Kitchener Aud to host new Sir John A. Macdonald statue

Before the Kitchener Rangers face off with the Belleville Bulls at the Kitchener Auditorium on Friday night, a special, albeit inanimate, guest will make an appearance on the ice.

• Kitchener statue project boosters to unveil Sir John A. Macdonald statue

• Kitchener statues project boosters 'perplexed' by negativity

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A new 650-pound statue of Sir John A. Macdonald standing between two 19th century-style chairs will be unveiled to commemorate the prime minister's 200th birthday, which is on Sunday.

The statue was commissioned and paid for by a citizen donor group, who are going ahead with their failed proposal to erect 22 life size statues of Canadian prime ministers somewhere in Waterloo Region.

Our intent is to do all 22.- Jim Rodger

The original project proposal had the statues placed in Victoria Park, but the idea was defeated in a council vote last March when a public online survey found 79  per cent of 2,441 respondents said they didn't support the concept.

“It was a difficult project to explain and we didn’t get to finish the process with Kitchener City Council of doing the site plan and of doing the environmental assessment and of showing what the actual size sculptures were going to look like in that environment," said Jim Rodger, a co-coordinator of the project.

Rodger said since news about the new Sir John A. Macdonald statue surfaced this week, he's received positive responses from the community.

"That they’re glad to see the project going ahead. They’re encouraged by the notion that people are going to be able to more directly connect to Canadian history," Rodger said.

After CBC News published a story about the unveiling of Sir John A. Mcdonald, not all Twitter users were happy about the news.

"...this was a resounding "No!" by council and the public. I hope it stays that way," Joel Defrancesco tweeted.

"I find it so offensive that the project proponents think opponents 'misunderstand.' I guess they think we're just too stupid to grasp their brilliant vision," Charlotte Prong tweeted.

Rodger said he's hopeful the public will change their mind once they see the new statue.

"[W]e’re comfortable with the idea that when people see this particular sculpture, the quality of the work and how it ties into the notion of explaining Canadian history they’ll be more comfortable with the idea," said Rodger.

"Whenever you look at public art, there are always people who don’t like some aspect of it or there are always people who simply don’t like it. We have a very good intent in mind, we know what we’re trying to accomplish and we’re moving forward with that."

Macdonald's statue, the first and only commissioned so far, will stay at the Aud until the end of January. It will then move to THEMUSEUM on King Street West in downtown Kitchener until July.

Rodger said he hopes to find a permanent outdoor home for the statue by Canada Day 2015. But the group's work is not finished after that.

"Our intent is to do all 22 [prime ministers], so I think what we need to do and what we will be doing is we’ll be trying to match prime ministers with sculptors and we’re looking at sculptors from across Canada to do the work," said Rodger.