'Chaos and uncertainty' at North Rustico rink slashes into business's enrolment and revenues

One of the owners of a private hockey school in North Rustico says the "chaos and uncertainty" surrounding the town's new rink has resulted in a significant drop in enrolment that cut the school's revenue in half this year.  

Darren MacDougall is one of the shareholders and a director of Mount Academy, a private hockey school based inside the Eliyahu Wellness Centre at Canada Games Place in North Rustico. He said many parents couldn't distinguish between the rink and the school when they heard about financial problems, prompting them to halt plans to send their children to the school. 

"For the 2023-24 season, our enrolment went down significantly," MacDougall said during a tour of the school on Wednesday.

"Parents got a little scared. You know, the liens on the wellness centre, we wore that a bit. People couldn't distinguish between the two. There was a lot of chatter that we weren't going to survive.

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"If you're a parent, and you're committing your child to something like this… you want to ensure the security for your child. So there was a lot of chaos and uncertainty, which resulted in our enrolment numbers going down significantly." 

'Significant reductions in our revenues'

The school's enrolment peaked last year at 148 students who were taking academic classes in line with P.E.I.'s curriculum as well as receiving elite hockey training. This year, that fell to 86. 

MacDougall said revenues dropped from $3.4 million down to below $2 million as a result, leaving the school having to cut costs.

"We're likely down — perhaps not quite half — but we might have seen a 35 to 40 per cent reduction in staff as a result of the significant reductions in our revenues and enrolment," he said.

Teachers, hockey school staff, and house parents were all part of those layoffs. 

As CBC News reported last week, an independent consultant brought in by the P.E.I. government found North Rustico's still-unfinished Eliyahu Wellness Centre at Canada Games Place has cost twice as much as expected, coming in at more than $22-million.

When the town first announced the new recreation centre would be built, the pricetag was estimated at about $10-million. 

'Town is losing out'

The provincial government reached out to the consultant after North Rustico officials raised concerns about liens placed against the town for unpaid work at the rink. CBC News has confirmed millions of dollars in liens have been registered against the Town of North Rustico, one for more than $1 million. 

MacDougall said the issues started with delays in opening the rink. He said the private hockey school was told the rink would be completed in January 2022. When that didn't happen, town officials promised it would be ready for the new school year in September 2022.

The Mount didn't end up moving into the new rink until March 2023, shortly after the brand-new facility hosted some Canada Winter Games competitions. 

That's a good chunk of business on a daily basis that they're missing out on.— Darren MacDougall

But MacDougall said the building still wasn't completed, even when they moved in.

To this day, neither the commercial kitchen nor the canteen has been finished, which compelled the school to come up with a new plan to feed its students.

"We're losing out, but the town is [also] losing out, obviously, on those revenues that they would have generated feeding our kids," said MacDougall. 

"That's a good chunk of business on a daily basis that they're missing out on." 

'Committed to this location'

Despite the challenges, MacDougall said the Mount Academy is on solid financial ground and committed to North Rustico. He said they have a purchase agreement in place with the town and a local church to buy about five acres of land next to the rink for six student residences.

To start, three 6,000-square-foot homes will be built, each with seven bedrooms. The school will also build a high-performance training facility, which will include additional classroom space. That expansion will cost about $15 million. 

Contractors were supposed to start this fall on the first three homes and the training facility, but the liens placed against the town and rink prevented the sale of that land to the school.  

"We're committed to this location, we're committed to this community, and the community has displayed a commitment to us," said MacDougall.

"There's a lot to be done. We're building facilities. That's been put on hold. Again, not any of our own doing. But again we've become a victim of that circumstance." 

'We're just making it work'

Students at the school who were made available for CBC News to talk to on Wednesday said they're not being affected by the challenges with the rink.

This is Tibor Nemeth's third year attending the school; he started when the school was based in Charlottetown, then moved out to the new facility in North Rustico this year. His goal is to play professional hockey.

The native of North Carolina said he enjoyed living in Charlottetown, "but coming out here and having such nice facilities and having your own locker room — I think that's, like, just cool."

Nemeth said the Mount always seems to be able to deal with adversity. "At the dorms, we have a chef and she cooks for us and we just take our lunch here, like if you were at home packing your own lunch.

It's the best thing about my day, the hockey and the school.— Makenzie Woodford

"I think it would be cool to have a cafeteria eventually, but as for now, we're just making it work."    

Makenzie Woodford of Cornwall, P.E.I. chose the Mount to fulfil a lifelong goal of playing hockey.

Having the rink under the same roof as her classrooms has been a huge plus, she said.

"It's so good here. I enjoy it every day. It's the best thing about my day, the hockey and the school," said Woodford. 

'Wouldn't be fair'

Despite the challenges, MacDougall is careful not to lay blame.

"I don't know if you can point the finger at anybody in particular. We were dealing with COVID, we were dealing with many other issues, with increases to cost of materials and labour shortages. All the things that are out there," said MacDougall. 

"To point the finger at one person wouldn't be fair."