OTTAWA—Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly abruptly changed tack on Thursday by announcing that the $5.6-million Canada 150 ice rink will stay open until the end of February. The original time frame for the rink was from Dec. 7 to Jan. 1, which Joly defended 24 hours ago as a good way to close out the year’s Canada 150 celebrations on Parliament Hill. “We’ve been working with the Speakers of the House & Senate,” she wrote on Twitter Thursday, adding that she’s “happy to announce” the rink will remain until the end of February. “This will allow even more families to lace up their skates for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Joly said. Simon Ross, the minister’s press secretary, told the Star that they needed to “work with” the Parliamentary speakers to get the rink extension because they officially manage what happens on the Hill. Ross said it’s “too soon” to say how the extension will affect the multimillion dollar cost of the rink, which is currently being built on the lawn of Parliament. New details of the project were unveiled this week, as Joly hailed the rink as a marquee part of the December festivities in Canada’s capital region. She said that the rink would be dismantled after New Year’s Day and the donated to a “vulnerable” community in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. “We believe that it is really good news because this will be here for a month, and this will support, of course, important programming and children that will be coming from across the country,” she said Wednesday. Joly’s Twitter announcement made no mention of other changes to the rink plan. According to details from officials at a technical briefing on Wednesday, members of the public who wish to skate will have to book free tickets online 48 hours in advance. Tickets will get you access to the rink for 40 minutes. Hockey sticks, pucks, figure skati ...
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