City can’t decide on stadium proposal ‘without us at the table,’ says Ag Society president

The lights of the Kingston Fall Fair on the grounds of the Memorial Centre in September 2017. Photo by Susan Lynn Images.
While they’re set to make a decision tonight on a proposed professional-grade soccer stadium to be built on the grounds of the Memorial Centre, Kingston City Council cannot make that decision alone.
This is the bottom line for the Kingston & District Agricultural Society, the organization that runs the Kingston Fall Fair — and which is largely responsible for the Memorial Centre being built in the first place, according to President Yvonne Compton.
“I’ve been waiting for someone to call me! I can’t believe no one has, to be honest with you,” Compton said, referring to the media, in a phone interview with Kingstonist on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, the same day Kingston City Council is set to make a decision on the soccer stadium proposal.
But she is perhaps less surprised about not being called earlier than about the fact that she heard of the proposal around the same time as everyone else in Kingston. Compton said the Agricultural Society was not approached about the idea by either the City of Kingston or Victory Ground Ventures, the company behind the proposal. Paul Barbeau, Managing Partner with Victory Ground Ventures, told Kingstonist he approached the City with the proposal in the fall of 2024, and that his company and the City had looked at several City-owned properties before it was decided the Memorial Centre was the best and only option for the stadium. In the same interview, Barbeau said his company had approached the Kingston & District Agricultural Society to start a conversation — but Compton said that wasn’t the case.
Having discussed the ownership of the Kingston Memorial Centre in the past with the Agricultural Society, this reporter reached out to the City of Kingston on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, to determine whether the Agricultural Society has ownership of any lands on the grounds. The City of Kingston did not respond; then, when approached about it again on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, the City redirected Kingstonist to the Agricultural Society. The City did say they would try to find someone who could speak to which lands the municipality owns, but no response was received by time of publication.
Compton, however, was more forthcoming. She immediately cited the long-standing history of the Memorial Centre and the local Agricultural Society, noting that the issue of changing the use of the property comes up “about every 10 years.”
The Kingston Memorial Centre was built in 1950, but its history stretches back even further, establishing the Kingston area as an agricultural hub as modern-day Canada began to take shape. A brief synopsis of this history can be read on Wikipedia, but Compton offered her own ‘Coles Notes’ version of the matter.
“Memorial Centre construction,” shows the construction of the Kingston Memorial Centre circa 1950. Photo via Queen’s University Archives, George Lilley fonds V25.5 13-165.
“In the early 50s/late 40s, the Agricultural Society was fundraising to raise money to build better buildings. And a result of all of that, the federal government, through the Department of Agriculture, gave a grant of $150,000, strictly for agriculture, to advance the interest of agriculture, is the way it was worded. And the province kicked in another $150,000,” Compton explained.
She said that, at the time, the matter was all dealt with in a piece of legislation referred to as the Kingston Act, 1950.
“And a bylaw attached to that Act speaks directly to the Fair Board and the City entering into agreement that, in turn, for the exclusive use of the entirety of the grounds for our fair once a year — so for a week a year — we handed the money over to the City, and they built the Memorial Centre and the barns,” Compton continued. She noted that there was more than $300,000 involved in the construction of the buildings, but that the legislation focused on the government funding and agreement between the City and the Fair Board (the Fair Board is run by the Kingston & District Agricultural Society).
As mentioned, Compton pointed out that the Society’s “rights get challenged or questioned” about every 10 years. And when that happens, she said, the conversation comes back to the Kingston Act and that original agreement. In 1975, the City wanted to do something around removing the race track for some reason, Compton said, and, the City’s lawyer of the day said that, should it be proposed to dispose of or alter the Memorial Centre lands for any purposes not connected with agriculture, it would be necessary to get releases from the federal and provincial governments.
“That’s why they gave us the money!” Compton said.
And, of course, the matter has come up since then, most memorably with the “Save the Memorial Centre” campaign that began in 2015 after the City of Kingston and the Limestone District School Board said they were looking at the site for a new high school. According to Compton, the City’s lawyer at that time expressed the same thing as their predecessor: that permissions would have to be granted through both levels of government to see any changes occur to the lands.
Indeed, the financial arrangements involving all three levels of government and the fundraised portion of funding from the Agricultural Society was confirmed by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Bill 9, “An Act respecting the City of Kingston,” which was passed in March 1945.
Bill 9, An Act respecting the City of Kingston, 1945. Images via Archive.org.
So from where they sit, the Agricultural Society doesn’t believe that the City of Kingston is able to legally make decisions to alter the use of the Memorial Centre grounds without the say-so of the Society Board.
“Here’s the problem, as I see it: they’re looking at this big, shiny proposal that the proponent says, ‘I can have it built next year.’ Well, if they’re going to deal with us, it’s going to take longer than a year to come to some agreement, and the agreement would have to be that they relocate us and make us whole again… And that’s not going to happen this year,” said Compton, who noted she will present a delegation saying as much to City Council at tonight’s meeting.
“We’ll see what happens tonight… The mayor has assured us he’ll work with us, but the timing of all of this — it just doesn’t sound right… In our opinion, they can’t even enter into a lease without us at the table, or without those three things happening, right?”
Those three things? Ensuring that the Kingston & District Agricultural Society is happy and made whole, that the province will sign a release, and that the federal government will sign a release — because the funding that made the Memorial Centre dictates that, Compton said.