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“The city is closer than it has ever been to its dream,” said Labeaume, in reference to the city’s and Quebecor’s efforts to bring back an NHL team.

Quebec lost the Nordiques in 1995 when the team moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche.

Quebec City council approved recently a $7-million refurbishment of the city’s aging Colisee, built in 1949, if an NHL team is approved before the new arena is built.

Sunday’s announcement comes as the future of the Phoenix Coyotes is uncertain. Quebec City, Seattle and Kansas City could be considered as potential homes by the NHL if the league decides to move the team from Arizona.

Last week, Paradis again found himself at the centre of ethics questions.

Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson ruled that Paradis was in a conflict of interest when he arranged for former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer to meet with government officials and lobby them about a green business idea.

The ruling, released Thursday after nearly two years of interviews with 21 witnesses, said Paradis violated one section of the act that prohibits giving preferential treatment to one person or company and making a decision that put him in a conflict of interest.

Paradis directed his staff to meet with Jaffer even after the latter was arrested on cocaine possession and drunk driving charges. The cocaine charge was eventually dropped.

Paradis’s ministerial staff at Public Works, where he was minister at the time, explicitly asked him if he still wanted Jaffer and his business partners in Green Power Generation to meet with officials.

According to Dawson, Paradis stood by his decision and said he wanted the meeting to go ahead because Jaffer’s solar panel project “was unrelated to his legal troubles.”