Lansdowne: Comparing Apples To Pop Tarts

Published 09/25/2024 · Updated 09/25/2024

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“The city has determined that required repairs for the building over the next 50 years will cost $625 million. By contrast, the city estimates building new stands and a new arena would cost $419 million. Doing nothing would cost an estimated $12.5 million a year. Debt servicing for the new stadium and parking would be $6.9 million a year. That’s hardly a substantial burden for the city, which has a $4.5-billion operating budget.”

Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen

This is ridiculous.

First, there’s the problem of can we believe the city’s figure of $625 million. The municipality is a so-called partner in the Lansdowne project. The city’s partnership on this project is essentially “opening the vault”, as an Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group official said in an unguarded moment.

The conflicts of interest in this partnership are outrageous in that the developers behind Lansdowne 2.0 also come to city planning committee for approval on other projects. The municipality gets almost nothing from this deal … one of the most lop-sided partnerships you’ll ever see. But it does fork out hundreds of millions of dollars to get almost nothing. That’s a partnership? If that’s a partnership, the far-east-end Tewin project is intensification.

Second, the comparison between the costs of city upkeep and building a new north stands is like comparing apples to pop tarts. Upkeep of the old north stands over 50 years would cost $625 billion. Why 50 years? How do you get $625 billion? That’s a wild guestimate at best. So at first blush $419 million (or much more according to the city auditor general) looks like a bargain. Compared to what? A 50-year figure pulled out of thin air?

If you think 50 years of repairs would cost $625 million, imagine over a century. That’s $1.2 billion. Why that’s a lot more than $419 million so the new north-side stands are a bargain. A least both figures in the comparison are in Canadian dollars … well, we think they are in Canadian dollars.

Third, the city is in a fiscal crisis … or at least some days it is and other days it isn’t. So how do you justify adding $419 million to that tally? A grade-school student knows the answer to that one.

Denley’s logic in this argument is ludicrous.

Ken Gray