Among other things, Danielle Smith’s announcement yesterday afternoon of big provincial bucks for a new downtown arena for the Calgary Flames represents yet another flip-flop for Alberta’s premier.

Billionaire Calgary Flames Part owner N. Murray Edwards (Photo: Facebook video screenshot).

Alberta taxpayers will sink $330 million or more into the $1.2-billion project to help maximize profits for the billionaires’ club that owns the Flames as announced yesterday at a news conference in Calgary and in a press release published on the government of Alberta website.

Eleven years ago, back when she was leader of the Wildrose Party, Ms. Smith told reporters that if she became premier the Edmonton Oilers could forget about getting any provincial funding for an expensive new downtown arena that Vancouver billionaire Daryl Katz wanted.

Ms. Smith’s point became moot 25 days later when she lost the election to Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives. 

But that was then and this is now, and in fairness to the premier it has been a long time.

Anyway, Ms. Smith has flip-flopped on so many things in her effort to actually get elected to the position she holds courtesy of the takeover of the United Conservative Party by Take Back Alberta extremists that it’s hardly news any more.

Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).

Still, the cynicism of Premier Smith, now facing another challenging election in roughly the same period of time, was pretty breathtaking – although one has to admire her sheer brass.

“It’s a big amount of money,” Smith admitted at the Calgary newser. “We wanted to make sure that it could be debated during the election, and we’d hoped we’d be able to get a mandate from the people of Calgary to go ahead with it.” (Emphasis added, of course.) 

The UCP will try to look consistent by claiming that the $300 million it’s kicking in will go only to infrastructure near the new arena, and the additional $30 million to a nearby community rink. But everyone understands how this works. 

The UCP, naturally, will try to tie up the shaky business vote in Cowtown by implying – probably falsely – that the deal won’t happen if the NDP wins what is sure to be a close election in which Calgary is expected to be the key battleground. 

Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said yesterday the NDP is committed to revitalizing Calgary’s downtown but that “we believe all voters would expect their elected representatives to do due diligence on the economics and fiscal value of a capital project this size.”

University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).

But don’t count on that happening despite some commentators who think this might be an opportunity for Ms. Notley “to position herself as the more fiscally prudent of the two potential premiers.” (As if it would be possible to be less fiscally prudent than Ms. Smith is behaving!)

That, wrote University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young in her Substack newsletter, would be “a bold move that reminds me in some ways of the Trudeau Liberals leapfrogging the NDP in 2015 by talking about willingness to run a deficit to pursue certain goals – a move that paid off for the party.”

However, regardless of Dr. Young’s reservations and those of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which is more consistent in its opposition to tax supported sports facilities than its natural ally Ms. Smith, it’s said here it’s all but a certainty that the new Calgary arena will now be built.

Just like they did in Edmonton, the expensive deal’s proponents were busy spinning the development as a cultural asset and an urban renewal project, both of which are a bit of a reach given the way these things usually work out, as the CTF frequently points out.

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). 

But this is the age of neoliberalism and no Canadian government is very likely to deny anything to its local billionaires – even ones like Flames owner N. Murray Edwards who bugged off to London seven years ago when the bright lights of Calgary seemed to dim for him. (Despite the claims of Conservative politicians at the time, the tarsands mogul admitted this had nothing to do with Alberta tax rates.)

So the cultural fig leaf hardly seems necessary. 

Calgary was always going to get a new arena just like the one Edmonton ultimately got, and one way or another the southern Alberta city will get $330 million in subsidies that Edmonton was denied by Progressive Conservative premiers Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondeck naturally played an enthusiastic part in the presser. For his part, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi politely said yesterday that since Edmonton got bupkes from the province for infrastructure, after the election he’d very much like to sit down with the new premier, “whoever the premier is,” to chat about a little funding equality for Alberta’s capital city. 

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36 Comments

  1. Daryl Katz was born in Edmonton, lives in Edmonton, is a UofA alum…not sure where this Vancouver billionaire thing comes from.

