In his weekly newspaper column, Armchair Mayor, editor and former Kamloops mayor Mel Rothenburger reminded us that the Tournament Capital's recent $48 million project for upgraded sports facilities, including upgrades at McArthur Island Park and the construction of the Hillside Fieldhouse at TRU, got pathetically little help from the current government. "The Harper Conservatives," he writes, "have ... put other programs ahead of sports and fitness." Yeah, like the useless childcare tax benefit, the nonexistent pine beetle assistance and the airport funding we're still waiting for. Anyway, the result is that Betty Hinton's best efforts (if she ever even tried) got us only 8% of the funding for this hugely beneficial project. And even that $4 million was through what Rothenburger calls a "federal-provincial infrastructure grant" – which means the money didn't even come directly from the federal government. "The money committed by the former federal Liberal government" disappeared, Rothenburger explains, with the Tories' election win. Where's Betty been while Kamloops taxpayers present and future have been saddled with the remaining $37.6 million of the project?
Cited editorial by Mel Rothenburger
Published January 27, 2007
©Copyright The Daily News in Kamloops
9 comments:
Well why did the City go ahead if it didnt have the money? Isnt this what McNair was warning against when he lost to Lake in the election for mayor?
Betty Hinton promised a $500 tax credit to help families with the cost of their kids being in soccer and hockey etc...and she delivered.
The Tournament Capital project was undertaken and basically complete before Harper was elected PM. I think it's dishonest and unfair to lay City Hall's fiscal mismanagement at Betty Hinton's feet. If you want to blame someone for spending all that money, blame "Mayor Mel" and his big ego for wanting a legacy before he returned to be editor of the Kamloops Daily Fishwrap.
It is obvious when The Daily Fishwrap as you put it is the most common source cited in a blog called "Hinton Out".
In Kamloops, you need a program to sort out the players. Here are the dots: you can connect them on your own:
-Mel endorses Riis but Betty defeats Riis.
-Ofee (Liberal) runs against Betty(Conservative) but loses.
-Lake (Liberal) runs OFee's (Liberal) campaign
-Lake runs for Mayor against Mel's friend and campaign confident , McNair
-Milobar (Liberal) runs Lake's campaign
-Mel publicly condemns McNair and endorses Lake
-Lake becomes Mayor,and Ofee and Milobar are elected as councillors, forming what is known as the "Kokanee Caucus"
Now if you didnt know all that, go back and review all that's gone in the last year and draw your own conclusions.
Well, I guess what you are saying is that if Betty has trouble with City Council or the Daily News its because they (or powerfull people that are part of them) supported or ran for her opponents at one time. But isnt that to be expected?
The Liberals in Kamloops have always been the elite group with strong representation in the media and business community. The Conservatives have always been the party of the average guy . Thats why it drives them insane that Betty has beaten them (and the NDP has beaten them) in the last three federal elections.
The NDP does well because it has the solid support of the white collar (like teachers) and some blue collar union workers (although a lot blue collars have gone Conservative because of gun control and policies on crime).
Its a two party (NDP/Conservative) race in Kamloops Thompson Cariboo, but at least you can tell those two parties apart. The Liberals pretend to be both.
Its not news reporting in Kamloops, its the media occupying the role of the corrupt Sheriff in a small town in Alabama, and keeping everyone in line with their power
"The Beer League Capital of Canada"
has a better ring to it than Tournament Capital because that is really what the people of Kamloops are paying for with this scam.
Is it any accident that the BC Liquor
Store in North Kamloops sell more beer than any other outlet in B.C.??
Ask any criminal lawyer what the number one problem with most of their clients is, and they will tell you its not drugs, its alcohol.
Sports and beer have become so intertwined that you cant even think of baseball without thinking beer.
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