Concern is growing in Moncton over the future of its downtown arena project, as some councillors question whether the city should even break ground on the complex.

The federal government has said it will make funds available, but the New Brunswick government hasn’t made a commitment.

“In business one of the things you do, if you don’t have your funding in place, you don’t proceed,” says city councillor Brian Hicks. “We’ve gone on and spent probably millions of city money doing studies and wasting staff’s time on this project.”

Hicks was on board after the initial proposal in 2010, but he admits his support is wavering. He says the previous Conservative government had four years to commit to the project, and only did so after the election writ was dropped. Hicks also says he doesn’t expect Premier Brian Gallant will make a quick decision.

“With all the commitments that he’s made, billions of dollars of new spending at a time when we’re at a very difficult financial position, I found it hard to believe that he would support a Tory promise when he’ll have a hard job even meeting all the promises he’s made,” says Hicks.

Gallant made no mention of the arena in his State of the Province address Wednesday evening and city councillor Dawn Arnold says she wasn’t expecting one.

However, she says she’s still in support of the project and isn’t worried about a lack of commitment from the province.

“I’m very supportive of it. We’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve come a long way,” says Arnold. “We’re in the home stretch now, I believe.”

Another potential issue is Moncton Mayor George Leblanc’s announcement that he will be seeking the federal Liberal nomination for the riding of Moncton-Dieppe-Riverview.

If LeBlanc is successful, Hicks says he would consider running for mayor.

“I’ve been asked so many times over the years to do it. I guess I wouldn’t rule it out, but mine would be from a fiscal conservative point of view, obviously,” he says.

Hicks says that he would consider the city’s needs versus its wants, and he feels the downtown arena is a want.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis