Saskatchewan government pulls the plug on stadium proposal

It looks like the future of a multi-purpose entertainment complex in Regina is dead in the water.

As of Monday night the province's self-imposed deadline for the federal government to commit money to the $434 million dollar project had passed and Tuesday morning has brought no further developments on the file. It appears the federal government is not willing to provide any money for such a project here or anywhere else in Canada.

In a statement released ahead of a scrum with reporters, provincial MLA in charge of the file Ken Cheveldayoff maintains the massive project could only go ahead with financial backing from all three levels of government and the private sector. Since one of the partners apparently won't commit, he indicates the plug is being pulled.

The news release indicates the province, the city and the Riders will go back to the drawing board to look at other options, noting that the heart of the matter remains the future of Mosaic Stadium and Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco's vision for the revitalization of surrounding neighbourhoods. No time line is given for that work, stating it will only begin, “in the near future.”

Also speaking Tuesday morning, Regina Conservative MP Andrew Scheer says he wants the private sector to pay at least half of the $430 million price tag and take on all the risk.

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That's something the NDP's Dwain Lingenfelter agrees with. He argues the math doesn't make sense to win over public support.

 “Where the taxpayers are expected to put in 90 per cent of the building and 100 per cent of the operating losses, you lose the public in that.”

But Lingenfelter is also taking aim at the Premier on this file, arguing he is always big on vision and never comes through with substance.

“There's been a lot of excitement around isotope reactors or the domed stadiums but then he can't seem to find a way to put the pieces together to bring the project off.”

So it appears in the end all signs point to any future face-lift for Mosaic Stadium or the surrounding neighbourhoods being a dramatically different concept to the one the stakeholders envisioned just a year ago.

news@panow.com