The City of Brantford today held a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction to expand the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. Phil McColeman, MP for Brant; Dave Lavec, MPP for Brant; and Mike Hancock, Mayor of the City of Brantford, are thrilled to see this important infrastructure project get underway. 

Under Phase One, expansion of the facility will include the addition of a 25-metre indoor pool, a dry-land training area, office space for clubs and a wellness and sports medicine clinic. Phase Two includes the replacement of three existing ice pads with a new, four-pad arena complex, a multi-purpose gymnasium, food service areas, pro shop and sports offices.

The governments of Canada and Ontario have each committed up to $3,000,000 for Phase One, and $12,960,782 for Phase Two, thanks to funding from the first and second intakes of the Communities Component. The City of Brantford will contribute the balance of the total eligible cost of $47,882,345.

“As one of the premiere sports facilities in the region, the new and improved Wayne Gretzky Centre will promote active and healthy lifestyles for community residents as well as attract tourists and visitors to Brantford,” said MP Phil McColeman. “Our government is proud of the commitment we have made to support this type of essential infrastructure under Canada’s Economic Action Plan.” 

“Physical activity is part of a healthy lifestyle,” said MPP Levac.  “This investment to make recreation facilities more accessible in Brantford will help residents become more physically active and enrich the lives of families in many ways.”

“Residents, community organizations and sports clubs will benefit from increased access to programs and services because of this expansion,” said Mayor Hancock. “Brantford will again be known as the Tournament Capital of Ontario, and will have the facilities to authenticate that status.”

This project is among more than 470 underway across the province thanks to a joint federal and provincial investment of more than $1 billion under the Building Canada Fund-Communities Component. During these challenging economic times the governments of Canada and Ontario have taken steps to get shovels in the ground and to invest money quickly for targeted infrastructure projects in the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons.