New Brunswick pulls plug on 2021 Francophonie Games, blames Ottawa

The Canadian Press

Published

6 years ago

7 minute read

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick has abandoned plans to host the 2021 Francophonie Games, throwing the international event into turmoil and escalating a feud with the federal government.

Premier Blaine Higgs blamed a lack of financial support from Ottawa on Wednesday, but some federal and provincial politicians say his minority Progressive Conservative government never intended to allow the Games to proceed.

Cost estimates ballooned to $130 million from the original bid of $17 million, and Higgs said the province will withdraw because Ottawa’s funding formula was inadequate.

“This was a very difficult decision. We wanted these Games to go forward,” Higgs said.

“Without additional funding from the federal government hosting an event that could cost up to $130 million is irresponsible.”

The province’s decision to pull the plug brought immediate blowback from federal officials, but Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and a New Brunswick MP, said he wasn’t surprised by it.

“I think they planned all along to scuttle the Games,” he said.

“We had a number of conversations that I think led me to conclude that Mr. Higgs never had any intention to come up with a serious proposal that would have allowed the Government of Canada to meet its longstanding commitment of 50 per cent.”

Higgs, who took power in November, had previously said the province would cover only its original commitment to spend $10 million on the Games.

He said his government recognizes the Games are an important sports and cultural event, and they’d be happy to host if Ottawa paid for them.

“We need to look at these as a national event with events that could happen in different provinces, with a contribution such as we’re willing to make here, but it’s got to be a different process because this is more than a province can take on,” Higgs said.

The ninth Games of La Francophonie were scheduled to be held in the summer of 2021, attracting 3,000 athletes and artists from more than 50 member states that have French as a common language.

During an event in Quispamsis, N.B., last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would only match provincial spending dollar-for-dollar.

On Wednesday, Trudeau called New Brunswick’s decision “unfortunate.”

“The Francophonie Games are important not just for francophone communities across this country but indeed around the world, and the athletes who were always looking forward to participating, of course, will be disappointed,” Trudeau said.

The original bid would have seen Ottawa and the province paying up to $10 million each, with the two host municipalities, Moncton and Dieppe, paying $750,000 each and the balance coming from ticket sales.

However, a federal consultant’s report pegged a reasonable cost at between $72 million and $115 million.

New Brunswick has a net debt of $13.9 billion and the Progressive Conservatives have vowed to get finances under control.

Kirsty Duncan, the federal sports minister, said they had hoped for further discussions on a funding proposal, but the province never offered one.

“Unfortunately despite productive talks at officials’ level yesterday, they have chosen not to bring forth any resolutions to be a willing and open partner, and instead have allowed their self-imposed deadline to expire for their own bid,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

“Once again, the Higgs government is leaving federal dollars on the table.”

She noted that New Brunswick is an independent member of the Francophonie and said she hopes it is taking steps to ensure the Games can occur elsewhere.

The New Brunswick Acadian Society said the announcement represents a fundamental challenge not only to New Brunswick’s place in Canada, but also Acadie’s place in the Francophonie.

Peoples Alliance Leader Kris Austin, whose party has been supporting the Tories, said he believes the government made a prudent decision.

“As much as I’m an elected official, I’m also a taxpayer, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. I pay federal taxes as well and I’d much rather see federal money going to things that are needed in New Brunswick, and I just don’t see games as one of them,” Austin said.

But Kevin Arseneau, a francophone and Green member of the provincial legislature, said the Tories did not seem to want the Games in the province.

“The message that Higgs just gave New Brunswickers is that we’re too small to do big things here,” Arseneau said.

The City of Moncton issued a statement Wednesday, saying it was unfortunate that the federal and provincial governments could not reach a deal on funding.

“As a host city, we believe the cultural, sports and economic impacts the Games could have on our region and our province are significant.”

Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the MP for the Moncton area, said it’s a lost opportunity to showcase the region.

“The federal government is not in a position to pay 100 per cent of the Games because it just doesn’t meet our funding formula.”

New Brunswick — one of 84 member states and governments that belong to the International Organization of the Francophonie — was awarded the Games in 2015.

The website for the Games still had a countdown clock ticking away Wednesday towards the start of the games.

The International Organization of the Francophonie issued a statement saying it regrets New Brunswick’s decision two years before the event.

