Portage College Statement on Voyageurs Hockey Team

On Thursday, May 25th, the Board of Governors Committee meeting was held to review the circumstances around the Voyageurs hockey team. The purpose was to collect and hear from the stakeholders on what they understood the process to be.

Portage College administration and the two Councils (Lac La Biche County and City of Cold Lake) gave their time lines, and their explanation of what they understood to be the sequence of events.

Notes were taken by the Board and those notes will be summarized for a report with a series of recommendations that the Board will go over in the next Board meeting.

Background

On May 9th the Portage College Voyageurs entered an agreement with the City of Cold Lake to bring the hockey team to the Cold Lake campus, Energy Centre.

The announcement came in only a few hours after Lac La Biche County apparently had reconsidered the initial offer to keep the hockey team in Lac La Biche.

Lac La Biche County informed the College of the reversal on May 9^th at 5:49pm, which was publicly announced via Lac La Biche County social media at 6:54pm. City of Cold Lake informed the College of the acceptance of the partnership on May 9^th at 9:41pm.

Dr. Trent Keough, President & CEO of Portage College says, “We were in formal negotiations with the City of Cold Lake at the time of Lac La Biche County’s reversal, and we had no knowledge of the county’s renewed interest. We will honour the agreement with the City of Cold Lake. It is a business decision, not a political one.”

The initial business proposal to the Lac La Biche County was not accepted and the College had to look elsewhere, or face the possibility in shutting down the team.