Steinbach city councillor Susan Penner says it's time to scrap the idea of a Performing Arts Centre. She says Steinbach cannot afford a $24 million facility like this.

In her resolution last April to scrap plans for a multiplex in Steinbach, which was approved by city council by a vote of 5-2, Penner said the city should go ahead with a performing arts centre downtown, conditional on getting private and government funding toward the project. But Penner now believes it's extremely unlikely that the federal and provincial governments will each contribute $7.5 million as has been requested by the city.

"It really is a long shot so; How long do we indefinitely just keep hoping for this project to happen? Maybe at some point it's appropriate for council to say, we need to stop this and look to something that is more affordable for our community. Maybe that's day-to-day space for the arts centre, maybe that's something else, but common sense tells us that this project is far beyond the scope of our community. If we know that, I don't know that we should just sit back and say, hey we did what we could. I think maybe it's time for us now to lead and say this is a long shot, let's do something we can do. Let's take a look at something that is affordable for our community." "

Penner says, while Steinbach is a busy centre for southeastern Manitoba, it doesn't have the tax base to support expensive buildings like the proposed Performing Arts Centre.

"Because we are a regional centre, there's a perception that our tax base and the taxes we take in are a lot higher than they actually are. If the region was to get together and talk about some of these facilities, I think that's a different discussion. But I think it's a challenge for Steinbach because ultimately the tax base is quite small in spite of all the people we serve."