    1. John: Mr. Katz was born in Edmonton, as were Mark Carney and Michael J. Fox, to name two non-Edmonton residents who spring to mind. And indeed he is a University of Alberta alumnus. For all I know he maintains an address here for business visits and tax purposes. I’m sure he would prefer that we all think of him as an Edmonton billionaire. But since 2011 he’s been reported to be living in Vancouver, so why not tease him about it? And who can blame him? I would too if I had the billion or so required to buy a nice Vancouver abode. DJC

      1. According to wikipedia, Mark Carney was born in Fort Smith, NWT. He moved to Edmonton as a child.

        1. Expat: You’re right, actually. I did do my own research and actually found a web page that said he was born here. They must’ve meant he was from here. Well, I’m not going to correct a comment, we’ll just let this note stand as an apology and correction. Maybe I was thinking of Jordan Peterson. DJC

  2. There can be no doubt that if Alberta falls for this enormous dumping of the Horn O’ Plenty, they will assure themselves a permanent place as being the stupidest people alive. Albertastan, indeed.

    Of course, Danielle Smith did put a condition in and said that the funding for the new arena will come only after the election (an obvious bait and switch move if there ever was one) but I suspect that there are more than a few twits who will jump and vote for this brand new boondoggle, and grant the Calgary Flames a new rink to playing their losing style of hockey in. And if NHL president, Gary Bettman, allows it, the Flames could be shuffled off to another owner soon enough. Portland, OR needs an NHL team now that Seattle has one. Or the Flames can be sent back to Atlanta, GA and never heard from again. (Sorry, Quebec City)

    With all the money that the UCP is throwing around, it makes one wonder where it all came from? Treasurer Travis Towes decided an hasty exit was the better part of standing for re-election … maybe he’s blowing the crime scene while the getting is good? The province’s financial books were cooked? Wouldn’t that be a delight?

    No matter. It’s only Alberta. Wait until the place is completely denuded of what few sensible people are left, leaving only the rubes and inbreds to pay for all the empty promises and broken furniture.

    Alberta has all hell for a basement. Really. Because the basement is all that’s left.

  3. “But everyone understands how this works.”

    Metaphorically and symbolically speaking, the ‘event’ specifically and more generally the entire catalogue of ‘event’s have an overall appearance that is highly suggestive of the organ grinder and his monkey, i.e., the trained monkey being bought and paid for is expected to perform on cue as instructed and directed, otherwise; the time, effort, and money spent on training the monkey has been wasted.

    Further, one has to wonder whether or not all of the usual arrangements [For example, “In the end, Rogers Place was built at a cost of $613.7 million, with more than half this amount provided directly by the city or by property taxes generated by future development in the area through a mechanism known as a Community Revitalization Levy. The Katz Group also set itself up to profit from the surrounding Ice District, with its upscale condominiums, office buildings, hotels, and other amenities.”] have already been made far in advance of the performance theater staged ‘announcement’ as both the general script and its history are by now well worn and where in this specific instance secrecy, an overall lack of transparency, a deliberate lack of public consultation, and the scheming of a “former” lobbyist result in the usual:

    “. . . coalition of business, professional, and political leaders consistently dismissed critics of granting public money to private sports businesses as “knockers” and “small minded nay sayers” standing in the way of growth and prosperity”

    Long ago it was well noted that, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, . . .” and that “We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.”

    The ‘public’ , or at least a certain subset of the ‘public’ seems to like it that way.

  4. I suppose for Smith, desperate times call for desperate measures. If she was not worried about her support in Calgary being shaky, this announcement may not have happened. It is yet again an example of Smith being inconsistent.

    Many voters will remember her coming out against provincial support for Edmonton’s arena years ago, at the time another party was considering it. So, it will sure not get her any votes in the Edmonton area.

    I also doubt this large amount will be popular in rural areas where they sometimes have trouble getting even much smaller amounts to keep the local rinks open.

    While some will be glad for their arena finally going ahead, the idea of government support has been controversial to say the least in private enterprise leaning Calgary. I can see many Calgary Conservative voters having mixed feelings about this.

    Having said all this, I do think it is likely the Calgary arena will now go ahead with provincial financial support. I think the mayor of Edmonton being pragmatic here has realized this and quickly has moved on to the question of then what does Edmonton get. Unfortunately, Smith has been vague on this so far.

  5. I believe he has bugged off to Switzerland now, which makes sense give its status as a tax haven. Maybe he’s living by Lake Geneva with Shania Twain as his neighbor, so culture and all that. The high-tech Shania Train is as good as it gets.

