RIM Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RIM Park is a 500-acre (2 km²) city park facility on the northeast side of the city of Waterloo, Ontario. It is named after its key sponsor, Research In Motion.

Key facilities and features include the Manulife Financial Sportsplex and Healthy Living Centre, the heritage Mennonite Martin farm, and the Grey Silo Golf Course. The eastern edge of the park borders on the Grand River for 1.5 km.

[edit] RIM Park funding controversy

The park is notorious in local politics due to the cost of its financing. A Mississauga-based company, MFP Financial Services (now Renasant Financial Partners) provided financing for the park. On September 25, 2000, Waterloo council unanimously approved a lease-style loan of $48.3 million after being told that the interest rate was 4.73 per cent, and the total payout over 30 years was $112.9 million. More than six months after the deal closed, after an investigation by The Record, the city found out that the real interest rate was 9.2 per cent and that its total payout would be $227.7 million.

In June 2001, the City of Waterloo filed suit against MFP, one of its sales representatives, and two companies that bought part of the debt from MFP (Clarica - now Sun Life Financial - and Maritime Life). The matter was settled out of court in 2002, reducing the city's payments to $145.7 million over 30 years.

A public judicial inquiry was held to look into the funding process, headed by the Honourable Mr. Justice Ronald C. Sills. He issued his report in October 2003, making 31 recommendations.

Not one member of city council during the RIM Park ordeal (including the mayor) was re-elected in the municipal elections in November 2003. All were either defeated or chose not to run again. The city's chief administrative officer and its treasurer both left their jobs as a result of the funding fiasco.

However, two councillors who voted for RIM park also ran for other offices. Sean Strickland, who moved the motion, was defeated in the Provincial election held at the same time. Mike Connolly who voted for the deal was elected as a Regional Councillor rather than a City Councillor in the 2003 election.

In August 2006, a judge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice threw out a suit filed by the city against former MFP employees who participated in the financing deal. The judge ruled that the city had already sued MFP and a suit against the employees would be trying to sue the same people twice.^[1]