North Bay, Ont., opens its largest recreation centre ever

Roughly 200 people were on hand for the official opening of a new recreation centre in North Bay on Friday.

“I couldn't be prouder of our community,” said North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico. The mayor said the $63-million centre, which has an official title of WFCU Place, was a years long project that took advocacy and collaboration with several funding partners. (WFCU was formerly known as the Windsor Family Credit Union.)

"It's for the community, and will be for the community, not just for today, but for my kids, my grandkids and their grandkids for the next 50, 60, 70 years," Chirico said.

Kholton Leger, a high school hockey player in North Bay, said the WFCU will be the best rink in the city.

"I think it's really cool, especially that we have another rink," Leger said. "It's going to bring a lot of teams back here for tournaments. And I think it's also going to boost try-outs, kids that want to go on the ice."

The centre houses two regulation-size ice rinks, 14 dressing rooms, an indoor walking track and community meeting space.

The federal government contributed $35 million to the project. The province contributed $2 million through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. It has also invested $1.6 million in the the cricket and multi-use field under construction at the adjacent Steve Omischl Sports Field Complex.

The city also directed $1.5 million from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) in contributions generated by Cascades Casino North Bay, as well as $1.5 million in municipal accommodation tax revenues. In a release, the city said "the municipal taxpayer-funded share of the project is approximately $23 million."

"It's something that's very important to the community and the surrounding area," said Anthony Rota, the former MP for Nipissing—Timiskaming who helped secure federal funding for the recreation centre.

The recreation centre has several sustainability measures in place included a system to use waste heat from the CO2-based ice plant to heat the space and water, cold climate heat pumps as a secondary heat source.

The municipality said the design will also reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions compared to conventional designs. And the building is designed to support solar power and batteries in the future.

People are welcome to tour the facility all weekend and take part in free skating opportunities.