Cap-Pelé and its surrounding communities got some good news on Wednesday afternoon, as the provincial and federal governments announced major cost-sharing contributions to a $13.5 million renovation and expansion of the Cap-Pelé arena.
In what had the air of a campaign stop, Beauséjour MP and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc spoke to a crowd of about 100 people, and drew cheers as he announced the federal government’s $5.4 million contribution to the new Cap-Pelé Intergenerational Community Centre.
The province of New Brunswick is also contributing $4 million to the project, leaving the remaining $4.1 million to be raised by the village of Cap-Pelé. So far, a fundraising effort started a few months ago has already raised $2.8 million.
LeBlanc was impressed with the rapid progress. ”It’s extraordinary that a small village like Cap-Pelé has so many remarkably generous, devoted citizens who are putting in tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money to support such a worthy project.”
New Brunswick minister responsible for regional development Gary Crossman also commented on the “tremendous” fundraising effort. “We hope to see the same in other parts of the province soon,” said Crossman.
Cap-Pelé mayor Serge Léger says the village has been working on the idea of a new centre for five years, but the current plan only came together in the last four months. Léger says he doesn’t foresee any problems raising the balance of the municipal contribution of $4.1 million.
The project is part renovation and part addition to the existing Cap-Pelé arena, and Léger says it will serve 15,000 residents in the area, from Shediac to Port Elgin. The new centre will feature a multi-use and community meeting room, an indoor walking track, additional locker rooms and expanded seating for the existing arena.
Click here to check out a fundraising video describing the layout of the new centre.
“This is a landmark for the town,” said Léger. “The town is growing and we needed one safe area so people can come in and do exercise and enjoy and socialize. This is going to bring people together.”
Léger says he expects the full project to take about two and half years to completion. Construction is expected to start this fall.
Léger was emotional on Wednesday, overjoyed at the support to make the project happen. “Cap-Pelé, we’re small, but we’re big and mighty in some sense,” he said. “We never thought it could happen but it’s going to be a realization [of a dream] for us.”
