REGINA — A proposed new stadium to house the Saskatchewan Roughriders could end up in private sector hands as a condition of the provincial government's application for financial assistance from Ottawa, Saskatchewan Party cabinet minister Ken Cheveldayoff said Tuesday.
The government has applied to the federal government's P3 Canada Fund for up to 25 per cent of the funding for a proposed $431 million retractable roof stadium in Regina.
That fund is intended to provide funding for public private partnership (P3) or alternative financing and procurement (AFP) projects.
The "minimum requirements" to access funding is that the private sector must either design or build the project. The private sector must also either finance or maintain operate the facility.
In an interview, Cheveldayoff said all aspects of the project - including ownership — are on the table.
"Conceptually we've talked to private sector groups about the design, about the build, about owning it, about financing it and about operating it and we've had positive response from the private sector in each of those areas," said Cheveldayoff, who has been tasked by Premier Brad Wall to shepherd the stadium project.
"If somebody came in and said they wanted to own it and operate it, that's something we would look at very favourably but it remains to be seen," he added, noting it would also be possible that a company could take a smaller equity stake in a new facility.
The current home of the community-owned Roughriders, Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field, is owned and operated by the City of Regina. Mayor Pat Fiacco is on holidays and was not available for comment.
The provincial government has made federal funding a prerequisite for a new stadium to get the go-ahead.
But the issue of federal funding for facilities that house professional sports teams has erupted into a national issue in recent weeks as Quebec has pressed the Conservative government to cover 45 per cent of the cost of a new arena to return the NHL to Quebec City, with no private sector component.
While the two projects have been linked by no less than Prime Minister Stephen Harper, they are seemingly taking different paths.
The P3 Canada Fund — which has $1.2 billion to allocate over five years - will only pay for a maximum of 25 per cent of direct construction costs. The criterion for funding sports facilities includes that it "excludes facilities used primarily by professional athletes."
Cheveldayoff said the stadium proposal shows the Roughriders' potential usage of the facility as lesser than its use as a community recreation and entertainment facility.
One potential major stumbling block however is timing.
The province wants an answer from the federal government this fall but that timeline appears very unlikely to be met through the P3 Canada Fund.
Saskatchewan applied under round two of funding, which had a June 30 deadline.
But the first round of funding held by federal Crown corporation PPP Canada saw applications from 20 projects submitted in the fall of 2008. So far, only two have been allocated funding while others remain under review.
Saskatchewan's stadium proposal meanwhile remains under preliminary assessment. If it qualifies for a comprehensive assessment, PPP Canada will then ask for more information including a business case for the project.
Cheveldayoff said the government is prepared to supply whatever information is needed when it is asked for but is still hoping for an answer this fall.
"Time is of the essence. Our feasibility study was done in March of this year and they only have a shelf life of so long so that's why we're relying on our members of parliament and ministers to get that answer for us," he said.
Cheveldayoff also noted that while the P3 Fund appears to be a "logical fit" for Saskatchewan, the province is also looking for other potential sources of federal funding, which could make the outcome of the Quebec situation very relevant.
Cynthia Robertson, executive director of the Toronto-based Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships advocacy group, said that the P3 Fund is not a pork barrel fund determined by the lobbying of politicians.
"From where I sit, absolutely not," she said in an interview.
"They are very much merit-based. I think what they'll finance will be based on the number of projects they receive and the impacts the program will have and looking at revenue sources. They have to look at all sorts of things in terms of evaluating those kinds of projects," she added.
Projects must be approved for recommendation first by a board made up of high-profile former corporate heads and civil servants. A project with a dollar figure the size of Saskatchewan's would need to be signed off on by the federal ministers of finance and transport - and by the Treasury Board as well if it exceeded $100 million.
P3s are designed to transfer some financial risk associated with major projects from the public sector to the private sector while also creating business opportunities.
Proponents such as Robertson say P3s offer the advantages of coupling private sector innovation with more disciplined and transparent procurement and accountability systems on the private sector partners.
But P3s have also been controversial, with opponents such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees arguing they are more subject to cost overrun and often leave the taxpayer on the hook for private sector mismanagement.
CUPE Saskatchewan president Tom Graham said Tuesday he's concerned about the idea of a new Regina stadium being run as a P3.
"If we're building a stadium and the private sector wants to get involved, then they should get the money together and once they've got the lion's share of the cash they should approach government . . . the other alternative is, if we want one that badly, we should pay for it and I don't know if people want to spend half a billion dollars on a football stadium or not."
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http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Reg...#ixzz10HBtlU62
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