Standing alone among city council members in opposing the Greater Sudbury Event Centre, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc wants to make it a campaign issue in the Oct. 26, 2026 civic election.
This, despite the event centre receiving unanimous support from city council members last year, architectural work well underway and a construction manager recently added to the fold.
Foundation work is anticipated to begin this winter, and “a substantial amount of steel” should be in place by this time next year to create the building’s frame, city Strategic Projects lead Tony Cecutti told city council members during Tuesday’s meeting.
Sudbury.com reached out to city communications staff to find out how much it would theoretically cost the city to pull out of the event centre project in late 2026, but they refused to provide this context. Rather than answer the question, a response from Mayor Paul Lefebvre's office noted, “On April 16th, 2024, city council voted unanimously to proceed with building a new event centre located downtown.”
As of Aug. 31, the city had spent more than $2.2 million of its $200-million budget, plus approximately $20 million on land and building demolition to make way for the event centre and future private ancillary services.
Leduc was a no-show on Tuesday, skipping both the morning’s public unveiling of event centre architectural renderings and the evening’s city council meeting.
Prior to these gatherings, Leduc told Sudbury.com that he would not attend them because he “can’t support the arena downtown.”
“It frustrates me to listen to this council, unfortunately,” he said. “It’s upsetting.”
Leduc said that the public does not support the event centre, citing an abundance of comments expressing opposition to the project on social media, including the Valley East Today Facebook page, as evidence. Valley East Today is moderated by Robert Kirwan, a past city council member who routinely posts about his criticism and opposition to the downtown event centre, including misinformation regarding its costs, and has blocked more than 5,000 accounts.
Unlike the since-cancelled Kingsway Entertainment District (a prior proposal to house a municipal event centre on The Kingsway), Leduc said, “We had no public input on the arena for the downtown.”
“Last time, they went out to the public, they went out to the mall, they went out to different locations in the city,” Leduc said. “Now, if the people want their voice to be heard, it’s got to come at election time and they’re going to have to elect someone who’s going to actually listen to the public.”
Earlier this month and despite what Leduc contends about a lack of input, Sudbury.com published a report on the results of the city’s public engagement campaign for the downtown event centre, which included 10 engagement sessions and pop-up displays hosted at community events between March and May of this year, plus four meetings with First Nations groups. Feedback has also been sought via the city’s public consultation website.
Various recommendations from these public engagement efforts were included in the centre’s architectural renderings, which were highlighted during both public events on Tuesday.
In conversation with Sudbury.com this week, Leduc said that there are too many unknowns with the event centre; it’ll end up costing far more than its $200-million budget; downtown isn’t the right location for it, and; that money would be better spent on homelessness and roads.
In April 2024, Leduc and his fellow 12 members of city council voted to greenlight a new $200-million event centre in downtown Sudbury. Soon after, Leduc attempted to table a motion requesting a referendum on whether to proceed with a new event centre, but couldn’t get any support from his colleagues.
At the time, Leduc explained that his vote to approve the event centre was only in the affirmative so he could table his referendum motion later (only members who voted in favour of a decision up for reconsideration are eligible to vote for said reconsideration).
Greater Sudbury city council support for the event centre doesn’t appear to have wavered since that time.
All nine city council members who attended Tuesday morning’s architectural renderings unveiling either responded to Sudbury.com’s inquiry to share their support for the event centre or expressed support during the event itself.
This included Lefebvre, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin, Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti, Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre, Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh, Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier, Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer, Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit and Ward 3 Coun. Michel Brabant.
Missing from the event alongside Leduc was Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent, Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée and Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann. These three members also did not respond to Sudbury.com’s inquiry.
Parent expressed “full support” for the project during Tuesday’s city council meeting, Labbee asked questions but maintained a neutral tone and Landry-Altmann was silent throughout.
“I believe that the new arena and the development of the downtown’s south district will be the biggest economic development that the city has ever seen,” Fortin said. “I am proud to be part of the council that finally brought the new arena to reality.”
Signoretti said the event centre will be great for Sudbury and contribute to its growth and would help make the city “better not just for this generation but future generations.”
As for any member’s assertion the event centre might not open, Signoretti said that Tuesday morning’s event to mark the release of architectural renderings, which included a ceremonial puck drop, signalled that “it’s full steam ahead.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.