The long-anticipated downtown Kamloops performing arts centre is one of two projects eyed in a pair of proposed $275 million loans. Opposing voters have until Sept. 13, 2024 to sign petitions.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

After weeks of appearing to organize and collect signatures to oppose the $275 million Build Kamloops loans, the coalition behind the effort has finally spoken out.

Members of the group calling itself the Kamloops AAP Vote Coalition had avoided interviews for a month until group member Bronwen Scott issued a news release on Sept. 6.

The coalition is coordinating an effort to collect signatures opposing the two, multi-million dollar loans through the Alternative Approval Process, or counter petition, while also railing against the process itself.

"It's been weeks. It kind of feels like longer, but it kind of feels like shorter," group spokesperson Marshall Krueger told iNFOnews.ca. "There's been a lot of information to gather. We're only citizens, it's not exactly a hobby because it's very important to us, but we all have other stuff we have had on the go as well."

They list a few reasons in the news release about why they believe the counter petition method shouldn't have been used.

READ MORE: Build Kamloops 'yes' campaign works behind the scenes, 'no' campaign dodges transparency

The $275 million in loans will fund the proposed downtown performing arts centre and a multiplex with four ice sheets. The City said they will be paid off over 30 years, but Krueger said the facilities, particularly the performance venue, are contentious and divisive issues.

One of the reasons the loans should have gone to a referendum, he said, is because the performing arts centre loan was slated for a second vote in 2020 until it was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time it would have been a $70 million loan, but it's now double that.

The City has had another election since then and every member of council now in office supported the facility during the 2022 campaign, but there was no indication a referendum wasn't on the table.

Now with a Sept. 13 deadline, voters can sign a petition to oppose either or both of the loans. It will take 10 per cent of the electorate, around 8,700 people, to successfully oppose the loans by either putting a stop to the projects or forcing a referendum.

The provincial government has a guide to help municipalities decide whether to use the counter petition or a referendum. Counter petitions, or Alternative Approval Processes, are meant to gauge public opinion when it's not clear a referendum should be held, according to the guide.

Krueger said the City should have skipped the petition process and gone to a vote but Coun. Mike O'Reilly, who leads the Build Kamloops committee, disagreed.

The City's own recreation master plan, published a year before the last referendum was cancelled, pointed to new theatre space as the top priority.

"That's coming from the people, that's not council," O'Reilly said. "This was built by the community for the community and that was identified as their number one want."

Before opening a loan up to a counter petition, the City had to get approval from the province. The Ministry of Municipal affairs reviewed what Kamloops city hall was asking the public and made one adjustment: that the $275 million loans be separated, so voters can oppose the $140 million arts venue and the $135 rink separately.

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Kamloops has used the counter petition process several times over the last two decades, often going ahead without enough opposition. A proposed downtown parkade in 2011 is a glaring exception, which was stopped by the Friends of Riverside Park group. That saw an organized effort to rally against a two-storey parking structure at the city's treasured downtown park, collecting thousands more signatures than needed.

It has previously been used largely for utilities or road construction in Kamloops, but it's been used in other BC cities for recreational projects particularly Kelowna where a $241 million loan will fund a new Parkinson Rec Centre and other projects.

The Kamloops coalition members have said on social media they are collecting their own tally, but Krueger said he wasn't aware of how many signatures may have been collected. He said the group is loosely organized and he largely attempted to restrict comments in the news release.

The coalition said it has complained to the BC Ombudsperson in hopes the counter petition is nullified, claiming it was improperly used. The complaint focused on the timing and the messaging about the loans and expected payments, Krueger said.

iNFOnews.ca asked for a copy of the complaint itself and any communication with the BC Ombudsperson office, but he said he didn't have access to those documents.

While anyone can file a complaint with the BC Ombudsperson, a spokesperson said they couldn't confirm or deny an investigation was underway.

"So where we're at is there is a file with a file number. We have taken the steps the ombudsperson said and that's been done," Krueger said.

READ MORE: BUILD KAMLOOPS: Why these BC cities cancelled their counter petitions

If an investigation finds wrongdoing, the ombudsperson can recommend the province nullify the counter petition, but the Ministry of Municipal Affairs is not required to follow ombudsperson findings.

Asked why the group has refused interviews, only speaking out a week before the petition deadline, Krueger said now is the right time.

"If we just offered some ingredients without having more cohesion as to how these things tie together, it wouldn't have been good timing," he said. "Whereas now we have a much more cohesive, almost end-product, with a recipe in the form of a press release that we can offer to say 'here's where we're at.'"

iNFOnews.ca spoke with group members last month at Riverside Park as they set up a booth near Rib Fest to hand out petition sheets after days of requesting interviews through email and social media. They refused an interview.

A man, who only provided his first name to iNFOnews.ca, runs an anonymous social media account to campaign against the loans and also insult those who he perceives to be in favour.

Asked if he's concerned that sort of online conduct could delegitimize the coalition's efforts, Krueger said the man "was not speaking for the group."

Krueger wouldn't say how many members are part of the group, but did say it's "decentralized" and exists mostly online with some loosely organized volunteers. He didn't say who sent the complaint to the ombudsperson.

Coun. O'Reilly said he wasn't aware of any complaints to the BC Ombudsperson and did not comment further.

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