[Senator Clay Davis]

If the Flames leave Calgary tomorrow, the city will live on believe it or not. If all the O&G companies left town tomorrow, the city would collapse and the population would flee. The Flames are not an essential component of life, being gainfully employed is (or how else do you expect to attend a game?). Those companies are more valuable than the Flames to Calgary without question, not even close. The Flames bring you entertainment and as such are no different than a movie theatre. You'll find other forms of entertainment if the Flames leave. If there's no good employment here? You're either moving or having a crappy quality of life.

O&G and many more corporations are here because of the tax structure of Alberta (namely, it's low). If the tax structure sucked they'd simply have their head offices somewhere else but still have operations in the Oil Sands. Having a NHL team around has little to nothing to do with it. If tomorrow Nova Scotia said it was lowering its corporate tax rate to 1%, many corporations would be setting up shop there. Happens all the time in America where over half of all publicly traded companies are incorporated in Delaware. Companies go where the taxes are cheap, and Alberta is the cheapest in Canada.