St. John's will be ready for Canada Games, says mayor

St John's Mayor Danny Breen says he's confident Newfoundland and Labrador will be ready for the Canada Summer Games in five years.

Breentold CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show he thinks the city will be ready by 2025 to play host to the Games, as it did in 1977.

In 2015 the province bailed on hosting the 2021 Games, saying it needed time to determine infrastructure needs and meet the requirements necessary to host.

Today those upgrades are still needed.

"When you take fields like St. Pat's ballpark, Lions Park softball field and King George V soccer field, all those facilities have been maintained very well," Breen said.

"All were built for [the] 1977 Canada Games and all have had significant upgrades to them since. So we've been keeping on top of our facilities as we've moved along."

Critics of the provincial bid say the Aquarenaswimming complex at Memorial University and the aging track and field complex in neighbouring Mount Pearl both need to be upgraded.

Breen said the Aquarena doesn't fall under the city's umbrella, but that the university and the province are looking into upgrading it.

As for the track and field in Mount Pearl, Breen said that's a conversation St. John's is going to have with its municipal neighbour and other regional partners. Whether that might mean an upgrade or a completely new facilityis unknown right now, according to Breen. Discussions haven't begun yet.

"Right now we're in the bid process, so we have to find out, first of all, the specifications exactly of what we need to do in those facilities and then those discussions will take place," said Breen.

"But we do know that we do have the window there to have it done."

Lisa Dempster, minister of children, seniors and social development, is handling the Canada Games file for the province.

Dempstertold CBCon Wednesday the province is well positioned to host the 2025 Games, adecision made in September.

In October,Dempster said, the Canada Games committee visited the province to hold an orientation with the larger municipalities. Only St. John's expressed interest in hosting, she said.

Athlete support

Some members of the province's sports community think bringing the Games to Newfoundland and Labrador is a no-brainer.

"I think that it's a wonderful opportunity for our athletes, a wonderful opportunity for the cityto beexposed to 20,000 people and that we'd be idiots not to take it," saidPat Parfrey, who has spent time with Newfoundland and Labrador's rugby program and with Rugby Canada.

However,retired sport psychology professor Bas Kavanaghearlier this week estimatedall infrastructure upgrades, including a track and field, to run between $150 million and $200 million.

Kavanaghand other local sports figures were tasked by the province in 2014 to assess the upgrades needed for local facilities for the province to make a bid onthe 2021 games.

Dempster said the province has been tucking away money to meet the recommendedupgrades as outlined in the 2014 report. Right now it has nearly $750,000, she said.

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