Edmonton city councilors want to know how a $55 million shortfall will be made up before voting on a plan to build a $480 million downtown arena to house the Oilers.
Which seems rather obvious, doesn’t it? Knowing where the money is coming from before committing to spend it? When have politicians ever kicked the can down the road? OK, maybe don’t answer that.
“I realize Edmontonians would like this settled,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel, per CBC.ca. “In front of us today is not a solution. We need to come back for this council to vote on something that can be voted ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
The city has been adamant it won’t put any more into the deal. The problem is, the province has also been adamant it won’t directly fund the arena, and the Oilers don’t want to up their contribution either.
So for now, it’s a bit of a stand-off.
It’ll get done though. No politician wants to pay the price that would be attached to failure.