    Speaking of trains, there’s something for everyone. Parents in Calgary can pay to take the kiddies to the Day Out With Thomas event. It’ll be a small fraction of the cost of paying for their private health care, when the billionaire’s club has sucked up all of our public money for their arena and the cupboard is bare. Why spend our money on the next generation when a sad billionaire in a tax haven wants an arena for his millionaire hockey player employees? Cry Me a River is a song, so more culture, and that’s all she wrote.

  6. Take a close look at the lady on the right side of the picture. What is she thinking of Danielle Smith’s comments? BS? What’s the catch? Remember self, this is Danielle Smith talking? or…..

    1. These doubtful looks from women at the periphery of photos of Danielle Smith saying something in public seem to be becoming more common. There was one in a similar photo on the CBC website yesterday, and of course there’s that picture of the doctor manually expressing her opinion.

  7. Alberta drug users should try being billionaires, then they’d have plenty of funding available.

  8. Dani Smith flip-flops when the billionaires actually return her calls. She gets a bit of billionaire cash, they get millions of Alberta taxpayer cash. It’s the Alberta conservative way! Heaven forbid anyone should actually risk their own billions for puerile entertainment. Grown men sliding around on ice poking at a piece of rubber? Seriously?

  9. I’m going by the numbers as per intermission with Elliote Friedman….”Agreement reached in principle ‘
    $ 537.3 million city of Calgary
    $ 330.0 million Province of AB
    ————-
    $ 867.3 million from Albertans

    $356.0 CSEC …..

    Do Calgarians who said no under the last referendum really want this price tag ???

    And gee ,if Canada is so” broken” as per Pepe la P.U. ,how can tax payers afford to shell out millions for a ‘event centre ‘ in one city,with a high unemployment rate, a ‘ major crime problem ‘,a housing shortage, etc etc….

    And IMPO—Calgarians are being dinged twice on this one, if this goes through….yee haa!!!

  10. It is important to see an objective analysis of the benefits and disadvantages of the arena as a great deal of public money will be spent. I wonder how much employment will be available to ordinary Calgarians who might work at the arena and perhaps, even more importantly, the wage scale and benefits they might expect.
    There should be a legally binding requirement that everyone receives, at the very least, a living wage, which generally is higher than the minimum wage. An even better idea would be the living wage plus a certain percentage of the living wage. There are organizations such as Living Wage for Families B C which will calculate the living wage for any municipality in Canada.
    Also, the arena must be required to provide all workers with benefits such as pension (which cannot be appropriated by owners as it was in the Sears case) supplementary health/dental/vision care etc.. The arena must contribute to cpp, ei, and wcb. Part-time workers would be paid at the same rate per hour as full-time workers and would be entitled to the same benefits, plus cpp, ei, and wcb contributions.
    Services such as maintenance etc. should not be contracted out, so workers are directly employed by the arena.
    Concessionaires should be required to pay the same wages and benefits, with a top-up required from the arena if it is difficult for the concessionaires to pay these and benefits while still making a reasonable profit.
    I do not know the legal arrangements on the arena, so I use the term arena although there may be some complicated arrangement about who pays salaries, benefits etc..
    Since these team owners expect to benefit financially in a significant way from the this project, it is appropriate that workers receive fair compensation and benefits. I believe that it is essential to include these in the contract with the City.

    1. Almost all employees will be part time and will never get enough hours to qualify for full time or any benefits. Billionaires don’t get rich by paying living wages to the riff raff.

      1. Some employees are not even employees. They’re volunteers fundraising for community groups like schools and sports clubs. No benefits, no paycheques, just a periodic sum sent to the organization directly. Been there, slung that beer. Got the Pro-Serve certification to prove it.

  11. Sorry, but that’s a rather weird looking facial expression by the woman on the right of Danielle Smith. It’s not even gurning (a facial expression made by rock guitarists). What is it, and what is she thinking? Instead of helping those who could use it, such as seniors, and others who struggle to get by, the UCP is helping out their rich friends. It’s what they do.

    1. Anon: That’s Deb Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Could be anything, of course, from “My gosh, what an idiot!” to, “I sure hope I have some dental floss in my purse”. DJC

  12. The billionaire owners get the mine, the taxpayers get the shaft. What we can take to the bank is the $1.2 billion price tag will evaporate before a shovel breaks ground and the event centre will only redistribute local spending. It would be nice to know who pays for the cost overruns as well as who pockets the various revenue streams and pays the expenses, but I fear those details will never see the light of day.

