Edmonton’s bid for the 2017 Expo is dead.
The federal government announced yesterday that they would not financially back Edmonton’s bid for the World Fair.
“I’ve never been as mad at anything. Just so disappointed at the lack of vision at the government,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel.
“That was a game changer for our city, our province.”
In a letter received from MP James Moore, minister of Canadian heritage, he says the Expo “is a financial risk we are not prepared to take at this time.”
In the letter, he also states that the decision was made with the taxpayers’ interests in mind.
“This decision is frankly wrong and extremely shortsighted,” said Mandel.
Not everyone is upset about the news, though.
“Thank goodness, someone has got fiscal sanity in this country,” said Scott Hennig, spokesperson with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Although Hennig did not condemn all that the Expo would have brought to Edmonton, he agreed with the feds that the price tag was just too high.
“This isn’t going to put us on the map,” said Hennig.
With files from aspen zettel
