Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
Staples of the community? You know who is a bigger staple? Husky...or Cenevous..or any company that employs thousands of people because without employment no one is living here. Should we subsidize all the new buildings they'd want? Or course not, you'd think it's absurd to do that. Yet for a pro sports team it's completely acceptable. It's strange how that's all it takes to change some peoples opinions.
Nenshi can love the Flames and not want to give them a handout. A lot of fans of the team fell the exact same way. It's not anti-Flames to not want to pay for a new arena, it's understanding that the arguments for any public funding have mostly been debunked, and the city having much more pressing issues. Unless you're advocating for your taxes to go up to pay for the arena?
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Husky and Cenovus aren't employing Calgarians because they want to. They have to in order to take advantage of profiting off the province's resources. If anything they are only here to make their money and would leave the minute they no longer find it profitable. The Flames owners lost money for years on the Flames just over a decade ago and don't have to own the Flame as they could easily sell them to an American businessman that may want to move them or may want to be the next Jerry Jones. Just ask Winnipegers what happens when you lose your NHL team. Say what you want but it's a big part of Canadian culture and comparing the Flames owners to Oil & Gas companies is disingenuous at best. You will need to do better than this if you want people to take your opinion seriously.
If the CDN dollar sinks to levels we saw 15 years ago things are really going to get challenging and the Flames really will need a new facility to ensure they won't be forced into a similar situation as they were in the 90's. I'm not saying that things will get bad but we have probably seen the last of the Flames spending to the cap in hopes of being a cup contender as long as they are still playing in the Dome.