So let’s get this straight. Our elected officials have agreed to build a new football stadium, but they don’t know how much it will cost, what it will look like and who is contributing exactly how much? Apparently our politicians have spent more time chanting Mr. Asper’s “get’er done” catch phrase than they have conducting proper due diligence.
 
Rewind to the March 31, 2010 press conference at the current stadium. Premier Selinger, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz, Creswin Properties’ David Asper and others announced plans for a new $115 million stadium. They also committed the structure would provide “overhead protection for 80 per cent of fans.”
 
At the time, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project was provided to the media and it clearly noted that Mr. Asper’s Creswin Properties would be responsible for any cost overruns. The MOU states “Creswin Properties will provide a Performance Bond or Completion Insurance to cover any cost overruns.”
 
While the financial details of the agreement were pretty convoluted, the deliverables were fairly straightforward.
 
However, if you fast forward to August 2010, it appears the wheels have already come off the four-month-old deal.
 
Mr. Asper now appears to be balking at paying for cost overruns; rumoured to be as high as $24 million. Further, the roofing for the structure and other aspects of the design were said to be on the chopping block in order to reduce costs.
 
Mysteriously, our elected officials seem willing to let Mr. Asper off the hook for what was promised at their joint press conference.
 
The Mayor recently went on talk radio and reversed the original plan, saying “the cost is we build what's right and if we need to come up with more dollars, so be it. So it's going to be funded one way or the other and now it's a matter of finding out exactly what that number is.”
 
In other words, the city would potentially put more money into the project, but it still doesn’t know how much or what the project actually costs.
 
Yet hours later, the Mayor held a press conference and seemed to, once again, reverse his position. He noted “the private sector is responsible for cost overruns.”
 
Many are wondering why the province and city don’t simply haul out the MOU and hold Mr. Asper accountable for what was announced instead of renegotiating cost and design issues.
 
Well folks, the MOU could be the problem. Although it clearly states that David Asper’s Creswin Properties is responsible for cost overruns, the MOU isn’t actually signed by David Asper. Only the Premier, Mayor and Chair of the Bombers are signatories to the deal.
 
There may be other agreements which hold Mr. Asper’s Creswin Properties accountable for what was noted in the MOU, but if they exist, they haven’t been released to the public.
 
Regardless, the bottom line is that the city, province and Bombers all signed the agreement with the understanding that Mr. Asper’s Creswin Properties covered any shortfall. If that’s no longer the case, or never was the case, perhaps it’s time for our politicians to go back to the drawing board.
 
This time they should make sure they “get ‘er done” right so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for a stadium for which they don’t know the final cost or design.