City of Thunder Bay officials are confident that the federal government will come through with their $30 million to $35 million portion of the proposed $106 million Thunder Bay Event Centre. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, eh? eh? The money is in the bag.
Remember, if you will, that the City of Quebec is not getting any federal funding for their new arena. The building is not eligible for any federal financial support.
The federal Conservatives were dying to find a way to kick some money into the pot, if only they could have figured out how to do it without sparking a revolt across the rest of the country. – National Post March 2, 2011
Yes, you can be sure that the Conservatives wanted to buy some Quebec seats in the following federal election. However, the Government of Canada did not want to get into the business of funding arenas and stadiums across the country. A very expensive business.
Apparently, if the local officials are correct in their confidence that federal money is on its way, for sure, then the City of Quebec should have called their building an Event Centre.
An Event Centre unlike, multi-use indoor arenas, or amphitheaters or fun palaces or whatever it is going to be called, is eligible for matching federal funding. Matters not that main purpose of both buildings will be to house professional hockey teams.
The two facilities must be as different as night and day. Up and down. Black and white. Rich and poor. Big and small….and so on. Its not like you can hold events in a multi-use indoor arena. Nope, events can only be held in an Event Centre. That is a law.
Lets see have a look at a cross-section of the two buildings. I am sure the differences will be immediately visible to even the untrained eye.
See the difference? Its obvious. One is an arena with a few floors of building sticking out one side while the other is an arena with floors of building sticking out one side…..well one is an Event Centre and the other isn’t. There.
One is a $400 million, 18,000 seat multi-use indoor arena. The other is a $106 million 5,600 seat Event Centre. Other than scale, the two look very much alike to me. But that’s just me.
It will be very interesting to see the federal government explain to the people of Quebec why Thunder Bay gets funding and Quebec City did not. Hilarity will ensue. You can bet on that.
I am sure that there will be a surge in Event Centre construction across Canada from now on.
And the beauty of this entire naming charade is that the building only has to be an Event Centre until the City of Thunder Bay gets the funding. After that, it can be whatever the City of Thunder Bay or should I say the City of Thunder Bay’s private partners want it to be….need it to be to make themselves the most money possible.
Isn’t capitalism great!
