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Monday, November 22, 1999
Manley urges NHL players to get involved
OTTAWA (CP) -- NHL players should take a longer term view and get involved in the current tax-break campaign by the league's Canadian franchises, Industry Minister John Manley said Monday.Manley, the Ottawa-area cabinet minister who represents Ottawa on the NHL tax issue, said not much is happening on the file at the moment.
"It hasn't really moved in the last short period of time," he said.
"At the moment, nobody has actually put anything substantive forward. There's a proposal from Ontario which so far means no money at all."
The city of Kanata, home to the Ottawa Senators, is expected to make a decision this week on how much, if any, property tax reduction it will grant the Senators. Ontario will then match that amount.
The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are also looking for federal help.
Manley said he'd like to see the National Hockey League Players Association get involved, but he isn't holding his breath.
"What I hope of the players . . . is that they recognize the fact that what's at stake here is not just a couple of Canadian teams," Manley said outside the Commons.
"In the short term it may feel just as good to play for Colorado Avalanche as it does to play for the Quebec Nordiques. But the long-term health of the NHL requires that the soul of hockey have teams -- that Canadian teams are part of the reality.
"I'd just like them to take a longer term view of the issues rather than just looking at the short-term interests. You can kill the goose only once and it stops laying the golden eggs."
The NHLPA has not commented publicly on the campaign, led by Senators owner Rod Bryden, to put Canadian franchises on a more equal footing with heavily subsidized American clubs.
The NHL is involved and can cite a league program already in place to help Canadian franchises deal with the low value of the Canadian dollar.
Manley repeated the federal government's stance on tax fairness, saying there will be nothing from Ottawa until everyone involved offers to help.
And he also restated his case for diverting some sports lottery revenues to Canadian teams.
"Why would the provinces be entitled to reap benefits from a lottery based on a product that is produced, at great expense, by an organization -- the National Hockey League -- and not give them a nickel in compensation for that?"
Ontario quickly dismissed Manley's previous lottery balloons, saying all the lottery revenues are committed to provincial programs and cannot be spared.
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