Calgary Herald

Council's discussion­s on arena deal set to resume

- STEPHANIE BABYCH — With files from Madeline Smith sbabych@postmedia.com Twitter: @Babychstep­hanie

Calgary city council's discussion about the stalled arena deal is expected to resume Monday, though it's still unclear if the public will learn more about the city's confidenti­al negotiatio­ns this week.

Council indicated over a week ago that it supported a change to the $550-million arena deal, though no details were released since negotiatio­ns are ongoing. The discussion­s occurring behind closed doors are scheduled to continue Monday, but if there's an agreement for council to discuss, it would become a matter of public debate.

Coun. Jeff Davison, who previously chaired the committee responsibl­e for working toward a deal for the event centre project, said he hopes they'll finish ironing out the terms soon.

But ahead of Monday's meeting, he said they hadn't concluded any conversati­ons.

“This is about good, solid financial project management with a variety of experts who are helping us conclude on design details and cost,” said Davison.

“The challenges we're having right now are in large part due to inflation.

“We know there's an increase to the cost at this point, but there's an increase to the cost on every capital project the city is currently looking at ... inflation causes the cost to go up.”

Progress on building the Saddledome replacemen­t has been paused for more than two months.

During this time, the Calgary Flames ownership group and the City of Calgary have been working to resolve a budget “difference.”

According to the agreements for the facility, which were signed in late 2019, the city and Calgary Sports and Entertainm­ent Corp. split the capital costs evenly.

Davison said they are working within the structure laid out in the agreements. However, he said councillor­s who are opposed to the deal are publicly underminin­g the process.

“It's not productive to allude to the public that there's a 200 to 300 per cent increase (in costs) when we know that's absolutely not the case,” said Davison.

Coun. Ward Sutherland said fellow councillor Jeromy Farkas tarnished good-faith negotiatio­ns when he claimed during a radio interview that the costs for the event centre could be two to three times higher than the agreement.

“It's the most outrageous statement you could make because the actual deal is on the city website and has been there the entire time,” said Sutherland. “It is impossible for that to happen within the framework of the deal.

“No deals are done in public, ever or anywhere. And if they were, they would fail. You are transparen­t after the deal is done.”

In a radio interview on Global News Radio 770 CHQR on June 25, Farkas questioned whether council will be able to deliver what Calgarians were promised at the original price tag.

“You can stay within the signed agreement and spend twice or even three times the original amount and you would still be within the original agreement,” Farkas said on air, answering a question about whether the budget was still within the deal's framework.

On Sunday, Farkas told Postmedia the public has a right to know how their money is being spent. He said council made a decision about the agreement and he's been pushing for Calgarians to learn the details of that decision.

“I said (in the radio interview), that, theoretica­lly, if both parties chose to double or triple the project, they could do so if there's mutual agreement. I did not say that's the current situation that we're facing.

“I was clear the current situation is incredibly untranspar­ent.”

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