The likelihood of a major event centre going up on Medicine Hat's north side seems even more remote following a key vote by the southeast Alberta community's city council in late June.
Medicine Hat council voted 8-1 to defeat a proposal that would have seen the city pony up $51.5 million in its own funds for a $94.5 million event centre - a facility that would be far beyond a new arena for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League.
Under the scheme rejected by council, the rest of the cash would have had to come from a mix of federal and provincial grants, as well as fundraising and borrowing.
As of late June, the federal government hadn't even signed on to the project - and the fact that Medicine Hat's mayor ran as a Liberal in the recent federal election may not help woo the Harper Conservatives to open the vault.
Alderman Graham Kelly was one of many politicians with reservations about spending more than $50 million in city funds on the project.
"Taxpayers are nervous," Kelly told the Medicine Hat News. "They know the recession isn't over. They know the price of natural gas is lower than it has been in years."
Kelly has suggested the city could build a scaled-down new arena for $30 million.
from Western Investor August 2011
