The Fédération Pétanque Québec (FPQ) takes Premier François Legault at his word: government financial assistance for the construction of bowling alleys would generate economic spinoffs, says one of its representatives.
Bernard Aurouze, administrator of the sports organization, underlined the lack of infrastructure to practice this sport during the winter.
“The sport would be more developed if we had quality bowling alleys,” he said this week in an interview with Duty. It would pay off a lot better than a bowling alley because it’s a lot more popular than bowling today. “
Last week, Mr. Legault made a statement that did not go unnoticed by fans of pétanque.
“If, tomorrow, there is a project for a professional pétanque team that has significant economic benefits, we will study it to see if it improves the net income of the Government of Quebec,” said the Prime Minister.
Mr. Legault made this statement in the House, to illustrate his reasoning about a possible request for funding for the return of a professional baseball team to Montreal.
Mr. Aurouze is well aware that the Prime Minister made a joke by giving the example of pétanque.
“It doesn’t shock us,” he said.
But the FPQ wanted to take the opportunity to suggest the construction of at least one bowling alley worthy of the name in Montreal or Quebec.
“When we saw that, it was one more joke, we said to ourselves, perhaps it is up to us, the community, to have the courage to submit a project to establish an international infrastructure,” said Mr. Aurouze. But that doesn’t mean the Olympic stadium. “
He estimates the cost of building a bowling alley to international standards between 3 and 4 million, within which 16 clay petanque courts measuring three meters by 14 meters would be fitted.
According to the FPQ, strong demand would soon have made the investment in public funds profitable. In addition, the organization of international competitions would generate economic benefits thanks to the tourism that this would generate.
“There is a way to make these infrastructures profitable very easily, but not to the point of attracting a private company,” he says.
The FPQ does not see the possibility of creating a professional team without income from television broadcasting rights. To date, the only television broadcasting rights are paid for competitions in France, indicates Mr. Aurouze, also administrator of the International Federation of petanque.
“It doesn’t mean that we would have a professional team, but it would be full every day. There is a need for infrastructure to properly play pétanque. “
The representative of the FPQ believes that a government program could also be implemented for bowling alley projects in several cities in Quebec.
Electoral issue
Voter in the riding of Marie-Victorin, Mr. Aurouze said that the next by-election, the date of which has not yet been announced by the government, could be an opportunity to make the construction of bowling alleys an electoral issue.
“I have the file on the problem in Longueuil, which is the most pétanque town in the province,” he said.
According to him, this could serve as a test bed for the campaign leading to the next general election in October.
Passionate about pétanque since childhood, Mr. Aurouze is not short of ideas to promote his sport. He even imagines a game between Mr. Legault and French Prime Minister Jean Castex, during their next meeting which could take place in Quebec in 2022.
“Mr. Castex, he’s sure he knows pétanque,” he said.