[Newsbot]

Title: Provincial money for new Calgary arena not out of the question: Notley | Alberta
Category: Provincial Politics
Posted By: Alta_redneck
Date: 2015-08-17 10:54:06
Canadian

[Alta_redneck]

Look at her doing exactly what she said she'd never do, buy an election.

[N_Fiddledog]

And in BC we just shake our heads.

Remember the "Fast Ferries Fiasco" guys?

[BartSimpson]

This nonsense of governments giving billions in subsidies to billionaires who own sports teams is detestable.

[Freakinoldguy]

A politician is a politician is a politician.

So, TBH should we expect any better from a left wing one?

[BRAH]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

Look at her doing exactly what she said she'd never do, buy an election.

[Unsound]

This is kind of funny tbh

I wonder what Mayor Iveson will squeeze out of her for Edmonton, if they do this for Calgary?

Cause there's no way one of the kids gets a treat without the other one kicking up a fuss.

[andyt]

Too bad. I thought she was better than that.

[Thanos]

It might be a necessity as a job creating effort, given how bad things are here now. Just doing the land remediation from cleaning up the contamination from the creosote plant that used to be on the site decades ago will take years of work. If they can make sure the province get's it's share back in taxes it might work out OK. As opposed to when a new stadium or arena is "needed" in the US, the Flames owners haven't threatened to move the team or demand 100% of the take even when the place gets built by taxpayer dollars.

[andyt]

I don't know the local situation, but my impression is that these things always turn into boondoggles. Probably better job creation opportunities out there. Build infrastructure that actually makes money.

[Thanos]

Everything this size anywhere always turns into a total schmozz. So do most other essential infrastructure projects too. I'm not sure that going over-budget wipes out the benefits from job creation anyway, even if the jobs are temporary to the life of the project.

[andyt]

It's not the over budget so much (within reason) it's what the infrastructure is used for. Watching grown men play games doesn't produce anything. Building transportation infrastructure, otoh, actually helps to move goods and people. Or building a fcuking refinery so we're not shipping bitumen south at a cheap price, then buying gas back at a gouging price. Or building renewable energy, even if it's not the cheapest, to get ghg credits. Or just giving money to poor people so their kids grow up being less of a drain on society and the money just gets pumped right back into the economy. Or just look at whatever the economic choke point is for the particular region - it certainly ain't going to be a stadium, I'm pretty sure.

[Unsound]

A stadium by itself won't do much, but if they're smart and they tie a bunch of other development to it, like Edmonton did, it could have a real effect.

THis shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of the project though. I fully intend to write an angry "vent" or two to the journal if the province does kick money in. Not so much because of any principal, but because I just know those hicks down south will come up here to steal the plans for our arena, and then they'll build it with everything 1mm bigger and slightly more expensive materials just so they can say their arena is better than ours

[BRAH]

Unsound Unsound:

A stadium by itself won't do much, but if they're smart and they tie a bunch of other development to it, like Edmonton did, it could have a real effect.

THis shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of the project though. I fully intend to write an angry "vent" or two to the journal if the province does kick money in. Not so much because of any principal, but because I just know those hicks down south will come up here to steal the plans for our arena, and then they'll build it with everything 1mm bigger and slightly more expensive materials just so they can say their arena is better than ours

It's already having an effect in Edmonton's much needed downtown redevelopment that's always been 100 steps behind Calgary's.

[Thanos]

If it goes through it would result in a thorough redevelopment of the western part of the Calgary downtown core, including re-designed roads, new shopping, and new housing as well.