Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Sens president resigns from city boards after casino decision

Pittsburgh Penguins v Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA, CANADA - DECEMBER 16: Cyril Leeder, president of of Senators Sports & Entertainment and alternate governor of the Ottawa Senators announces, prior to the start of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators game, that a new centre hung HD video scoreboard will be installed for the Dec. 27 game at Scotiabank Place on December 16, 2011 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Ottawa Senators president Cyril Leeder has resigned from a number of city-related boards and committees, purportedly in response to a recent city decision that left Sens owner Eugene Melnyk’s casino plans scuttled.

Said a source to the Ottawa Sun: “When an organization pumps $200 million a year into the economy of a city the size of Ottawa, is responsible for thousand and thousands of direct and indirect jobs, and then donates millions annually to charity - then gets slapped in the face for all of that effort? [Mayor Jim Watson] probably broke the proverbial camel’s back.”

Melnyk had hoped his casino project would offset the “substantial losses” of the hockey club.

PS -- Melnyk tweeted a link to the Ottawa Sun story, so apparently he’d like everyone to read it.

Related: Sens owner Melnyk claims $94 million in losses