Humboldt unsuccessful in government funding bid for Broncos tribute centre

The City of Humboldt will not be receiving any funding from the provincial or federal government as it looks to build a Humboldt Broncos Tribute Centre.

The city was notified on July 15 that the province’s Ministry of Government Relations would not be passing the bid on to the federal government for review and approval.

The centre is to honour the 2018 Humboldt Broncos, who were involved in a fatal bus crash in April of that year while on their way to an SJHL playoff game in Nipawin.

The addition to the Elgar Petersen Arena would include a tribute gallery that would display some of the mementos and stories of the 2018 Broncos, including inspirations that have come out of the tragedy. There are also plans for a second ice arena and community use spaces.

Humboldt applied for a joint provincial and federal program known as the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program and was asking for a figure that would cover 73 per cent of the facility’s costs. That would be $25.55 million of the estimated $35-million cost.

Humboldt city manager Joe Day says the city is going to continue looking at all of its options.

“We absolutely believe that there is provincial and federal support for funding a portion of this. So we’re going to pursue those avenues later this summer and into the fall,” Day said.

Even though city officials were confident they would receive approval, Day said they understood there was a possibility the bid wouldn’t succeed.

They don’t have a date of when construction would start or be completed.

“Until you have all the funding in place, it’s hard to stipulate what the construction timeline would be. And we’re just not there yet,” Day added.

The City of Humboldt will continue to explore different and other partnership and sponsorship opportunities for the project.