Lawsuit threatens Guertin Arena

Two Gatineau businessmen have filed a lawsuit to tryto break up the partnership that was formed to bring new life to the Robert Guertin Arena.

Romain Brunet and Claude Brub filedsuit Thursday againstthe public-private partnership (P3) the City of Gatineau has formed with the Gatineau Olympiques, the city's major junior hockey team.

Gatineau councillors passed a motion on April 3 to partner with the Olympiques in order to fund a $28-million renovation of the arena.

The proposed renovation includes building a new shell over the current arena, destroying the old shell, increasing the arena's capacity and providing it with new equipment and a new rink.

The project would give both the community a new gathering place and the Gatineau Olympiques a new home base.

But Brunet and Brub claim that agreement violates municipal laws. The claim has not been proven in court.

The two businessmen said they're not interested in bidding on the arena project themselves and that they have no connections to the councillors who voted against the P3 when it was first approved.

Andre Gingras, the pair's lawyer, said his clients are angry as taxpayers because they think the deal disproportionately favours the private half of the partnership to the point where the city is subsidizing the Gatineau Olympiques.

Gingras's clients also said the city should have put out a call for tender to allow the project to go through a proper competitive process.

The seven councillors who are against the sole-sourced agreement have since asked Quebec's minister of municipal affairs to review the deal.

"Just the fact that we did not go for public tender for a contract of almost $30 million I'm not surprised at all," said Andre Laframboise who voted against the P3.

"I don't think anybody should be surprised to see that some promoters are taking action against the city."

Laframboise said he's disappointed because now the city will have to spend taxpayers' money to defend a project that he thinks has been red-flagged from the beginning.