An outdoor skating rink downtown? Cool!

After this week of frigid temperatures, it’s hard to believe Montrealers need be concerned about the future of the city’s outdoor skating rinks.

But scientists from McGill and Concordia universities showed in a 2012 study that the season for outdoor ice rinks is shortening as winter temperatures increase. As hard-doneby as we may be feeling these brutally cold days, Canadian winters are about 2.5 degrees warmer now than they were in 1950 and, according to historical data that researchers gathered from more than 140 weather stations across Canada, the season is shrinking. The study’s authors even questioned whether future generations of Canadians will have the opportunity to learn to skate on an outdoor rink.

So it was encouraging to hear city council’s executive committee discussing, again, the idea of opening a refrigerated outdoor skating rink in the heart of downtown, the Quar- tier des spectacles. This is hockey town, after all, and Montreal should have had an iconic rink in its downtown area long ago — like Toronto’s rink at Nathan Phillips Square or New York City’s at Rockefeller Center.

The rink project is in the plans for the Esplanade Clark section of the Quartier des spectacles. That section is behind schedule and not yet approved by city council, but the idea is to put a large refrigerated rink near the corner of Ste. Catherine and Clark Sts. In theory, at least, it is the kind of facility that could add more life and playfulness to a part of the city that is, very gradually, morphing into an urban playground extraordinaire.

Responding to the growing need for more refrigerated outdoor rinks, the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation has built five National Hockey League-sized rinks around the city since 2008, as part of its Bleu Blanc Bouge program. François-Perrault Park in St-Michel got the first one in 2009, followed by Le Carignan Park in Montreal-Nord in 2010, Verdun’s Willibrord Park in 2011 and Hayward Park in LaSalle last year. And the newest one, in Confederation Park in Notre- Dame-de-Grâce, was just opened to the public. These rinks allow tens of thousands of kids and adults to skate from November to March, a season several weeks longer than the city’s non-refrigerated outdoor rinks offer.

The rinks were largely paid for by the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation, with financial and material contributions from partners like the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ). They were built thanks to volunteer labour from FTQ construction workers and city of Montreal blue-collar workers. Dozens of partners from the business and corporate sectors also contributed expertise, materials and equipment. Bauer, for example, donated 100 pairs of skates and helmets and sticks so that organizations working with children will be able to use the rink in Verdun. After construction, the rinks were donated to the boroughs, which are then responsible for maintenance.

More of these kinds of partnerships will ensure quality outdoor skating rinks across the island. And sponsorship by corporations that want their brand to be associated with fitness and Canada’s favourite sport can also ensure that these rinks don’t become burdensome for taxpayers to maintain. Appropriate advertising and sponsorship make sense at hockey rinks; fans are used to brand names on the boards. While advertising would be out of place anywhere near the rink on Mount Royal or in other natural settings, like Parc Lafontaine, why not have brand logos on the boards of urban rinks? Why couldn’t the rink in the Quartier des spectacles be named after an appropriate corporate sponsor, like the popular Natrel Rink that opened last November at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre?

No budget has yet been presented for the Quartier des spectacles rink, but the Bleu Blanc Bouge rinks are coming in at about $1.4 million each to build, and that does not include annual maintenance costs. A cautionary note in all of this is that, in a city with a history of paying far too much on public contracts, it will be important to watch the bottom line.

But refrigerated outdoor rinks are worthwhile projects, and it is easy to see all kinds of potential benefits for health and tourism.