EDMONTON – It’s been the missing puzzle piece for some time; roughly $100 million needed to fund the downtown arena project. In an interview with Global News Friday, Premier Redford stressed no additional funding will be coming from the province.
“We’re not looking to try to create different programs that are going to channel money directly to arenas; we’ve been very consistent with respect to that. MSI is the way that we can support infrastructure projects in communities, and communities need to make the choice as to what their priorities are.”
The Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) was established in 2007 by the provincial government. It would provide $11.3 billion over the span of a decade in sustainable funding for Alberta’s municipal development.
Since 2007, $3.9 billion has been allocated to communities, for projects like building or improving public transit, roads, water pipes and sewage systems, or recreation and sport facilities. Each municipality can decide which projects will receive MSI funding based on its individual priorities.
Early January, the Wildrose suggested another way to come up with the missing $100 million for the arena. The Official Opposition pitched a revamped version of the Keno lottery game as a way to raise the funds.
Finance Minister Doug Horner said at the time that a lottery or gaming option for arena funding was plausible, but said the government’s version would work differently.
"The Keno idea is an interesting idea but, when you compare the gaming model that we have in Alberta to the gaming model in British Columbia, I think there's significant doubt that you would actually raise, on a consistent level, the kind of dollars that they're suggesting it would raise, because we've looked at that as well."
Horner says the idea is very preliminary right now, but says the government has been looking at a lottery type solution for the past six or seven months.
"We've looked at a lot of the options. We've looked at Keno, we've looked at the bingos... There's a lot of things going on there."
Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel even brought up the funding idea when asked about the outstanding $100 million after an arena deal was reached with the Katz Group on Wednesday.
“The minister did make some comments before Christmas about the vision he had for coming up with a new program for all cities in Alberta, so I think that that still stands,” Mandel said.
“It's not going to be about new tax dollars, it’ll be about how to do something with them using casino dollars or lottery dollars. We've also had some discussions with the federal government about the arena. Heaven knows they could put something in,” he added.
However, on Friday morning, when asked if the government could justify creating a new source of revenue and then not directing it towards program spending during tough fiscal times, the Premier said the province would not.
“We’re not doing that,” said Redford.
“Our position on the arena has been very clear. We believe that communities can make choices with respect to their investments. As a provincial government, we provide MSI money - Municipal Sustainability Initiative money - and it’s up to communities to decide how they want to spend that money.”
“I think it’s a great thing that the city is moving ahead with the arena, and there’s certainly funding that’s available,” she added, “but it’s funding through MSI, and communities will have to make their choices, whether it’s Edmonton or anyone else.”
When pressed further on whether the province’s contribution to the arena would be nothing other than MSI funding, the Premier reiterated.
“Nothing.”
In the Spring of 2012, the Minister of Municipal Affairs provided a similar response.
“The province is not going to write a separate cheque for a particular project,” explained Doug Griffiths. “We provide MSI funding for every municipality in the province, which is $896 million this year.”
The City of Edmonton received $165 million in MSI funding from the Alberta government in 2011.
That year, $9.9 million paid for the new southwest division police station, $17.8 million went towards the Dawson Bridge rehabilitation project, $6 million helped fund the new animal control facility, and $14.1 million helped fund the widening of 137 Avenue.
In total, Edmonton should receive about $2.1 billion by the end of 2021. The city has already used about $850 million of MSI funding.
In the past, Mayor Mandel has rejected suggestions to use MSI funding to help finance the arena project.
In July 2011, he clarified the city might be able to use MSI funding to help build the arena, but – since all the MSI funds at the time had been allocated to other projects – additional MSI funds would be needed.
The province determines how much funding goes to different communities by using a formula that takes into account population, property tax assessment and how many kilometers of road are found inside that municipality.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.