OpEd Pan/Parapan Am Games Hamilton Venue Delays

OpEd  Stoney Creek News                                                            7 August 2014

The games are in full swing! No not those Games, the ones that will begin in just eleven short months —- the same old political games that were so fatiguing before the June election.

One of the very disheartening things of the last parliament was the complete inability of the Wynne Liberals to actually answer the questions they were asked during Question Period in the Legislature. And now, if anything, they’re worse!

I’ve asked questions of the Government these last few weeks about the missed opening of the Hamilton Stadium and the responses from the Minister responsible for Infrastructure Ontario have been nothing short of offensive to Hamiltonians. I pressed him – “This isn’t just a venue waiting for the games to happen in 2015. The Hamilton stadium has tenants pre and post Pan/Parapan Games, ready to use the building now. Why did the Liberals fail to make the timely completion of the Hamilton stadium a priority?”

The Minister’s response – “It is unfortunate that the Ticats organization and fans will not be able to utilize that stadium for their first few games….”. He suggested that the new stadium, when it’s finally available will be so wonderful that it will erase the problems caused for Ticats fans who had planned to attend the opening and subsequent summer games.

Not everyone is able to adjust their schedules to accommodate the failure of this Minister to ensure the timely completion of this Pan/Parapan Am Games venue with a pre and post Games tenant already in place.

The failure of the Liberal government to ensure that the Hamilton Stadium was completed on time shows me their inability to focus, to schedule, to establish priorities, to stick to them and to deliver to Hamilton the promises made. The fancy smoke and mirrors wording that the Minister uses for the financial arrangements – alternative financing procurement – is simply public, private partnerships and they can work. But, this government has to learn that even with this financial arrangement they can’t wash their hands of the mess at the Stadium, it was their failure they didn’t ensure that it was finished on time.

The Tiger-cats apparently will receive about a million dollars each game that is not played in the Stadium, but what about ticket holders who weren’t able to get into the game in a smaller venue, how will they be compensated.

And the Minister says that Ontarians won’t be on the hook for the million dollar penalties, but I have little faith that the foreign-led consortium hired by this government to construct the Stadium signed a contract taking on that obligation and then didn’t bring the Stadium in on time.

It’s a sad start to what should be a joyous summer getting the kinks out of the new Stadium so that the Tiger-cats season and the Pan/Parapan Am Games have the best facilities possible.

I’ll keep a close watch on this!