Plans for a new Calgary Flames arena, which was set to be built with roughly $300 million in city subsidies until the Flames owners abruptly backed out last December over being asked to pay $10 million in cost overruns, got a major boost on Tuesday when Alberta premier Danielle Smith abruptly offered to “assist the city and [Flames] in achieving a successful outcome” by sending in a provincial legislator as her “personal representative” and offering to send provincial funds as well:
As a former Olympic host city, Calgarians are passionate supporters of both professional and amateur sport…
Calgarians are a former Olympic host city? Shouldn’t that be “As residents of a former Olympic host city”? Alberta needs copy editors! But I digress.
Simply stated, Calgary needs a new world class event centre and arena, and the time to commence with this project is now.
Given the critical cultural and economic import of this project to Calgary and the Province, I would like to identify potential ways that our Government can assist the City and CSEC in achieving a successful outcome for this initiative.”
To that end, Smith appointed provincial legislator Ric McIver to be her point person on making sure an arena gets built. And in his first press conference as Flames arena czar, McIver immediately made clear that the “ways” the province can assist the project would include stacks of loonies:
“Mayor Gondek wouldn’t be much of a mayor if she didn’t ask for money from the province,” McIver said.
“I think everyone will get something out of it. If the negotiations … are successful, all of Alberta will. I think it’s a very important part of the business climate here in Calgary. If we’re going to fill up those towers downtown with workers, I think having professional sports teams is a really important element of that. It’s economic development, it’s culture.”
(McIver did not apparently elaborate on how moving the local hockey team from one arena to another will get more people working downtown, or if he did the Calgary Herald didn’t say.)
This is good news if you’re getting-things-done-ist, and probably bad news if you’re a don’t-keep-shoveling-good-public-money-on-top-of-bad-ist. Neither Smith nor McIver specified how much provincial money would be on the table, but by effectively waving around a blank check, they certainly opened the door to Alberta taxpayers covering the Flames’ $10 million funding gap, if not more. But hey, who can put a price tag on culture?
The new premier of Alberta used to host a radio call in show in which she dispensed health advice like “you can think yourself back to health if you have cancer”. NO, not in her teens… just a couple of years ago.
And that is one of her smarter and more cogent arguments, sadly for the people of Alberta. She has also informed us all that she will implement legislation that makes ANY health mandate illegal.
Now that McIver has claimed this project will benefit everyone, I encourage all of you to move to Alberta and demand money from the provincial government. It’s apparently your duty to do so, as McIver suggested.
And definitely come here if you have some sort highly communicable airborne disease. We are soon to be the perfect petri dish for it…