(Quebec) The Legault government “takes people for idiots” by maintaining that investing in the baseball stadium project of Stephen Bronfman’s group would be at zero cost for taxpayers, accuses Liberal leader Dominique Anglade. The opposition parties consider that Quebec is hitting the wrong ball with this project.
Press revealed Tuesday the bottom of the discussions between the government and the group of Mr. Bronfman, which asks Quebec a financial contribution of up to a few hundred million dollars for its project of stadium. The group’s goal is to bring a major league baseball team back to the metropolis, securing joint custody of the Tampa Bay Rays.
If Quebec goes ahead with its financial contribution, it is considering part in grants and another part in the form of conditional repayment loans (commonly called “forgivable loans”). According to him, this would be at zero cost for taxpayers: he would grant financial assistance equivalent to the additional tax revenues generated by money coming from outside Quebec (for example, the taxes of the players or the QST of the American tourists who come. attend a match) and part of the economic spinoffs from abroad.
“When I read that we are told that it will be at zero cost for Quebeckers, we take people for idiots when we say that! »Launched Dominique Anglade during a press briefing at the National Assembly. “The reality is that these investments cost taxpayers money” and to think that net cost would be zero, “is really to assume a lot, a lot of things”.
Of course, “we would all be happy to have baseball for Montreal,” she added, “but the reality is that the government should have other priorities.”
Investing public funds “in a half-team of baseball which belongs to millionaires and billionaires, it is an absurdity”, accused for his part the co-spokesperson of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “It shows that François Legault has completely lost the sense of priorities. ”
For him, to speak of “a baseball stadium at zero cost is like a third carbon neutral link, it is to take Quebecers for suitcases”. Promoters of professional sports teams have “an unfortunate tendency to inflate the potential fallout,” and the government is falling into the trap, he added.
“Promises of investments at zero cost, that’s exactly what these governments did in the case of Bombardier and look where it got us. It’s eye candy, porridge for cats, it’s worthless. ”
The Parti Québécois is also opposed to the idea “of investing public funds in the possible return of a baseball team or, even worse, in the construction of a stadium without knowing that a team would come to play there” , supported its parliamentary leader Joël Arseneau.
When he was reminded of the Parti Québécois’ support for the construction of the Videotron Center with public funds, a project which was to promote the return of a professional hockey team to Quebec, he replied bluntly: “Like what we can learn from our experience ”.
“The government’s speech to the effect that this investment could bring it back in taxes – on salaries, for example, for professional players – does not convince us. It would be quite risky and uncertain to go in that direction, and we do not favor this approach, ”he added. “We have already acted in that film and it is difficult, at the moment, to believe that it will happen more than in the past. ”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls on the government to reject the request of Stephen Bronfman’s group. It is a project that “does not hold water,” he adds, arguing that there is no substantial evidence that subsidies in this kind of adventure lead to economic gains. “Does Legault really hope to find economic spinoffs where Nobel laureates in economics see only losses?” Asks its director in Quebec, Renaud Brossard. “The government must give a clear no and save taxpayers millions of dollars by refusing to subsidize a new baseball stadium. ”