Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalreg
Get over it that a lot of people in this province do not want their tax dollars going to this stadium.
Honestly most people outside of Regina would rather spend their tax dollars on something useful, maybe fix a highway or two. Maybe a new hospital, schools, etc....
A domed stadium for Regina that will sit empty 300+days a year is not one of them. Keep your tax dollars in Regina then. The rest of the province would come out ahead if they didn't have to prop up the government town that Regina is.
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In not even from Regina... I live here now; I'm from Saskatoon, but I can see the benefit of having a facility like this in the province. Some people will be against it yes, but there will also be some that live outside Regina that will be for it. Clearly you aren't one of those people, and you are welcome to that opinion. I'm also welcome to mine. Has there even been an actual poll done to measure sentiment for the project? Or are you just deciding that most people are of the same opinion as yourself? I know there was one done for Regina, haven't heard about the province's though.
And I'm not sure the rest of the province would be better off. Regina and Saskatoon most likely rake in the majority of provincial tax revenues (not including resource revenue which can't be attributed to any area as no local authority has jurisdiction for that). But that argument is best left for another more politically themed thread, in which I'm not really very inclined to participate.
And as for spending impact, as far as I know (I could be mistaken) the province would fund their commitment mortgage-style. If we use a 3% interest rate (chances are the province can get better with its good rating), and if the province were to contribute $300,000,000 (unlikely they would contibute that much anyway, but I'll just use a high amount for all the people that like hyperbole), the annual funding commitment to pay off a 25 year "mortgage" would be ~$17 million. A $100,000,000 contribution (if open air) would be a third of that number. So to put it in perspective... Since you wanted to talk about roads, the province has commited
$1.7 billion toward highway maintenance over the last few budgets. Not to mention the billions thrown at health care every year. $17 million at most per year over the next 25 years (over time the value of the $17 million will of course decline due to inflation/econimic growth) is a drop in the bucket compared to everything else, and in the end won't cause us to axe health care spending, highway spending, or hamper our attempts to recruit health professionals to rural areas (which is one of the major issues facing healthcare in our province). A swing in Potash/Oil prices or the exchange rate has a bigger impact.
Yes, it's a significant sum and some serious thought/discussions will have to be undertaken, but it doesn't have to be the either/or dilemma some people make it out to be.