Next town council to consider new ice arena in 2026 budget 

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Strathmore’s next council will explore the possibility of building a new Olympic-sized ice rink connected to the new Westmount School.

Following an in-camera session, Coun. Richard Wegener motioned that council approve $25,000 for town administration to conduct community engagement regarding the idea. 

Following that process, information regarding the potential new arena is to be presented before the next council during 2026 budget deliberations. 

“I think Strathmore is short on ice surfaces … I did reach out to some of the community groups, there is in and around 600 to 700 people who use the (current) facility,” said Coun. Wegener. “We look at Strathmore Minor Hockey use – a lot of the teams are practicing 50 per cent in the outlying communities – playing a third to half of their home games out of town; some groups are splitting ice times when full ice surfaces would be appropriate.”

He explained Strathmore Minor Hockey has close to 300 people registered on their teams, a Wheatland female hockey program has approximately 115 girls registered, and there will soon be a new U13 AAA team coming to Strathmore with approximately 20 people. Additionally, the Wheatland Athletic Association has over 100 skaters and the Agra-Risk Wheatland Kings Junior B team has over 23 players.

Overall, the current ice at the Strathmore Family Centre Arena is utilized at an average rate of 93 to 95 per cent by the local and surrounding communities.

Coun. Melissa Langmaid said she believes a partnership with Golden Hills School Division on a new arena could create several positive synergies. 

“I think it is (also) important for the community to know – and what I am hoping the public will hear us discussing – is this is not the approval of the new arena. This is the approval of the hearing more about the arena at the next budget session,” she added. “This is not approving the money for an arena. This is approving $25,000 for community engagement and that we will be able to discuss the potential for this arena again in the future at the next budget meeting, and that will be the new council.”

Mayor Pat Fule expressed he liked the idea of taking pressure off the current twin arena, which would free up ice time for families and other organizations fighting for time and bookings.

Additionally, he also pointed out the similarity between attaching the rink to the upcoming Westmount School and how the Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre is connected to George Freeman School, as well as the aquatic centre to Strathmore High School. 

“There are definitely opportunities for collaboration and partnership on this … Golden Hills School Division is also prepared to work with the Town of Strathmore to create a joint use agreement that would allow more access to all of the Golden Hills Schools and their theatres, gyms, possibly even classrooms,” he said. “This kind of a project can domino into other things as well, so we can also look after the arts community at this time if this project gets approved, but this is really just to send it to the fall budgeting discussions.”

Coun. Brent Wiley and Coun. Jason Montgomery opposed the motion.

Coun. Wiley, who said he is not opposed to the idea of adding a new rink to Strathmore, questioned whether this particular approach was the correct avenue for the town to take at this time. 

“What we should be doing first is establishing some type of a rink or arena committee, which includes members from Golden Hills, but also Christ the Redeemer, members from Wheatland community groups, all the different stakeholders that are involved, all the different organizations,” he said. “We should be having a committee that is going to make recommendations to council on what is the best way forward. I suspect the best way forward would be to add a third sheet of ice to the current arena. I like that way forward because the operation costs are going to be too high putting it next to the Westmount School.”

Coun. Montgomery argued based on previous community surveys, the town should be prioritizing using its resources elsewhere, and the prospect of a new arena is comparatively low on the to-do list at this time. 

“We have consistently received feedback from the community that their priorities are things like arts and culture … they like the idea of these joint use partnership agreements, so these are things that we as a council should be pushing forward, regardless of what is happening with this particular arena option,” he said. “The community has said very clearly that they want arts and culture, and more importantly, they want, I believe it is called spontaneous recreation opportunities and things like walking paths to be focused on.”

Coun. Montgomery emphasized while there may be hundreds of people who want and would use a new arena, there are likely thousands who do not, who do not wish to see their taxes go up, and do not wish to witness the costs associated with maintaining such a facility. 

He suggested that, as the election is upcoming and the topic of a new arena will return shortly afterwards, candidates should be welcome to add their opinions on the matter to their campaign platforms. 

Investment in ice arena facilities was ranked 18th out of the Top 25 high-priority investment actions as suggested by the local community, as indicated in the town’s recreation and culture needs assessment published in February. 

However, ice arena facilities were among the top amenities identified for further investment in indoor recreation and culture facilities.

Wegener’s motion to dedicate $25,000 for community engagement on the discussion, and to have it return before council following the election, was passed by a vote of 5-2. 

Coun. Montgomery and Coun. Wiley were the two opposing votes.