A Winnipeg hockey executive alleges the city is locking him out of an arena in retaliation for speaking out about its condition last week. Barry Bonni, founder and president of the River East Royal Knights hockey team, went public last week with his concerns about the condition of city rinks after it was announced the Terry Sawchuk Arena and the West Kildonan Memorial Community Centre would both be closed due to repairs being needed. Bonni, who has an office at the Terry Sawchuk Arena, said he went to the arena on Friday, but discovered he was locked out. “They had all the locks changed and everything,” he said. “If I need to go in there to get any stuff or anything, they’d be locking the doors and I would have to make an appointment to have somebody escort me into the building to go into my office or my change room, which both have a separate entrance and they’re nowhere near the rink area.” Bonni said he believes the city “dragged their feet” on getting repairs completed during the off-season, with inspections and work happening right when the season began. He believes the closure and changing of the locks is “retaliatory” for him speaking out. “I’ve operated this team for 45 years,” he said. “I’ve had keys to the building for almost 25 years, and I’ve always gone in and out. Never ever have an issue.” Bonni added, “They didn’t even contact me or give me an opportunity to clear my stuff out of what I need, and that’s very frustrating.” A city spokesperson told CTV News Sunday they apologize for the “inconvenience” Bonni is experiencing. “While work is underway to determine the scale of repairs required, we are limiting access out of an abundance of caution,” the spokesperson wrote. “For any user groups needing access to relocate equipment, they should make arrangements with appropriate city staff.” Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein spoke out against what happened to Bonni, calling it “another example of bullying at city hall.” “It’s funny that it’s now a safety issue because he went to the media to complain about the lack of maintenance being done,” Klein said during a news conference Saturday afternoon. “I feel bad for him. I think that’s a terrible, terrible way to treat taxpayers.” Klein said if elected mayor on Oct. 28, he would propose redirecting some of the money earmarked for upgrades to walking and cycling paths to help upgrade arenas in the city. “I think the least we can do is to ensure the basic minimum safety of our infrastructure, our arenas, and our community centres before we start spending hundreds of millions building larger ones and grandiose community centres, which we have seen under this government for the last four years,” Klein said. Speaking Sunday, Scott Gillingham again reiterated the closure was due to safety purposes. “There’s a serious structural issue in that building, and so our staff needs to make sure we know who’s going in and out and when they’re going in and out,” he said. “We can’t jeopardize the health and safety of individuals at a time like this.” Gillingham has promised, if re-elected, to spend $60 million to fund repairs to arenas, pools, and other recreation buildings in the city. Gillingham said he was reaching out to Bonni on Sunday to hear his concerns and said he understands his frustrations. “I understand our staff has been working with him to try to make arrangements to move their storage items so that we can make sure that he gets access to the things that he needs while maintaining safety for everybody,” he said. Bonni said, in recent days, he has been working to try and reschedule games at new arenas. “The frustration is not only finding ice time, but then we have to advise our referee in chief, who’s already assigned officials to all our games,” he said. “Now he’s got to change them all to a different location, in some cases a different time, and find out if the officials will be available in those times. So, it’s not just us; it’s chaos for the whole league.” -With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki
