Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig steps down from multiplex committee

Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig has stepped down from a task force that is considering location options for the city's new sports multiplex facility.

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Craig said questions were raised as to whether, under the city's bylaws, he was allowed to sit on the committeewhich is made up of councillors, staff and members of the public.

Rather than argue, Craig said he voluntarily stepped aside.

• Full coverage: CBC stories about the Cambridge multiplex

"What I didn't want to see happen was that the task force get embroiled in what is essentially was a sideshow, a side issue of the mayor's eligibility to sit on a task force," Craig told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

"I want that process to go ahead, my council wants that process to go ahead," he said.

Multiplex controversy

The project has been embroiled in controversy since earlier this year, when residents called on council to change the planned location of the multiplex.

Cambridge had agreed to place the sports facility on lands leased from Conestoga College.

But public outcry that the location did not suit the needs of residents forced council to reconsider.

Councillor Nicholas Ermeta took on the cause, telling the CBC in March that council needed to realize "the location they have chosen is unacceptable and that we need to find a site that is better for all of Cambridge."

In May, council agreed to create a committee to look at other locations.

Open in 2020

Craig, who campaigned in 2014 on the idea the city needed a new multiplex, wanted to be on the task force because it's a cause that is important to him.

But, he said, he didn't want anyone to accuse him, council or the task force of any wrongdoing later.

"It's the old Donald Trump thing," Craig said. "If things don't' work out for you, people can claim, well, the system was rigged. I don't want that to happen, especially with the importance of this task force and the work that they're doing."

The city hopes to begin construction of the new multiplex in 2018 with the aim of opening it to the public in 2020.