New Calgary arena discussed ahead of municipal election
Posted Sep 11, 2017 4:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Those hoping to become Calgary’s mayor only have a little over a month left to campaign.
During city council on Monday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi and candidate Bill Smith discussed a new arena.
Nenshi said his views on a new home for the Flames has not changed.
“Just plopping an arena down doesn’t mean beautiful development will happen that will be great for the city,” he explained. “It can be a very important part of the solution and it’s important to have those kinds of things happen downtown, but we’ve got to make sure that it’s surrounded with all the ingredients you need to create a lot of private sector investment.”
He added although an arena is not absolutely necessary it would make sense when it comes to building a new entertainment district.
Candidate Bill Smith, who is all for a new arena, said this isn’t the time to discuss it.
“We’re in a very difficult financial position, which strikes me as odd that all of a sudden during the campaign we’re talking about the convention centre and the new arena and this beautiful vision,” Smith said.
Calgarians head to the polls on October 16.
