Millions in corporate donations for major Kamloops projects may not come back after delays

Big companies were mulling donations to support a new Kamloops arts venue and an ice rink, but it’s not clear whether they’ll come back after delays and a court challenge put them on ice.

Coun. Mike O’Reilly said millions of dollars in donations were on the table to support the projects until a local organization took the city to court over the massive taxpayer-funded loans backing them.

“Things were very active and very close to getting deals done, then it went cold because corporations didn’t want to back something that maybe the community didn’t back,” O’Reilly told iNFOnews.ca.

The cost of the performing arts centre and the arena multiplex were again discussed in a council meeting this week when Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson suggested all work be paused. He cited rising costs and pressure on taxpayers’ pocketbooks, but had no intention of abandoning them.

During that meeting, Coun. Kelly Hall said delays have already added $12 million to the projects, and he suggested it would cost nearly $39 million more to pause them again.

For the performing arts centre, the city hopes to collect $20 million in donations once fundraising efforts start again.

At this week’s council meeting, O’Reilly said national and multi-national corporations “walked” when the projects were delayed, but later said it’s unknown whether some will come back to the table. He didn’t say which companies were considering donating nor how much money was being floated.

Although the court challenge was dismissed last year, there’s no active fundraising for either the arts centre or the arena.

“Everything went on pause. I don’t know if you could say they walked, but everything went on pause,” Kamloops Centre for the Arts Society chair Brenda Aynsley said.

“The bottom line is people need to see this is going to be built, and so all that negative press really worked against us.”

The non-profit has lobbied for the arts venue since 2019 and will lead fundraising efforts in the future, but she didn’t say when that may happen.

Aside from an anonymous $1 million donation announced last November, it’s not clear how much money the society has raised for the facility since it formed, but critics question why more hasn’t been done already, including the organization which took the city to court over the facilities.

“There should have been no (fundraising) delays because the society was formed in 2019, so they should have been fundraising since 2019,” Kamloops Citizens United member Coley Ecker said.

Construction for the arts centre, now ongoing, is estimated to cost $211 million. It’s funded with a $140 million loan, while another $135 million loan will go toward the multiplex arena near Kenna Cartwright Park.