Confused about Calgary's collapsed arena deal? City hall reporter Scott Dippel answers some FAQs
CBC
Since news broke that Calgary's arena deal would not proceed, a lot of questions have bubbled up about its history, the agreement details, what prompted its demise and what happens next.
Construction was supposed to start on the $600-million arena in Victoria Park in early 2022. But on Dec. 21, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she had been informed by the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), which owns the Calgary Flames, that it would not be going ahead with the project.
In the days that followed, the Flames owners indicated that rising costs — and the risk that they would increase — prompted them to back out, while Gondek has said the CSEC was aware of these factors for months before its withdrawal.
And while Gondek said Wednesday the city will pursue other ways of getting the arena built, some councillors have indicated they would like to see the CSEC back at the table.
LISTEN | Calgary's arena deal has collapsed, so now what?
City council is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss what happened and what's next, but if the project's history and rapid-fire updates have caused confusion, CBC Calgary's city hall reporter Scott Dippel has some answers.
Dippel has been covering the story for years. He spoke to host Judy Aldous on the Wednesday edition of Alberta at Noon to provide some context.
CBC Calgary has distilled that interview to answer some FAQs.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
A: It took years to get to an agreement being signed back in 2019. It's a very complicated deal.
The essence of that agreement was structured to be sort of a 50/50 split on a $550-million, new event centre.
The city was going to take on slightly higher costs because it would commit to demolishing the Saddledome afterwards — you can't have two buildings that potentially might compete for a period of time.
But costs increased, and so last summer, the deal was amended.
It kind of went like this: In exchange for the City of Calgary putting up another $12.5 million in public money, the city also agreed that it would take out the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, which was going to be the the project manager for the construction of this building.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.