the existing arena.
Junction East Cultural Hub
City council greenlit the Junction East Cultural Hub project in late June by approving a budget of $98.5 million.
The downtown building would include a new central library, an art gallery and space for the Sudbury Multicultural and Folk Arts Association.
This approved budget includes up to $37.2 million in “potential external funding,” which the city has yet to secure, up to $3.1-million in contributions from partners, up to $68 million in debt already secured and a withdrawal of up to $1 million from reserves.
It is promoted by Greater Sudbury Public Library CEO Brian Harding as bringing the library into the 21st century by representing the best practices of public libraries.
The city has already been working toward making the project a reality by relocating an Enbridge gas line and conducting geotechnical work at the site of a parking lot off of Shaughnessy Street between Wacky Wings and Alexandria’s Restaurant.
The Oct. 24 civic election cast the project into uncertainty, with Sudbury.com determining it now has a narrow majority of city council support, with seven supportive, five against the project and one uncertain. That said, some “yes” respondents’ support is contingent on the city getting funding from senior levels of government.
Oct. 24 civic election
This year’s civic election found residents elect three new city council members alongside a new mayor. Voter turnout was approximately 42 per cent, with 49,941 votes cast in the mayoral race.
The mayoral race included nine candidates, and was perhaps most notable for having then-Mayor Brian Bigger announce a few weeks before the election that he’d decided to drop out of the race due to personal reasons.
His name still appeared on the ballot, and he ended up receiving 607 votes.
Paul Lefebvre became the city’s new mayor on a promise to “Make good things happen together,” including a pledge to work toward growing the population to 200,000 within the next two decades.
“We need to make it easier for citizens, developers and businesses to invest in our community, grow our economy and create jobs,” he said on election night.
Incumbents ran in all 12 wards, except for Ward 7, which Mike Jakubo decided against seeking re-election in due to an incohesive city council and family priorities. Natalie Labbée was elected to fill the spot he vacated.
Robert Kirwan was soundly defeated by Mike Parent in Ward 5, while Pauline Fortin narrowly beat Geoff McCausland in Ward 4.
The new city council was sworn in at Tom Davies Square on Nov. 17, signalling the official start of their four-year mandate.
Candidates made numerous pledges on the campaign trail, and those who failed to get elected also came armed with a wealth of ideas the newly elected group might draw from.
There was a strong push during election season for the city to revise its budgeting process, including the use of zero-based budgeting, which a recent motion will see the city investigate the potential implications of early next year.
The new city council has been easing into their roles since the election, with their first big test being 2023 budget deliberations scheduled to begin in mid-February.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