  13. I think catering to around 17,000 Calgarians like Mandel did with Edmontonians and refusing to give the rest of them a say when they know what a disaster the city is in , is just plain stupid but then catering to the minority is what these fools do. Dumping a lot more debt , in the form of property taxes onto the backs of seniors. This could backfire on Smith. Making it a condition of them electing her is hilarious, in other words let’s see how stupid these people are.I haven’t forgotten all the sarcastic comments we heard from people who wanted it in Edmonton then admitted afterwards that their wives wouldn’t allow them to waste that kind of money on a hockey team when it could be used to finance great family Hollidays that could be enjoyed by all family members. I knew two millionaires , one with 6 season tickets and one with 8 and they agreed with what theirs wives were saying , and they dumped them. It made a lot more sense to spend it on the family.

    1. Alan K. Spiller: These pretend conservatives and Reformers only care about their rich friends. It shows.

    2. Catering to small groups (even if they’re just splinters) works just fine, as long as you remember two principles. First, talk fast and sound confident. You can BS a lot of people by telling them what they want to hear, if you can fake believing it yourself. Second, you can contradict your campaign team, your party platform, even yourself, as long as you stay on the “message of the moment” long enough to escape hostile questions.

      Buyer’s remorse won’t kick in till after the election. “What have we done?!” won’t matter for the next four years. To Cons, it only seems to matter when The Enemy wins an election.

  14. I really think Edmonton will get something from this. However I’m unsure if smaller cities will gain much, other than of course the hamlet of Sherwood Park and the tiny towns of Spruce Grove and Stony plain. St Albert? Don’t count on it! Fort Saskatchewan? You’re in like Flynn!

  15. Danielle pull a Justin? She’d probably pull anything right now to win the election.

    She could pull an odd-man rush and promise to make the approaching election the last one to use first-past-the-post: not a bad play given you can’t get called for holding the balance of power in a perennially hung parliament—probably the best possible prospect for the fractious partisan right. Heck she could even pull the goalie and call an emergency session of the Assembly to impose proportional representation BEFORE the election.

    …or would that get called for high-sticking?

  16. Hi Cool Xenu,
    Yes, you are right. I think from your comment that you agree that the kind of terms that I am suggesting should be included in any agreement that is made with the Flames owner and whoever else is involved in this contract before any money is spent on a new arena or surrounding infrastructure.
    Like you, I doubt that the City of Calgary or the Province or anyone, really, will give much thought to the people who will work to keep the arena, either the current Saddledome or on arena that might be built, working.
    London Heathrow, for example, pays a living wage to its employees and also requires that any businesses it contracts with to do the same. If a huge employer like Heathrow (76,000 people work at Heathrow) or even the city of Westminster in B C (4,800 people work for the City) can do this, surely, a relatively smaller operation such as the new arena can do the same.
    Why don’t our politicians not care enough about the people they are supposed to represent to require that their constituents are paid fairly and given benefits that they deserve? I don’t know the answer, but the politicians seem to pander more to the already wealthy at the expense of ordinary people.
    Interestingly, studies have demonstrated that employees receiving a living wage are more productive. It seems that the numbers on the bottom line even override common sense.

  17. So after refusing to run in a vacant riding in Calgary, not trusting Calgarians to elect her , she took to the country and sucked them in with her lies, like she knew she could, and is now treating Calgarians like morons . Giving them the ultimatum of elect me or kiss your new arena good buy”. Let’s hope Calgarians aren’t that stupid. Seniors had better think about what it will do to their property taxes , like it did in Edmonton.

    1. For any finance people in our midst, how would any government bonds or loan guarantees issued to CSEC affect debt limits municipally or provincially? In other words, will funding already promised to other projects now be curtailed? Could projects already in progress be terminated? What would happen if CSEC were to sell the sports team? Who owns the debt and who would retain the assets, (us and them respectively)?

      We’re going into a provincial election blindfolded. Large amounts of money have been committed to an arena. We, the voting public, have zero details. This is completely unacceptable behavior from our local and provincial governments.

  18. The premier has devoted much time the last few days shilling on sports radio in Calgary. You can imagine the tough questions she fielded there.
    I caught one of those conversations in which she stated quite clearly that when threatened with blackmail by Gary Bettman we really ought to cave to his threats.

  19. Now Smith is promising no tax increases for four years. So which budget is she gonna cut to get the $330 million she’s promised the rich guys?

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