Taché mayor promises ice time solution

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This article was published 28/11/2023 (868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After concerns about who gets to use the ice in Landmark Arena were raised by Taché hockey and ringette teams, Mayor Armand Poirier is promising a solution soon.

“When I was elected a councillor in 2014, this was being talked about. But it was consistently swept under the rug. Now, I want to be a fair and just mayor to everyone. And I’m out to represent Landmark and Lorette, and every single community that I work for, and I’m not going to see this swept under the rug again,” said Poirier.

“We’re going to have to have the discussion in a mature way, and we’re going to have to come up with a solution.”

It was pointed out by municipal staff at the Oct. 10 Taché council meeting that having regional teams play instead of local teams brings in an extra $10,000-15,000.

“It will cost what it costs,” said Poirier.

The mayor said the Landmark arena committee that decides ice times told him at an informal meeting Nov. 13 that they did not choose teams based on how much they pay.

The Landmark arena committee is due to present an explanation at the Dec. 12 council meeting.

“It was a good meeting (Nov. 13), and when I left the meeting I was satisfied at what I heard. But having said that, I think that they in the future may have to make some concessions,” said Poirier.

According to the mayor’s understanding of the committee’s explanation, teams that got ice time in the past were given priority.

“They emphatically said it was not financial,” said Poirier.

“And some of the considerations were that they wanted to maintain a certain loyalty to some of the regional teams that they had accommodated over the years.”

He pointed out that players on those regional teams also come from Taché.

Some of those teams play for Eastman Flames AA ringette.

Flames convener and past president of Red River Rage Ringette Stu Ginter reached out after Royals Ringette in October brought to council their plight of not getting time in the Landmark arena despite repeated tries year after year — this past year trying a full season ahead of time — resulting in some local girls never playing in their home rink.

“The Landmark arena has been our home arena for 20 years plus. We cover all of Eastman, girls from St Jean to Beausejour and beyond. They have supported us and provided us with ice for practices, games, training, tournaments,” wrote Ginter in an email.

He confirmed with coaches that they have been playing out of Landmark for 21 years.

“The rink staff are like part of our group. Interacting with the athletes and vice versa.”

Ginter went on to explain how everyone with skates was looking for ice, from figure skating to speed skating, hockey and ringette to Can Skate lessons. He felt local rinks were doing their best to be fair to all.

Lorette arena not adding ice

President of the Lorette Minor Hockey Association Dan Gilbertson wrote a letter to council saying the Comets were one of the groups of teams who should be given ice time priority as a local team.

In that letter put on the Nov. 14 meeting agenda, Gilbertson also pointed out the new arena coming to Lorette will not help things when the old rink is torn down.

Mayor Poirier said tearing down the old rink is necessary.

“There is more need, but the old building is tired and needs to be removed for two reasons. One is that the building has expired its shelf life.

“The other reason is we found out from the architect that if we are to leave that building there, we would have to build a firewall along the entire west side of the new building, and it would be an extravagant cost,” explained Poirier.

So while council tackles the ice time dilemma short-term, a long-term solution needs to be found. Poirier said the Landmark arena committee were considering putting a cover on outdoor ice.

“Which I thought was very innovative. It would mean it wouldn’t be a climate-controlled facility, but if their outdoor ice area was covered up it would mean that they could flood and that they could have basically indoor winter facilities, and in the summertime the surface could be used for rollerskating as well in a shady environment,” said Poirier.

“That would serve all of the communities, and I think it’s a really good idea,” he added.

There is no update on extra provincial funding for the Lorette community centre housing a new arena and library among other amenities.

More funding was promised by NDP leader Wab Kinew on Sept. 19 ahead of October’s election victory. NDP Dawson Trail candidate Chris Wiebe lost to PC incumbent MLA Bob Lagassé. The MLA sent a letter dated Oct. 25 congratulating newly elected Premier Kinew and encouraging him to follow through with the additional $5 million that would otherwise be shouldered by Taché ratepayers.

Mayor Poirier was asked if he spoke with the new NDP government about the promise yet.

“I’ve had two ministers in the cabinet approach me with the same question you just asked me, and I indicated to them that I have a process I will be following before I go canvassing the government, and that we need to put our thoughts together as a council and be able to do this in a courteous way.

“And yes, the time is probably coming now where we’re going to have to think of doing that,” said Poirier.

More in depth discussion on fundraising are also starting according to the mayor, including naming rights to the new community centre.