Crystal Ball Gazing: How Sudbury Gets a New Kingsway Event Centre - Not on Merit, but on a Technicality

Here’s why we’ll have a new Event Centre on the Kingsway after tonight’s Council meeting.  For the most part, I believe that the decision will be decided not on the merits of either the Kingsway or the downtown proposals, or even Council’s perception of support.  Instead, the decision will be made based on a technicality – due to the way in which the motions will be brought forward.

Tonight’s agenda indicates that Council will be voting on a number of motions.  It’s the first, the determination of the site, which is problematic – rather than splitting the downtown and the Kingsway proposals into two separate motions (likely because that would create the possibility for Council to endorse both sites – something that I suspect no one actually wants), the resolution prepared has two options – #1 for the Downtown, and #2  for the Kingsway.

But it’s not an either/or proposition – and I’m sure that Councillor Vagnini, who has expressed a desire recently to not support either location, will request that the vote be split – unless it’s already staff’s intention to proceed voting for the options one at a time, almost as if they were separate motions.   Either way, it is doubtful that Council will be voting on the downtown OR the Kingsway in a single vote.

Given that Option #1 is the first (the downtown) on the agenda, likely it will go to a vote first of all.  If it is approved by a majority of Council members, the downtown is a done deal, and Council will not vote on the Kingsway.  If the downtown approval fails, Council will then vote on the Kingsway.

And if the downtown option fails, you can bet that the majority of Councillors – even those who voted in favour of the downtown – will vote in favour of the Kingsway.  The last thing this Council wants is to end up not approving any location.

So ultimately I believe that we may end up with a new events centre on the Kingsway not because a majority of Council members think it is a better location than the downtown, but because of the order in which the vote takes place.  I strongly suspect that if Option #2 (the Kingsway) were to be presented first and go down in defeat, a majority of Council members will rally behind a downtown location (although I suspect that Kirwan and Reynolds would vote with Vagnini in that circumstance to defeat a downtown option).

Of course, if the downtown really does have enough Council member support to carry the day, it will carry the day.  I'm just not sure it does.

Here’s how I think tonight's voting will play out on the site selection Agenda item.

In favour: 6

Bigger

Signoretti

Lapierre

Sizer

McIntosh

Cormier

Opposed: 7

Vagnini

Dutrisac

Montpellier

Kirwan

Jakubo

Reynolds

Landry-Altmann

The next motion will be to approve an events centre on the Kingsway.  It will succeed by a wide margin.  Here is how I anticipate Council members will vote:

In favour:

Bigger

Dutrisac

Montpellier

Kirwan

Lapierre

Jakubo

Sizer

McIntosh

Cormier

Reynolds

Landry-Altmann

Opposed :

Vagnini

(opinions expressed in this blog are my own and should not be interpreted as being consistent with the views and/or policies of the Green Parties of Ontario and Canada)