New fitness centre for Canso gets major funding
CANSO — A new and improved Fanning Fitness Centre is one step closer to finding a permanent new home at the Canso & Area Arena, thanks to a grant of up to $700,000 from the provincial government announced last week, according to Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) Warden Vernon Pitts.
“Today’s announcement for the Canso & Area Arena expansion project will make this facility a true recreational complex,” he said June 14, following news of the investment from the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage. “The creation of a space for the fitness centre, administration, and washroom and locker facilities will serve and complement the existing arena, pool, tennis courts, sports fields, basketball and multi-purpose court, and Stanfest grounds [at the arena].”
The provincial funding is expected to cover approximately one-third of the estimated $1.8 million cost of relocating the centre from Fanning Education Centre/Canso Academy.
Said Pitts: “MODG will be contributing one-third capital funding towards... the project costs. The municipality has also made application with the federal government for one-third project funding, [which] we are still waiting on. In the meantime, we are still moving ahead with the required engineering work and detailed project design, which is expected to take several months to complete.”
Pitts noted that the project is crucial to creating a good quality of life for residents “by providing opportunities to connect family and friends, and by providing a sense of security, healthy living experiences, opportunities for work and education and access to quality infrastructure [that also] contribute to the economic development objectives of the region.”
MODG announced the first $200,000 of its funding commitment to the project in its 2024-25 budget on March 20. At the time, Pitts indicated that the fitness centre’s relocation will also make room for a new childcare facility at the school.
In a recent interview with The Journal, Canso resident and fitness centre user Mary LeBlanc said that, for this reason alone, the move is best for all concerned.
“What we have now works, but it doesn’t work well,” she said. “We basically can’t get into the school, where the fitness centre is currently located, until after three o’clock, and most people who do a fitness program are not interested in something that begins at that time. Most are morning people.”
Meanwhile, MODG Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Andrews noted that while the “added bonus” will be better hours at the fitness centre, the main driver behind the move is “the commitment by the provincial government through the school board that there will be a daycare in Fanning; they need that square footage to make it happen.”
As for the new digs for the fitness centre – which boasts seven pieces of cardio equipment, a weight room and a Smith machine for weight training – he said, “It’ll probably be comparable, with some enhancements, for sure, but it’ll be nothing less than what [members] have now.”
Alec Bruce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Guysborough Journal
