Robert Guertin rebuild $1.4M over budget

Officials blame 5-month delay obtaining certificate from provincial ministry

Image | Gatineau arena

Caption: Gatineau's new Robert Guertin Centre will feature four rinks, including a 4,000-seat arena that will replace the aging home of the Olympiques. The project's cost has now crept close to $80 million. (Courtesy VMSO)

Officials behind a new hockey complex in Gatineau, Que., are pointing the finger at the province for delays they say have forced the project $1.4 million over budget.
The four-rink Centre Robert Guertin on boulevard de la Cité will replace the aging home of the Gatineau Olympiques junior hockey team on rue de Carillon.
But Vision Multisports Outaouais (VMSO), the non-profit group behind the project, said a five-month delay in obtaining a certificate from Quebec's Environment Ministry is driving up costs.
Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin joined VMSO president Alain Sanscartier at Gatineau City Hall Tuesday, where he downplayed the increase.
"We are approaching something very concrete," Pedneaud-Jobin said in French. "It was not a big sacrifice for all the gains that it will bring."

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Gunning for 2020

The new facility will have have a 4,000-seat arena and three more community ice rinks.

The Quebec government's approval came in January, nearly a year after the city signed off on the project.
The city was originally on the hook for $36.5 million of the project's original $78.5-million price tag, with VMSO paying $16 million and the province pitching in $26 million.
Now the complex will cost municipal taxpayers $37.9 million, not including another $25 million for a multi-level parking garage and improvements to nearby street.
VMSO has 30 months to build the garage, but the company said it's aiming to complete it within 26 months and finish the overall construction by November 2020.