Senators president quits city board planning 2017 celebration
Leeder steps down after council snubbed pitch by NHL team’s owner to host new casino
Less than two weeks after city council snubbed the Ottawa Senators in their pursuit of a west-end casino, the hockey team’s president has quit the city’s task force planning a celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.
He’s also quit the board of the Ottawa Convention Centre and committees he served on with Ottawa Tourism and the National Arts Centre.
Cyril Leeder is the local face of the NHL franchise, representing Senators Sports and Entertainment in numerous community venues. He was at the elbow of his boss, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, as Melnyk asked city councillors to support an open competition to host a new casino in Ottawa.
Instead, at the urging of Mayor Jim Watson, they voted to tell the provincial government’s gambling agency, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., to keep all local gaming operations at the Rideau Carleton Raceway. Melnyk hoped to win the bid for a casino and use it to anchor a major entertainment-oriented development around his Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata.
“I’m not surprised. I was expecting Melnyk to take some action, and that’s less than some of the things he could do,” said Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, who’d warned that the vote risked sundering the relationship between the city and its most famous business. “It’s too bad. I really like Cyril. He’s done a great job of connecting (the Senators) to the community.”
Melnyk has threatened a lawsuit against the city over its preference for the raceway, and though he’s been careful not to threaten to move the Senators to another city, he has complained that his hockey operation loses about $10 million a year. He had hoped a casino and related developments could close the gap.
The 2017 task force is meant to prepare the city for an army of visitors expected to descend on the capital that year. Loaded up with business, tourism and entertainment types, its aim is to plan “the most extraordinary and memorable Sesquicentennial celebration,” according to its website. It’s chaired by councillors Katherine Hobbs and Rainer Bloess, neither of whom the Citizen could immediately reach.
Watson accepted Leeder’s resignation by letter Monday. He thanked the Senators president for his work so far and added: “I understand entirely that your core business responsibilities for the Ottawa Senators and Senators Sports & Entertainment must take precedence for you at this time.”
Through a Senators spokesman, Leeder declined to comment.