A Calgary alderman is questioning where $300,000 of taxpayers’ money went to for the deserted bid for Expo 2017.
Ward 12 Ald. Ric McIver said he sees inconsistencies in the money spent and wants to explore the issue further.
“I want to know where the money went. I don’t see a lot of effort for the Expo bid — I see a lot of effort for a new development project,” McIver said. “Were the taxpayers fooled?”
According to Mayor Dave Bronco-nnier, council approved $300,000 for initial fiscal feasibility research and only spent $240,000 of that externally and another $50,000 internally.
“I think when you look for example at our competition to the north, they spent over $3 million dollars, so I think it’s pretty good value,” Bronconnier said.
“It made more sense to spend $300,000 up front to fully evaluate, and had we not spent that, we could have spent on a bid what we now know will be a billion-dollar shortfall.”
