Divorce counselling or poker game? How LeBreton plays.
Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: January 4, 2019
And so the grey patient is offered a Hail Mary at bedside, one last face-slap to redden the cheeks and escape the boneyard.
In the soap opera that is LeBreton Flats, maybe it will work: a final-hour attempt at high-level, expert mediation between parties that first sparred, then dug into trenches and lobbed explosive lawsuits, with an NHL dream in peril and a $4-billion plan sliding off the table.
Say this about Friday’s developments — the three parties are, in a way, playing different games.
Eugene Melnyk is engaged in high-stakes poker, John Ruddy and Graham Bird are inviting marriage counselling, trying to salvage the fruits of a messy Melnyk hookup, and the National Capital Commission is standing by — with no cards, only poker-faced — running its “process” and, doubtless, alerting its “fairness monitor.”
Maybe this is just how these big business titans operate: posture, attack, counter-attack and, when all that fails, actually negotiate, but only at the 11th hour, when conditions are made favourable.
So now comes a race against the clock — or is that even true? — to Jan. 19, when the NCC is to officially terminate the agreement with RendezVous LeBreton and put four years of effort on a shelf. (I say “even true” because the NCC made up the rules and can easily change them to allow an extension of this process, a modest rethink or a total reboot.)
There was something quite telling on Page 41 of Graham Bird’s statement of defence against Capital Sports Management Inc. and Melnyk, who, by the way, “fired” Bird in 2016, though it isn’t even clear he had the authority to do so.
It refers to a letter that Melnyk wrote only days ago, after his bombshell lawsuit, the Ruddy countersuit and the NCC’s red-flag waving had the town singing gloomy-tunes about its downtown arena.
“On December 18, 2018, hours after being served with Trinity’s Statement of Defence and Counterclaim, Mr. Melnyk wrote a letter to Mr. Ruddy whereby he offered to settle ‘the impasse’ between the partners. Again, he requested the construction of an arena in downtown Ottawa with free rent for 30 years.”
Impasse? Interesting choice of word for partners who haven’t gotten along for two years, by most accounts don’t particularly like each other and are demonstrating their displeasure with $1.7 billion in claims. Melnyk’s alleged letter does have that “just kidding!” and “let’s get ‘er done” kind of feel, as though his $700-million lawsuit was just a negotiating ploy. We shall see.
There is a keen suspicion as to what is really behind Friday’s news.
Ruddy and Bird are already deeply invested in the LeBreton plan, to the tune of $4 million. Not only was the winning proposal some 2,000 pages, but thousands of hours of prep work have been done, dozens of partners have been brought on-board and a mountain of submissions have gone to city hall for zoning and planning approvals.
(And Ruddy/Bird make the case they’ve been carrying most of the freight, claiming Trinity paid Melnyk’s $530,000 share of municipal application fees.)
Whatever the NCC chooses to do in 2019, they want to be part of it — arena or no arena, Melnyk or no Melnyk. How to ensure that? Show the Crown corporation that, as responsible corporate partners, they tried every damn trick in the book to make the original plan work, even bringing in one of Canada’s top mediators to “smooth over” the cracks.
You might call it a, “See, it wasn’t us!” approach, wrapped in a history of their goodwill. A statement from Bird on Friday hinted as much.
“GBA worked diligently, and in good faith, for over five years to ensure the world’s best would come forth and make the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats a reality, as a truly collaborative partnership,” Bird said. “We believe that dream still lives on in the minds and the will of these partners and that there is a way forward, a collective solution, through our challenges.”
Inasmuch as predictions make fools of us, put yourself in the NCC’s shoes. Its mission, launched in 2014, was not to make an NHL owner happy at any costs to guarantee an arena on 53 empty acres. It was to rebuild a neighbourhood with a couple of big, shiny anchors.
The Melnyk group, by its own admission, doesn’t build things. Bird/Ruddy have on their collective CVs: Lansdowne Park, the new Royal Ottawa, the Ottawa Convention Centre, World Exchange and the Canada Post complex, and lots more. Now they’ve brought in a referee, even doing the NCC’s job.
Which way would you say the wind be blowing?
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email
[email protected]
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/egan-divorce-counselling-or-poker-game-how-lebreton-plays
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