Dear Friends,

We are reaching out to let you know we’ve just passed 2,650 signatures on our Stop the KED petition! Thank you so much for your support! Will you help us to get more support by sharing this petition with ten other people? If enough of us sign we can’t be ignored! Here’s a link to share https://www.change.org/p/council-of-the-city-of-greater-sudbury-we-want-a-referendum-on-the-location-of-the-new-civic-arena

You can also sign up on paper at merchants and restaurants in downtown Sudbury but please just sign once either on paper or online.

Alarmed by our power and numbers, an actual KED supporter other than Councillor Robert Kirwan recently started a counter petition demanding that we stop our petition because they claim that they have already won.  Well when the bully tells you that you've lost, this is the time to push back!  They are afraid. 
 
And suppressing free speech is an anti-democratic curtailment of our Charter Rights as Canadians that we cannot stand for.   This is the language of demagogues eager to deprive us of our democratic franchise
 
They tell us we are too late but there never was a time for public input into this incredible scam - and I say incredible because the audacity of their attempt to get the public to pay the entire $200 million KED cost is indeed incredible and pivots on the ignorance and indifference of the voters of Sudbury.    Let's prove them wrong.
 
And for those of you following the news closely, can there be any better sign that the KED is a dubious proposition than the current predicament of its chief spokesman Councillor Kirwan?   Legitimately reprimanded by Sudbury's Integrity Commissioner Robert Swayze for the use of a fake identity online purportedly by his wife, rather than humbly admitting fault, he first tries to make a deal to hush up the scandal, then both he and his wife go on the offensive to attack the dutiful public official. 
 
Kirwan has also attacked our petition on numerous occasions, including admitting to signing himself using a fake name in order to discredit us.   Well, I'm betting that his discreditable behaviour will generate more headlines to come and eventually lead to the demise of the KED which is after all:
 
1. A Scam perpetrated by developers to get their desolate land serviced with city water, sewer and hydro at many millions of dollars of public expense in order to enrich themselves further.   Is that how you want your tax money to be spent?   The developer has no long-term obligation to complete the project if it falters.  There is no confirmed casino partner.   There is no hotel chain willing to sink money into a property with sightlines of a very active municipal dump. 
 
2. An Environmental Disaster with millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases released just in building the KED and then the same emissions roughly are released over and over every year after because there is no plan for public transit.   Throwing on another bus line as has been blithely proposed by someone who has probably never tried to get across the city in winter on public transit is no viable solution.   And then, critically, there is the runoff of salt from the 5000 new parking spots proposed which will drain directly into Lake Ramsey which is our source of drinking water -
 
3. A Huge Increase in Tax Burden.   The immediate projected cost is at least $3000 per household but this will be amortized over decades making the actual cost of borrowing it many times this cost when borrowing fees and interest payments are added in.  This at a time when there are homeless people dying on our streets of opioids, despair and the cold and the road repair budget for the city's potholed, flooding streets is already $100 million in arrears?!
 
Can we afford such a folly? 
 
Of course not. 
 
IT IS A SCAM!!!
 
And I am not indifferent to the future of my city when I (Patrick) paraphrase a famous orator (mashed with Dr. Suess)
 
We shall fight the foolish KED, we will fight it till it's dead.
We will fight KED in the shopping malls, we will fight It in the union halls
We shall fight KED in the big box stores, we shall fight it on Lake Ramsey's shores.
We shall fight KED on the beaches and in the far reaches of our sprawling region.
We shall never surrender because it is NEVER too late to do the right thing for our city and our families and the generations to come.
 
 
SUPPORT THE MINNOW LAKE RESTORATION GROUP LEGAL CHALLENGE
 
Spawning more legal challenges than actual bone fide supporters, the KED scheme proves there is broad opposition from determined people.
 
Councilor Kirwan gloats over what he thinks are the failures of these challenges but he's missing the point. Citizens like you have succeeded in revealing his true contempt for the public and the democratic process.
 
These challenges are infallible expressions of public outrage regarding a project, and we salute the legal challenge filed by Minnow Lake Restoration Group (MLRG) on August 13, 2021.
 
Eric Gillespie (a successful litigator in municipal law) acting on behalf of MLRG has indicated the City of Greater Sudbury has been served with the court application. The application filed in Ontario Divisional Court states that‘resolution of Council July 14,2021, pertaining to the Greater Sudbury Events Centre is of no force and effect’ - or null and void. This case is to be heard at the earliest convenience of the court as its schedule allows.
 
The Judicial Review (a panel of three judges) will consider where the Mayor, Council and Senior Staff made numerous errors of law related to: procedural fairness, limiting discussions and questions; disclosure of relevant and material information; misleading statements; proceeding hastily; proceeding unreasonably, or reaching a fair conclusion; proceeding with a lack of candor, frankness and impartiality, including arbitrary and unfair conduct; proceedingvwithout the proper degree of fairness, openness and impartiality.
 
With the ongoing success of the petition in the online format and those that have been signed on the petition sheets,
we’d like to ask that you join us in contributing what you can towards the legal action in order to assist and add to the funds raising already  in motion.
 
We are really enthused by the moral support and energy we’ve received from you. And how, the simple gesture of sharing your time and energy shows the strength of numbers in solidarity for a noble cause and goal.  
 
For those wishing to support this endeavour please contact minnowlakerestorationgroup@gmail.com for banking information and how funds can be directed through conventional or online methods. Every bit counts and we are
appreciative of anything that you can contribute.
 
All donors to MLRG are confidential. Donors receive a charitable tax receipt.
 
 
Thanks Everyone,
 
Patrick Crowe, Hazel Ecclestone and Arthur Peach