A photo of a handout depicting a rendering of a new performing arts centre in downtown Kamloops distributed at the Jan. 8, 2019 city council meeting.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/CHP Architects
March 11, 2020 - 3:13 PM
The referendum on the proposed $70 million Kamloops performing arts centre is about a month away, but the City is already counting mail-in ballots.
On April 4, Kamloops voters will be asked: “Are you in favour of the City of Kamloops borrowing up to $45 million to construct a Kamloops Centre for the Arts?”
The remaining $25 million of the projected cost would come from fundraising done by the Kamloops Centre for the Arts society, which was created to support the development of a performing arts centre.
As of today, March 11, the City of Kamloops has received over 95 requests for mail ballots and collected just over 40 completed ballots.
In the 2015 performing arts centre referendum, the City received 102 mail ballots in total. Given how many ballots have been collected so far, it’s possible that the number of ballots received this year may exceed that number, Chief Election Officer Deanna Campbell told iNFOnews.ca.
"It's really difficult to predict how many are expected in this referendum, but given how many we've issued so far with applications to vote by mail still steadily coming in, I expect we may exceed that number this year” she said.
Mail ballots can be sent in right up until the polls close at 8 p.m. on April 4.
Voters ultimately voted ‘no’ in the 2015 referendum on a performing arts centre. About 54 per cent of the voters said no to the city to building the performing arts centre and parkade at the corner of Seymour Street and Fourth Avenue, the site of the former Kamloops Daily News building.
To cast your vote, visit a nearby polling station on April 4. If you are unable to vote that day, you can go to an advance polling station at Heritage House, 100 Lorne St. between 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25 and Wednesday, April 1.
For information on the referendum check out the Kamloops Centre for the Arts Society website here.
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