Debt Clock rolls into Ottawa to ‘sound the alarm’ on Liberal spending – Western Standard

Regina and Saskatoon have made a bid for the next World Junior Hockey Championship, a tournament available because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Each city fronted $350,000 to back up the bid, which was approved unanimously by Saskatoon City Council. At Regina City Hall, Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli was the only one opposed.

I wouldnt really vote against it, so this is really a lame attempt at an April Fools Joke, Mancinelli said. Im totally for it.

Tourism Regina and Tourism Saskatoon are working together to announce a formal bid. The International Ice Hockey Federation set April 4 as the deadline for applications, with a winning bid to be approved April 25.

Regina Ward 10 Coun. Landon Mohl said he was happy to be at the Friday morning city council meeting to formally approve the allocation of funds, which will only be spent if the bid is successful.

That was a very exciting meeting for me. It was a pleasure to be there, Mohl told the Western Standard.

Regina Exhibition Association Limited, [City of] Regina administration, and Economic Development Regina unbelievable what they did in four days time. They got the notice Monday morning from Hockey Canada they had the opportunity to be one of the city combos to bid. They put in a lot of 12 to 16-hour days. These guys were working on it all night long.

The potential economic spinoff is estimated at $28 million to $32 million. Regina and Saskatoon expanded their arenas to host the 2010 World Juniors. Mohl recalls how smaller Saskatchewan cities also participated, allowing guest countries to feel they had their own homes away from home.

Each respective country had their own arena. Okay. And all the construction was a rush to get everything fired up and turned on. And I remember walking by Canadas arena that they had and how [the players] had the Canadian flag draped over their shoulders as theyre all getting their pictures taken, Mohl recalled

It was a special moment for me to witness that. And so this will be great for the city of Regina, the city of Saskatoon and all of Saskatchewan. And it will be great for Hockey Saskatchewan because most kids will get to see and aspire to become their own international athletes. Its just fantastic. I love hockey!

Mohl says Prince Albert and other smaller cities could also get a game or two, should the bid be successful. To do so, he says the Saskatchewan bid would have to be chosen over Ottawa-Montreal, Halifax, and possibly Winnipeg-Brandon.

A winning bid would be especially meaningful for Regina hockey fans who will almost certainly see Connor Bedard play against international opponents. In the recent World Juniors tournament in Alberta, cut short due to the pandemic, Bedard became the seventh 16-year-old to ever play in the 45-year-old tournament. Bedards four goals in a game against Austria were the most ever scored by player his age, one more than Wayne Gretzky scored against Czechoslovakia in 1977.

Mohl said the $350,000 would be well worth it for the economic spinoff, and is typical for hosting events.

We set aside $2 million for the Grey Cup. Theres a lot of expenses to set everything up, to pay for the facilities and everything else to host. So its no different than hosting these World Juniors. Youve got to set aside for that purpose.

The City of Regina provided $100,000 in cash and $50,000 in services to host the Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic when the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets played at Mosaic Stadium in 2019.

In 2010, the only games in Regina that included Team Canada were pre-tournament. The citys Brandt Centre has a capacity of 6,484. Saskatoons SaskTel Centre can host 15,195. The 2023 tournament will be played from December 26, 2022 to January 5, 2023.

Lee Harding is a Saskatchewan-based reporter for the Western Standard.

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Debt Clock rolls into Ottawa to 'sound the alarm' on Liberal spending - Western Standard