As Winnipeg city council gets set to vote on the future of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre in St. James, the MLA for the area says new documents raise more concerns.

Last week, Mayor Brian Bowman’s inner circle voted to sell the land currently occupied by a vacant Vimy Arena to the province, who will then transfer it to the Bruce Oake Foundation.

Steven Fletcher recently commented on documents showing the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre registered a holding company under the name The Bruce Oake Memorial Foundation Realty Inc on Nov 29, 2017, about a month after the area’s councilor, Shawn Dobson found out about the sale.

“I’m sure everything is fine but these documents do raise more questions,” Fletcher said. “These documents must be coming from people concerned about the process, the transparency and the integrity and I think it would be helpful for everyone to take a moment and as the appropriate questions.”

“There doesn’t need to be a decision made by Thursday (today). Delaying it a few weeks will allow for clarity, which in the long run is in everyone’s interest.”  

Fletcher and other opponents of placing the Bruce Oake Recover Centre at the former Vimy Arena site have expressed their concern with what they say is a lack of transparency and public consultation.

They are also concerned about the city selling the land to the province for $1, when a recent report valued the land at $1.4 million.

“The city is giving it away,” Fletcher said. “Why isn’t the land being sold at market value?”

Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) proposed an amended motion that would earmark the $1.4 million for recreation and green space in the St. James area. Some of that funding would be spent on public consultation on how the money should be used.

Fletcher and organizations like Friends of Sturgeon Creek say they don’t understand why the facility can’t go into the old Shriner’s Hospital building. They also want the Vimy Arena to be reopened as a hockey rink or some other type recreational facility.

Fletcher says people against the centre aren’t anti-drug treatment, but they feel the property can better serve the community.

“People in St. James recognize the need for this type of facility and support this type of facility,” Fletcher said. “One of the unfortunate things is the proponents immediately attack the people against it for basically asking sensible questions and that’s not appropriate.”

“Due diligence needs to be undertaken. The city has a responsibility to do that and they haven’t done it yet.”

City council needs a two-thirds majority vote in order for the land transfer to take place. The vote will take place this Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018 at city hall.