Four-rink arena tops Halifax's capital list

Halifax regional council has placed a four-rink arena for Bedford at the top of its list for infrastructure funding, followed by a library in downtown Halifax and a conventional ferry for Woodside.

Council approved the list of projects on Tuesday, under a looming deadline to get the Halifax Regional Municipality's priority list in by Friday.

Council quickly agreed that $30 million in economic stimulus money should be spent on an arena with four ice surfaces in the Bedford area. The project has been in the works for some time and is expected to be mostly completed by the province's funding deadline of March 31, 2011.

But what to do with $56 million available under the federal Building Canada infrastructure fund led to a much longer debate.

Coun. Barry Dalrymple wanted to use the money for various transit projects.

"I'm not sure we'll have another opportunity to spread transit this fast throughout the entire HRM," said Dalrymple.

This is the only fund that allows for a cultural project, such as a central library for downtown Halifax, Coun. Jennifer Watts noted.

"This is a very unique opportunity where this funding is now available that has not been available. This is the time we need to step up to the plate," Watts said.

Council put the library and a new conventional ferry for the Woodside operation on the priority list. However, it also attached a longer list of projects in case the provincial government wants to see the other options.

With a potential provincial election right around the corner, Coun. Tim Outhit considers handing over such a list a mistake.

"You're handing somebody a shopping list who's about to announce an election. Good lord," said Outhit.

The longer list includes a number of projects, but the controversial fast-ferry proposal isn't on it. That has been delayed for at least a year.