Harper won't budge on financing Expo bid: Edmonton mayor
EDMONTON — Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel said he had no success Monday in trying to convince Prime Minister Stephen Harper to change his mind about funding the city's Expo 2017 bid.
Mandel was furious last week after the federal government announced that in order to fight the deficit, it wouldn't support Edmonton's $2.3-billion proposal to host the world's fair as part of Canada's 150th anniversary.
He has criticized local MP and Conservative cabinet minister Rona Ambrose for failing to champion the bid, but said he couldn't sway Harper during a 10- to 15-minute meeting.
"There wasn't a lot to say. Some niceties about the Grey Cup, and we got into the issue," Mandel said, who wasn't with the prime minister during the football game.
"It was kind of him to meet with us, but nothing came of it, nothing of significance . . . He has been in Edmonton several times. He has never bothered to contact us any time previously."
Harper indicated the federal government hasn't determined how it will mark the country's upcoming birthday, with the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 being the next big historical commemoration, Mandel said.
Mandel jokingly called that fight between the Americans and the British colonies in what is now Central Canada "a big event here in Western Canada."
The end of the Expo dream will cost Edmonton about $2 billion worth of government investment in important local projects, including light rail, Mandel said.
"His government isn't prepared to do these kinds of things (for Expo), but they're prepared to, I guess, in Ontario."
