City should pull the plug on Calgary arena deal: Taxpayers Federation

CALGARY, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the city of Calgary to completely walk away from the arena deal with the Flames.

“The arena deal shouldn’t just be paused, councillors should completely pull the plug and save taxpayers money,” said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s Alberta Director. “Councillors should have never rubber stamped this deal back in 2019, but given what has happened over the last year, there’s no way taxpayers can afford to dish out hundreds of millions of dollars so the owners of the Flames can get a new arena.”

In July 2019, Calgary council approved about $300 million for a new arena for the Calgary Flames.

The CTF is calling on city council to completely walk away from the deal and get taxpayers’ money back as the arena deal is being paused due to “a difference in the current budget estimate and the program requirements for the facility.”

“There’s no way council should continue to put struggling taxpayers on the hook for a huge subsidy to the owners of the Flames,” said Terrazzano. “Council also needs to be completely transparent with taxpayers on what’s going wrong with the arena deal.”