Canada Games Centre too costly for seniors
Posted Apr 21, 2011 06:18:54 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Complaints continue to come in about the cost of using the Canada Games Centre.
Seniors in particular say user fees for the large multi-use facility in Clayton Park are too steep – far higher than at the old Northcliffe recreation centre.
Julie Ann Purcell tells the Rick Howe Show she used to be able to use the pool at Northcliffe for free with a note from her doctor – but a yearly pass for the new centre is $375 dollars and day passes would cost even more over the long run.
“To me, it seems like it’s for the people that have money,” she said. “I’ve been calling around trying to get someone to listen and see if I can get something done, because I’m not the only one.”
Purcell says she’s on a fixed income which is being eaten away by rising gas, oil and grocery costs and she can’t afford to go to the new centre.
She suffers from back problems and says doing water aerobics when she feels up to it helped alleviate the pain.
“It’s not fair, I can’t go jogging, I can’t use the track or field,” she said. “I want to go and get the water aerobics. It was good for my back and it was good for my attitude. It was good for me.”
Purcell says she’s called Premier Darrell Dexter, MP Geoff Regan, Coun. Mary Wile and Ann Cosgrove, chair of the Canada Games Centre Board of Directors, hoping someone would help reduce the user fees for seniors. She says Wile has been lobbying on her behalf, but with no results so far.
