Ice-time policy at four-pad considered for other rinks
Posted Jun 23, 2010 05:17:14 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As the opening date approaches for Bedford’s new four-pad arena, more attention has been placed on the city’s plan for equity when it comes to who gets the ice and when.
If councillors and staff can make it work, the policy for the four-pad may be extended to all the city’s rinks.
After a contentious debate that stretched over two weeks, regional councillors hammered out a progressive ice-time policy that gives more time to women and emerging sports like figure skating and sledge hockey.
Councillors then asked why a similar policy couldn’t be implemented at every HRM-owned facility.
Coun. Linda Mosher (Purcell’s Cove-Armdale) says the current haphazard regulations around the city remind her of pre-amalgamation days.
“I really think that if we’re going to do it with one we should be doing a regional policy instead of just piecemeal at this rink,” she said. “We should just do it and have it fair throughout the municipality so that we have one standard.”
However, HRM director of community development Paul Dunphy says council shouldn’t rush into standardizing ice time policies. He says they need to see how everything settles after the four-pad opens.
“The reason is we won’t know fully who the user groups are and how it would all shake out,” Dunphy said.
Dunphy adds that many municipalities have been sued by user groups over discriminatory allocation policies, so any decision on parcelling out ice time may be out of council’s hands.
