Minnedosa dream nears reality

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2021 (1628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEDOSA — When Minnedosa’s arena is completed, it’ll bear the name of a community leader.

On Monday, Premier Brian Pallister made an appearance at the Minnedosa Community Conference Centre to announce the arena would be named after his friend and former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, Harold Gilleshammer.

Originally from Rivers, Gilleshammer represented the now-defunct constituency of Minnedosa as MLA from 1988 to 2003, also serving as minister of family services, minister of culture, heritage and citizenship, minister of finance and minister of labour.

After leaving politics, Gilleshammer became a citizenship judge in 2007.

Minnedosa’s long quest to replace its aging arena paid off last month, when the federal and provincial governments announced $3.7 million in combined support. The town will contribute $3.4 million.

The new arena will have a full-size ice surface, five dressing rooms, full kitchen, upper and lower viewing areas, multipurpose space, accessible elevator and indoor walking track.

Joining Pallister for the announcement were PC MLA Greg Nesbitt (Riding Mountain) and Minnedosa Mayor Pat Skatch, as well as Gilleshammer and members of his family.

Making one of his first public appearances since public health orders were eased Saturday, a mask-less Pallister commented: “It’s great to see real people instead of those bloody Zoom calls.”

Beyond Gilleshammer’s community contributions, the premier highlighted his personal relationship from their time together in government.

“When I came to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1992 in a byelection, it was in a class by myself,” Pallister said. “The fact of the matter is, not having anyone else going into the legislature at the same time as you meant that you relied on the experience of other people very much.

“I see Glen Findlay here, who I relied on very much… and Harold Gilleshammer were kind enough to extend that advice and counsel as they did, I’m sure, to many others over the years.”

It was the advice Gilleshammer gave others over the years, as well as his work as a representative and judge for the community, that earned him this latest accolade, the premier said.

“This project has been in the works for a long time,” Skatch said during prepared remarks. “When Harold was our MLA for the area, he would be seeking opportunities for the province to work with communities, improving infrastructure, roads, ensuring we had good education and health care. Thank you Harold, for all your years as our MLA.”

Speaking to the Sun, Gilleshammer said: “It’s wonderful.”

“I thought a lot about the time when I was the MLA and a minister. We accomplished a lot of things, but the one missing piece was always the arena. We built a new hospital, we redeveloped the lake, we put a new bridge on Main Street, taking it from two lanes to five lanes. We did a lot of things, (but) we never really got the arena done until now,” he said.

— Brandon Sun