This is an archived version of a Field of Schemes article. Comments on this page are closed. To find the current version of the article with updated comments, click here.
June 06, 2011
Quebec considers bill to block arena lawsuits
Add Quebec to the list of cities that could face legal challenges to their arena deals on the grounds that they did an end run around proper public process. Former city official Denis de Bellevale and another city residents filed suit last week charging that the city's $400 million arena plan is illegal because media giant Quebecor was given the rights to manage the building without an open bidding process.
[De Bellevale] said the deal amounted to cash pay-out to Quebecor of $40-million a year for the next 20 years.
"The futility and the absurdity of this financial package is enough to scandalize even the most hardened capitalist," Mr. de Bellevale told the committee.
That committee, by the way, was one holding a National Assembly hearing (the National Assembly being, logically enough, the government of the province of Quebec — o, you wacky Canada!) on Thursday on a bill that would explicitly block the lawsuit by declaring the Quebecor contract as "deemed not to contravene" provincial law. Mario Bedard, who's leading a drive to raise $40 million for the arena via seat pre-sales, testified that getting the provincial government to change its laws for the project was necessary because, as the Montreal Gazette described it:
Bedard said Seattle, Houston and Las Vegas also want NHL teams and that the failure to adopt Bill 204 would cast doubt over Peladeau's bid, hurting Quebec City's chances.
That's right: Seattle doesn't even have an NHL-ready arena or any serious thoughts of building one, but it's already being waved as a threat to steal Quebec's as-yet-nonexistent team. I mean, if you're going to go that route, why not say that Quebec has to change its laws to avoid losing an NHL team to Chattanooga or Walla Walla? At least they're more fun to spell.
Gotta love the Seattle threat. Not to mention Vegas (still nowhere to play) and Houston, which hasn't made a serious run since Les Alexander tried to buy the Oilers, and Bob McNair missed out on an expansion team, both over a decade ago. But, yeah, those three are really chomping at the bit for hockey. Lazy stadium fear mongering, and lazier reporting.
Posted by Joe on June 6, 2011 09:34 AM
HEY! Well now that you mention it, yes we are pretty wacky here in Canada. But not to the degree depicted in South Park (maybe half that).
If Seattle, Houston, Las Vegas, and Kansas City all got NHL teams before Quebec City there would still be plenty of ailing teams to go round.
Posted by Dave on June 6, 2011 09:49 AM
Neil;
While I am pleased to see citizens exercising their democratic right to take their own government to court for it's transgressions, don't these types of actions usually end up in the general category of closing the barn door after the horse has gone?
IE: By the time the courts agree to hear the arguments of the citizens groups (assuming they aren't spent into oblivion by the government in the meantime- governments that can use the tax dollars of their opponents to carry forward the case of course) don't arena/stadium deals like this tend to already be 'done deals' and have a significant amount of arena related spending already completed?
I'd love it if the court system quashed all or part of one of these deals, but I don't know of any case in which they've done so - even under circumstances in which their decision indicates that they agree fully with the plaintiff.
Posted by John Bladen on June 6, 2011 10:28 AM