It said members of the orientation committee would meet in Paris to discuss the situation on Feb. 14-15.

The Games include eight sporting events and 12 cultural events, including singing, storytelling, traditional dance, poetry, painting, photography and sculpture.

The Games, which Canada hosted in the Ottawa-Gatineau area in 2001, are held every four years in the year following the Olympic Summer Games.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press

syndication.thecanadianpress.com/rss/69467d8c-ad4b-48a4-895e-9e19d79c6c8e

Storytelling is in our DNA. We provide credible, compelling multimedia storytelling and services in English and French to help captivate your digital, broadcast and print audiences. As Canada’s national news agency for 100 years, we give Canadians an unbiased news source, driven by truth, accuracy and timeliness.

Follow Author

Peckford: Hallelujah! Supreme Court of Canada to hear Newfoundland and Labrador charter case

COVID-19 / 9 months ago

Supreme Court will not hear case about government’s violation of rights and freedoms

Alberta / 10 months ago

Alberta looking to ban electronic vote tabulators ahead of next provincial election

Bruce Dowbiggin

MLB’s Exploding Chequebook: Parity Is Now For Suckers

Published on December 17, 2024

Bruce Dowbiggin

MLB has seen parity and proclaimed, “We don’t give a damn!” Okay, they didn’t say that. In fact they insist the opposite is true. They’re all about competition and smaller markets getting a shot at a title. But as the 2024 offseason spending shows, believe none of what you hear and half of what you see in MLB.

Here’s the skinny: Juan Soto‘s contract with the NY Mets — 15 years and guaranteeing $765 million, not a penny of which is deferred. Max Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million deal with the New York Yankees. Later, Nathan Eovaldi secured a three-year, $75 million contract to return to the Texas Rangers. Blake Snell (five years, $182 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Matthew Boyd (two years, $29 million with the Chicago Cubs) added to the splurge.

There’s one more thing that stands out. MLB has no trouble with the financial big boys in New York, Los Angles, Texas, Toronto, Atlanta and Chicago shelling out money no small market dare pay. In the MLB cheap seats, Tampa, Pittsburgh and Miami can’t send out quality players fast enough. But MLB is cool with that, too, as those paupers get a healthy slice of TV money.

So yes, they’re all about talking parity with their luxury tax system. But to keep the TV, digital, betting and marketing lucre flowing they have to have large media markets swinging the heaviest bats come postseason. The question is, do MLB fans care the way they used to about parity? It says here they don’t. More want to seed best-on-best more often. Which is brutal but refreshing.

Their sister leagues, married to draconian salary cap systems, are still pushing parity, even as they expand beyond recognition. In our 2004 book Money Players, legendary Boston Bruins coach/ GM Harry Sinden noted, “The problem with teams in the league, is that there were (then) 20 teams who all think they are going to win the Stanley Cup and they all are going to share it. But only one team is going to win it. The rest are chasing a rainbow.”

And that was before the expansion Vegas Golden Knights won a Cup within five years while the third-year Seattle Kraken made a run in those same 2023 playoffs. There are currently 32 teams in the league, each chasing Sinden’s rainbow of a Stanley Cup. That means 31 cranky fan bases every year. And 31 management teams trying to avoid getting fired.

Maybe we’ve reached peak franchise level? Uh, no. Not so long as salary-capped leagues can use the dream of parity to sell more franchises. As we wrote in October of 2023, “If you believe the innuendo coming from commissioner Gary Bettman there is a steady appetite for getting a piece of the NHL operation. “The best answer I can give you is that we have continuous expressions of interest from places like Houston, Atlanta, Quebec City, Salt Lake City, but expansion isn’t on the agenda.” In the next breath Bettman was predicting that any new teams will cost “A lot, a lot.”

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly echoed Bettman’s caution about a sudden expansion but added, ”Having said that, particularly with the success of the Vegas and Seattle expansions, there are more people who want to own professional hockey teams.” Translation: If the NHL can get a billion for a new team, the heck with competitive excellence, the clock might start ticking sooner. After all, small-market Ottawa just went for $950.”

It’s not just the expansion-obsessed NHL talking more teams. MLB is looking to add franchises. Abandoned Montreal is once more getting palpitations over rumours that the league wants to return to the city that lost its Expos in 2005. Recent reports indicate that while MLB might prefer Salt Lake City and Nashville it also feels it must right the wrong left when the Expos moved to Washington DC 19 years ago.

