Parry Sounds ~ Ideas and Opinions, In and Around Parry Sound

The text below is taken from an email I received from a reader who preferred not to provide their comments using the comments section of Parry Sounds. It is reprinted below with their permission and offers some pertinent thoughts about the proposed replacement of the Bobby Orr Community Centre arena surface. Some individuals prefer to offer their comments anonymously. I am willing to pass on their comments, with their permission, so long as the comments are relevant to the discussion and are reasonably ‘polite’. Here you go.

“The 36th G8 summit was held in Huntsville, Ontario on June 25–26, 2010. Tony Clement was forking-over money, hand over fist, to his Parry Sound/Muskoka constituency like a drunk who had just won the lottery.

Following a commitment to build a multi-million dollar community complex in Huntsville including, but not limited to, an Olympic-size pool; without even asking, Tony Clement reportedly asked Mayor Richard Adams what Parry Sound needed in terms of infra-structure. Mayor Adams reportedly replied “our Bobby Orr Arena could use some repairs and expansion. No problem. Parry Sound reportedly received well over a million dollars, including expansion of the BOCC and (HELLO), new floor. On the surface (no pun intended) this seems like an awfully short lifespan for a well constructed cement floor. Hmmm.

When Clement finished throwing-around all this Canadian tax-payer’s money, Tony and his Conservative Party successfully formed the 41st Parliament (2011-2015), which was the first time in which the Liberals did not form either the government or the Official Opposition.

But, back to the BOCC Floor Replacement.

Without even any discussion (da), they removed the existing concrete BOCC floor and replaced it with a spanking-new replacement. Great looking floor! Short lifespan.

What the idiots failed to consider, in the process, was to (at a modest minimal cost) place insulation underneath the cement floor, so as to be able to make and hold-ice when the outside temperature is warm (i.e. the Humphrey arena can have ice all summer long for Hockey Schools, etc.). Just think of the business and economic ripple-effect that could be generated if the BOCC could host 8 weeks of “Hockey Schools” (like little old Humphrey), taking advantage of the  Bobby Orr Brand, i.e. “THE HOME OF BOBBY ORR.”

But wait Jo; to compound the planner’s stupidity, they installed expensive dehumidifiers to expel the moister from the building during warmer outdoor/indoor temperatures, particularly when the ice had been laid on the cement floor. But guess what? They forgot the ground below the ice-surface was too warm and that the ice wouldn’t “set-up” in the early/late fall, and early/late spring when hockey (public skating) was still going on. There would be so much fog in the building it wasn’t practical to play hockey. Running a hockey school, in the summer months, was completely out of the question.

My point Jo, if the floor is replaced in the BOCC for god’s sake will you please tell somebody to insulate the ground, before they pour the cement.

But wait Jo, there’s more.

When Tony Clement was willy-nilly handing-out bundles of cash, just before the Conservatives formed the 41st Parliament (2011-2015); somebody should have checked to see what constituted the dimensions of a “Regular” ice surface. Had they done so, they would have determined that the BOCC ice-surface was about 185’, as much as 15 feet short of a 200’  “regulation” size ice surface. Even little old Humphrey knew that.

Note: the comment above has been edited ever so slightly for punctuation and grammar.