Quote:
Originally Posted by OUIR@random
I don't know why people are blaming Harper or the Conservatives, this has nothing to do with them. Money will not just appear because Harper is ousted. ..
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It's not so much that we are blaming Harper specifically, it's just that when the last stimulus program was being run a couple of years back, many communities had their hands out for new rinks and the program became oversubscribed. Even though municipalities like Gatineau and Moncton had fulfilled all the requirements for funding, the program was terminated and they were left high and dry.
At the same time, cities like Edmonton were looking for federal funding for their new NHL arenas. There was a big hulaballoo over funding for "professional" sports teams and the feds decided to cut their losses by simply stating that infrastructure funding was not intended for hockey rinks in general.
This of course is equivalent to a carpenter who thinks that all his carpentry needs can be solved with only a hammer. There are rinks, and then there are
events centres which are far more than just a rink and which can serve as major sources of civic renewal and also as a major economic multiplier for their communities.
This is not a black and white issue, but unfortunately the current federal government treats it as such. It is possible that another federal administration at some point in the future might be a little more nuanced in its approach....