The city needs a new ballpark to replace disastrous Olympic Stadium. They’ll also need more than Tom Brady to fund the franchise fee and operating costs. And Quebec corporate support— always transitory in the Expos years— will need to be strong. But two more MLB franchises within five years is a lock.

While the NBA is mum on going past 30 teams it has not shut the door on expansion after seeing the NHL cashing in. Neither has the cash-generating monster known as the NFL where teams currently sell for over six billion US. The NFL is eyeing Europe for its next moves.

The question that has to be asked in this is, WTF, quality of competition? The more teams in a league the lower the chances of even getting to a semifinal series let alone a championship. Fans in cities starved for a championship— the NFL’s Detroit Lions or Cleveland Browns are entering their seventh decade without a title or the Toronto Maple Leafs title-less since 1967— know how corrosive it can be.

Getting to 34, 36, maybe 40 teams makes for a short-term score for owners, but it could leave leagues with an entire strata of loser teams that no one—least of all networks, carriers and advertisers—wants to see. Generations of fans will be like Canuck supporters, going their entire lives without a championship.

In addition, as we’ve argued in our 2018 book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports and How The Free Market Can Save Them, watering down the product with a lot of teams no one wants to watch nationally or globally seems counter productive. The move away from quality toward quantity serves only the gambling industry. But since when has Gary Bettman Truly cared about quality of the product? So long as he gets to say, “We have a trade to announce” at the Draft, he’s a happy guy.

When we published Cap In Hand we proposed a system like soccer with ranked divisions using promotion and relegation to ensure competition, not parity. Most of the interviewers we spoke to were skeptical of the idea. But as MLB steams closer to economic Darwinism our proposal is looking more credible every day. Play at the level you can afford. Or just watch Ted Lasso. Your choice.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

Sports

LPGA bans ‘transgender’ male players after hundreds of female golfers speak out

Published on December 12, 2024

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The Ladies Professional Golf Association released an updated policy limiting participation to actual biological ladies after calls by hundreds of female golfers to keep confused men such as ‘Hailey’ Davidson out of the game.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has released an updated policy limiting participation to actual biological ladies after calls by hundreds of female golfers to keep confused men out of the game.

Two hundred seventy-five female golfers signed an August 19 letter calling on the LPGA to remove self-professed “transgender” golfer “Hailey” Davidson, to “repeal all policies and rules that allow male golfers to participate in women’s golf events,” and to “establish and enforce the right of female professional golfers to participate in women’s golf based on sex-eligibility (which) must be limited to members of the female sex.”

“The male advantage in driving the ball is estimated around a 30% performance advantage; this is an enormous difference in the context of sport,” the letter argued. “Anatomical differences between males and females affect clubhead speed and regulating consistency at ball contact. Females have higher mean heart rates and encounter greater physiological demands while playing, especially at high altitudes. The anatomical differences are not removed with male testosterone suppression.”

On December 4, the LPGA announced an updated Gender Policy for Competition Eligibility, which was “informed by a working group of top experts in medicine, science, sport physiology, golf performance and gender policy law,” and will take effect starting in 2025, effectively disqualifying Davidson.

“Players assigned male at birth and who have gone through male puberty are not eligible to compete in the aforementioned events,” the organization confirmed. “The policies governing the LPGA’s recreational programs and non-elite events utilize different criteria to provide opportunities for participation in the broader LPGA community.”

“Can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” Davidson complained on social media. “Banned from the Epson and the LPGA. All the silence and people wanting to stay ‘neutral’ thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence.”

Mandatory inclusion of gender-confused individuals in opposite-sex sports is promoted as a matter of “inclusivity,” but critics note that indulging “transgender” athletes undermines the original rational basis for having sex-specific athletics in the first place, thereby depriving female athletes of recognition and professional or academic opportunities, as well as undermining female players’ basic safety and privacy rights by forcing them to share showers and changing areas with members of the opposite sex.

There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.

In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that “healthy young men (do) not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced to (below International Olympic Committee guidelines) for 20 weeks,” and “indirect effects of testosterone” on factors such as bone structure, lung volume, and heart size “will not be altered by hormone therapy;” therefore, “the advantage to transwomen (biological men) afforded by the (International Olympic Committee) guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”