Sudbury councillor says U.S. tariffs fears should halt work on downtown events centre

With the Trump tariff threat looming, Sudbury councillor Bill Leduc says the city should halt work on its new events centre downtown.

A Sudbury city councillor says he will introduce a motion at Tuesday night’s council meeting to stop work on the new event centre/arena because of tariff threats from the United States.

Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc said he wants more information on the impacts of Donald Trump’s threats of 25 per cent tariffs on the $200 million downtown events centre.

Leduc wants a staff report outlining the direct impacts of the tariffs on the cost of construction, which he said will have to be downsized.

He said he’s worried the U.S. tariffs would increase the cost of the project by 25 per cent.

“We are looking at a $200 million project. Put 25 per cent on you are talking now $250 million and I can’t support going any higher than what we are talking,” Leduc said.

“So at this point in time I want to see what these tariffs and how these tariffs are going to impact our community and the construction industry.”

He said he also has concerns that the only two vendor-operators that have prequalified to manage the new events centre for the city are American companies.