Six weeks left to do arena deal: mayor

The city has about six weeks left to reach an arena deal with Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz or an agreement will never be completed, Mayor Stephen Mandel says.

“We have been very clear with Mr. Katz about where the boundaries are, and I hope he understands that … If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. We have gone as far as we’re going to go,” Mandel said Tuesday in a year-end interview.

“If this isn’t done in the next four, five, six weeks, then it ain’t going to happen … If we can’t do it now, given what the Katz Group said, then we can’t do it. Either there’s a will to do it, or there’s not a will to do it.”

Katz Group executives appeared at city council last week for the first time in 18

“Either there’s a will to do it, or there’s not a will to do it.”

STEPHEN MANDEL

months, dropping demands for a $6-million annual subsidy as part of an arena accord and asking the city to restart negotiations it cut off in October.

One major issue in the talks is how to fill a $100-million gap in funding for the now $475-million structure.

Premier Alison Redford has refused to put money directly into the project, although city officials hope the provincial government will increase municipal infrastructure funding or make money available in some other form.

This would be an indirect way for people across northern Alberta to contribute to a city-owned asset many will use, said Mandel, adding Katz has nothing to do with it.

“(Wildrose Leader) Danielle Smith will probably yell and scream. (NDP Leader) Brian Mason will yell and scream,” Mandel said.

“They really don’t care about the City of Edmonton, I guess, but I would hope they would be wise enough to see it’s about Edmonton.”

While Mandel praised the dynamic younger generation of local business people working to improve Edmonton, he said Katz needs to find his place in the city.

The wealthy businessman’s big challenge is seeing that he could be a “mainstay” of the community, Mandel said.

“The Kipneses (philanthropists Irv and Dianne) are community leaders. They don’t need to do what they do — give to every bloody charity that walks the face of the earth. They’re wealthy, but they’re not billionaires,” he said.

“There are so many people like that in the city. Mr. Katz could be quite a figure here if he wanted to be, but that’s up to him, it’s not up to me.”

City council’s next update on the negotiations is Jan. 23, when it is expected to look at various options for moving ahead with an arena and approve a mediator and financial analyst to help reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, Mandel, 67, doesn’t plan to announce until February or March if he’ll seek a fourth term in next fall’s election.

His vision for what he wanted to accomplish in office was simple when he first ran in 2004.

“I thought everyone was doing such a crappy job that I couldn’t do worse. This wasn’t a reflection on anybody who was running or was there before, it’s just that we were a stagnant city, we weren’t doing anything.”

However, he denied that politics requires him to complete an arena deal before he can try for a new four-year term.

Instead, the critical question he needs to answer for himself is whether there are goals he still wants to accomplish.