UPDATE: This article was updated to reflect that Leader Sports receives a management fee of approximately $27,000 to operate Big Ben and the remainder of the $78,000 that the Budget Committee cut was for maintanence of the facility.
CORNWALL, Ontario – Local school teacher Matt Manson has helped to organize a group to share memories of Big Ben Ski Centre. The hope being that by generating enough interaction, and stories of support, that Cornwall City Council might reverse the Budget Steering Committee’s decision to pull funding from the recreation attraction.
To that end, he has created a Facebook group called Save Big Ben Ski Centre, where people are invited to share their stories about the ski hill. To date, the page already has 450 followers.
“I want to bring recognition to council about what it means to the community,” said Manson.
Manson says that he has two young boys who learned to ski on the Big Ben ski hill and that it is an experience that cannot be replicated somewhere else.
He said that the cost of ski lessons at Big Ben is a fraction of that of other ski hills like Rigaud and Titus. He argues that it is more family friendly and that it is easier to run up the hill alongside young skiers to give them support when needed. Also, there is the convenience of having a ski hill right in Cornwall.
“For me to take my kids for two hours on a Saturday after going grocery shopping, it’s convenient,” Manson said.
Manson also argued that this meant more investment for local business, because instead of spending a day out of town, he and his family would be spending it right in Cornwall and would be spending money at a local attraction and having lunch at a local business afterwards.
Big Ben would also employ kids during the season, who would in turn spend their money in Cornwall.
Some councillors who sat on the budget committee when they made their decision argued that this move, while saving money in the short term, ultimately hurt local youth.
“Public response has been very vocal and pro-Big Ben, as are some of us on the budget committee,” said Councillor Elaine MacDonald in an email to Seaway News. “We hope to have support reinstated.”
The City of Cornwall was spending $78, 000 a year to operate the Big Ben Ski Centre, of that amound $27,000 was paid to Leader Sports to operate the ski centre.
Some councillors like Maurice Dupelle, have argued in the past that council should not be subsidizing local business.
“I want to be clear, that council is not closing Big Ben,” said Manson. “They are revoking the funding and are putting it up to tender. I feel by doing that, they are essentially closing it.”
