Most members of Steinbach city council have said before and after last month's election that one priority for them this term will be the renewal of recreation facilities in the city. Various proposals have come and gone over the past few years but none of them has come to fruition, largely due to a lack of funding from the senior levels of government.

Steinbachonline contacted the mayor of Truro, Nova Scotia, which is one community in Canada that has managed to complete a project like this. They opened a $47 million multiplex five years ago. We asked how they got it done.

Mayor Bill Mills says a key for them was to form a regional partnership between their town and the surrounding municipality, or county, with each of them contributing to the project on a per capita basis.

"Our contribution was about $5 million for the Town of Truro, our population is about 13,500. County Colchester is about 50,000 people and ended up contributing about $12 million. We got $10 million from the Province of Nova Scotia and $5 million from the general public and then the balance ($14 million) came from the federal government."

Mills adds each of the two municipalities also contributes $600,000 a year towards operating expenses.

He says one of the big local selling features for the facility is health and wellness.

"Memberships are up to over 3,000 people who attend the rec centre on a regular basis, either for fitness, for hockey or for working out in the pool. If you look at it from that point of view, health and wellness, in the long run, it's going to help our community reduce its cost to the medical system."

Mills notes the 2,500-seat arena/events centre is a big part of their business model and attracts all kinds of events.

"Make no mistake about it, this is a business and it's very competitive out there. One of the things that we have done is we put together what we call the Colchester/Truro Events Committee. We scout across the country and internationally for that matter, building partnerships with different groups who offer up opportunities to host events such as concerts, such as sporting events and the list goes on."

He says they recently hosted a nationally-televised Grand Slam curling event and have just joined together with Halifax to host the 2020 World Women's Hockey Championship, something Mills expects will bring millions of dollars into the local economy.

Mills says they had to overcome a lot of negativity to get the project done but adds it has now become a real source of pride for the community and has helped to put them on the national map.

The 2,550-seat arena in Truro that is part of the centre.