Another thing ... Halifax needs a new stadium more then we do. I know that somebody from Halifax visits this blog. Whoever you are, you should spread the word that the Feds are chipping in $30 mil for a new stadium here. Maybe that will put some pressure on somebody out there to get the ball rolling on a stadium for the Schooners again. It's high time Nova Scotia had a team in the CFL.
Yes Yes Yes
ReplyDeleteHalifax is doing better economically than it used to and may well have lost some of its ability to whine and beg.
This could be serious so I am currently soliciting nickels and dimes to help pay for exporting at least one plane load of Winnipeg "not for profit" executives and hangers on.
Poor hard done by Halifax has experienced a traumatic loss of bureaucratic money grubbers and they need our help and we can afford to lose a few.
Volunteers will please line up on the right...failing which conscription will start very soon!
They're just too polite out there.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am busted as the "new" Haligonian in question. ;)
ReplyDeleteInteresting points on the stadium - I'll have to pass your opinion on to my friends who don't think a CFL franchise would work here. I beg to differ from them as well - Nova Scotia is almost the same population as Manitoba but can also draw crowds from New Brunswick, PEI and even Newfoundland. So if games were held on the weekend, attendance would likely be pretty high. As well, Atlantic Canadians are rabid football fans - university games are well attended out here.
As an aside, I am amazed that Doer and the rest of the NDP were so indignant about the sale of MTS and then raised the straw man of a Manitoba Hydro sale but yet they are so quick to divest Winnipeggers of the Bombers, a venerated public institution for almost a century...
A ha. Now that you mention it, your blog post said you were moving to Nova Scotia.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't considered your point about the apparent hypocracy of supporting the privatization of one institution but not the other. I guess the difference is that there's more at stake with Hydro. People see Hydro as a potentially huge revenue generator whereas the Bombers, at best, will not require another bail-out, therefore fewer votes to be gained by scare-mongering over the privatization of the Bombers.
The Blue Bombers are not a public institution in at all the same way as MTS was and Hydro is. We, as Manitobans, don't own the Bombers. There is a large community ownership group but you or I have no stake in it.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to talk about hypocrisy, use facts to back it up.
It may not be exactly the same thing, but it is similar in that public money is at stake, and elected officials have some input via the BoD or other means. Close enough that a political party could spin it that way, if they were motivated to do so. I don't expect to see it tho.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Jonathon, do you have information about the ownership group? Tried to find some and was not very successful.
Jonathan - I get the sense that you are splitting hairs. Seeing as you seem to have command of the "facts" why not explain the nuances between taxpayers being on the hook and a "large community ownership group." At the end of the day, who is responsible for the team's losses? This "large group" or Winnipeg taxpayers? Where have the lion's (bad CFL pun) share of funding for the team's operations AND capital improvements to the stadium come from?
ReplyDeleteIt could be argued that you or I have no direct stake in MTS or Hydro either. Have you ever received a dividend from either? When was the last time you voted at a shareholder's meeting? Not the same as owning Class A shares in a TSX listed company now, is it?
Oh and another point, if there is no "public" input into the Bombers, why is Doer's main man Kostyra involved with the team? Methinx he is doing more behind the scenes than simply trying out for the Blue Lightning dance team...
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to come off sounding so hostile, and I apologize.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to point out the large difference between the use of the word 'public' as applied to Hydro and the Blue Bombers.
Hydro is a crown corporation, and though no 'dividends' are paid out, the average Manitoban receives significant benefit in the form of below-market electricity rates and a diminished tax burden as a result of Hydro's profitability.
The Bombers are community-owned non-profit. They have at times received government money in the form of land or a bail-out, but this is not contractually specified. They operate under the same terms as any other non-profit (not charity, mind) that occasionally receives government funding.
I'm not sure which side of the stadium debate I meant to come down on. I am with those who state that the current stadium is inadequate, and that renos are not the way to go (lipstick on a pig), but I'm not thrilled about gov't money paying for most of it, even though that is the case with nearly all new arena/stadium projects in North America.
Just one last comment on my part: Tax Payers don't benefit directly from Hydro's profitability. Doer absconded revenues from Hydro once or twice, but we could benefit more if things were done differently. The mis-management of Hydro, and the squandering of our resource is a peeve of mine, and something that I'll be posting on again.
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