The mayor says he thinks the majority of people may now say “not now” to a $70-million-dollar Kamloops Centre for the Arts.

Ken Christian was asked about his stance on the project amid the economic uncertainty and revenue losses caused by the pandemic.

“Realistically, I don’t see that would be something that would be largely supported by the citizens of Kamloops at this time. And I really look forward to when we are in a position to offer that as part of our economic recovery,” he says.

“Were there to be grants from the federal government to support the arts, which I hope there is, because as often in these kind of situations, the arts are the first ones to get hit and the last ones to recover. But if there is an opportunity to do that, then that would be something we would consider putting before the citizens of Kamloops again.”

The KCA business case says construction alone would bring 565 full-time-equivalent jobs, and $9.2 million in government revenues.

Christian didn’t rule out the referendum for the proposed arts centre still happening in 2020. He says it would depend on when the Ministry of Municipal Affairs allows those kinds of events to happen.

“Right now we are not allowed to hold a referendum, which we had been planning. Once [Minister Selina Robinson] gives a green light to hold those kinds of events again, council will have to look at that matter,” Christian says.

“But we won’t do this alone. We want to talk to the Centre for the Arts Society and we want to talk to the major benefactor, with respect to some of the components to the business case for that.”

The referendum question was asking Kamloops residents if they were in favor of the city borrowing up to $45 million to build the KCA, which would be paid back over 25 years.

Unlike in 2015, the proposed arts centre this time had the unanimous support of city councillors before the referendum was postponed.