[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

They shouldn't, but it's unfortunately the way the world works (at least political spending in Canada), and it's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

It's a bit like a game of poker; we can either:

1. continue to ante up, but refuse to play the game out of principle, or
2. continue to ante up, put some more chips into the pot and try to win a few jackpots.

Either way, the 'house' always wins, we're unlikely to walk away from the table with more than we started, but number 2 at least has the potential to get us closer, and enjoy some thrills along the way (along with the real potential for financial catastrophe).

All told, our position in Calgary/Alberta has been pretty good - we always bring the biggest stack of chips to the table, and even though our odds of winning much back have been terrible, we still leave with a healthy stack of chips.

If it was just federal money I'd agree with you. Where that analogy kind of falls apart is the outsized and likely to grow contribution from the City coffers.