LeBreton Arena: Fairy Dew and Pixie Dust

“Moving downtown would be good for the club and good for the city, good for our fan base, but we don’t have to move. That’s the message at this point.”

Senators CEO Cyril Leeder on moving the team’s arena to LeBreton Flats

The National Capital Commission and its predecessors have been trying to develop LeBreton Flats for 60 years. That’s how things work in the NCC Time Zone.

The NCC plans with pixie dust and fairy dew.

The Senators thought it would take time to complete a deal with the NCC but one wonders if the team thought it would take this much time. And remember, the NCC has had a couple of run-throughs on developing an arena and other attractions at LeBreton but they have all fallen flat.

There are three things you can expect in life: death, taxes and the NCC taking a long time to screw things up. That said, it’s nice Ottawans have something they can rely on in this impermanent life beyond death and taxes. Too bad it’s not nice.

Nevertheless, one wonders if LeBreton is necessary for the Sens. Attendance is governed by whether your team is competitive. After seven years of futility, the Sens are competitive … maybe a bit more than that on the occasional night.

Meanwhile, LeBreton Flats is on badly polluted land, is served by a light rail system that reliably breaks down as often as our local governments fail and, if mussing with the NCC is not enough, the Sens must also deal with the City of Ottawa. A rare terrifying double. What could possibly go wrong?

And remember that the city is a ‘partner’ in a competitor Lansdowne down the street a bit from LeBreton and the Sens. Doubtful the city would want to offend their partners with a much better product called NHL hockey.

And if all that is not enough, the federal government and the province will be spending billions to save the Canadian economy from new U.S. tariffs. So much for funding. “You want federal and provincial funding for what? We’ll get back to you on that …”

A new arena is a nice-to-have in a time when a stroke of nutbar Donald Trump’s pen could end Canada. The feds and the province are otherwise occupied.

The Kanata site is a good option. First and foremost, it’s paid for. No mortgage on this puppy. And there’s lots of parking at the site and Kanata is the economic future of Ottawa if Canada has an economic future. That marching you hear is not the school band.

Kanata is served by the only form of transportation that kinda works in Ottawa, autos. Furthermore, real hockey fans will drive to Kanata, even Quebec fans (the ones who aren’t Habs fans), if the Senators provide a good product. That product is getting better.

So the Senators are prepared to reside in Kanata for another five years. Best they plan for a longer stay.

Ken Gray

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