Council defers decision to whether to have City throw Hip anniversary celebration

The motion asks Council to approve $350K, staff was directed to bring back more information.

Fans of the Tragically Hip will have wait a little longer to find out if the City of Kingston is going to hold a celebration to mark the 10th anniversary of the band's final show.

A motion was brought to Council at Tuesday's meeting to approve $350,000 from the Working Reserve Fund for programming, events and activations and associated production needs.

But Council decided to defer a decision on the motion until staff can provide more details of what is involved in the celebrations before approving the funding.

Cllr Wendy Stephen moved that the motion be deferred explaining that there is not enough information from the initial staff report to make a proper decision.

Cllr. Brandon Tozzo was one of the 12 of the 13 on Council to vote in favour of deferring and says doing their due diligence is the best way forward.

Cllr Ryan Boehme also voted to defer but questioned whether spending taxpayer's money to throw this celebration is necessary.

Cllr Jeff McLaren was the only one to vote against the deferral adding he would have voted to defeat the original motion. 

The motion will be brought back to Council at a meeting no later than Mar 24.

The legendary Canadian rock band played their final show with lead singer Gord Downie in their hometown of Kingston on Aug 20, 2016. Downie would die of brain cancer 14 months later.

Story by Ken Hashizume