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Friday, December 3, 1999
'It's very depressing'
Kanata Mayor Merle Nicholds had "no doubt" that Rod Bryden's threat to sell the Ottawa Senators was not an idle one, but yesterday's announcement still hit her hard.
"This is not a happy Christmas," she said following Bryden's press conference in which he confirmed he is entertaining offers for the team.
"It's very depressing. I'm not feeling the (Christmas) spirit this year. I didn't want this day to happen, yet we all expected it.
"Let's hope Santa has something in his bag," she said.
Nicholds doesn't blame any one person or party for Bryden's ultimate decision, but said a big part of the solution to the problem lies with the National Hockey League.
"They've got to take some serious action before they lose all their (Canadian) teams," she said.
"You can't put the blame on any one individual. I don't know who's to blame for the (low) Canadian dollar. That's something that's very global in nature. And it's hard to ignore the issue of (skyrocketing) players' salaries.
"As for the federal government, can they do something unilaterally for one team? I don't think they can. Unless we have all the (Canadian NHL) cities behind us, we can't do anything," she said.
Lanark-Carleton MPP Norm Sterling was disappointed by federal Industry Minister John Manley's continued foot-dragging.
"The chips are down and we have to come up with a solution," Sterling said. "It's up to the federal government to figure out if they don't come to the table this time then not only do they risk losing the Ottawa Senators but Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and the Montreal Canadiens."
The Tory House Leader added it would be tragic for the soon-to-be megacity to lose the franchise whose successes has increased the capital's profile worldwide.
"It's not just the Kanata Senators, they're very important to Eastern Ontario," Sterling said.
Lanark Carleton MP Ian Murray said if the federal government does anything it will be for the good of all professional sports clubs in Canada, not just one.
"We can't just look at one city's hockey team and bail it out," he said. "People tend to forget that the federal government put $6 million into the building in 1993 (when it was the Palladium). Nobody talks about that. There were some people who weren't too happy about the government doing that.
"The Senators also don't pay any corporate federal tax. So what does (Bryden) want? He obviously wants cash, a handout, from the federal government," said Murray.
Regional councillors Dan Beamish and Wendy Byrne believed it was no coincidence that Bryden made his announcement the day after their fellow councillors agreed to cut Corel Centre taxes to $700,000 from $4.6 million.
"We've helped Rod Bryden market his team and his property to potential buyers," said Beamish, who was against such a drastic tax cut. "Why not put it up for sale if the liability is $4 million less?"
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