Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said Thursday the province can help fund a proposed Edmonton arena by introducing a rebranded Keno lottery game.Maybe this plan doesn't "make sense" to me because I'm "not involved", or perhaps it's because it's very reminiscent of Alberta's typical "plan". Of course, as we all know, lotterys create new wealth out of thin air and don't take the earned wealth from other industries. We also all know that the amount of money available to spend on a "lottery" is in no way defined by the amount of spending money a person ends up having.
The game has been successful in raising money in British Columbia and is already available in Alberta, it need only be expanded here, she said.
“We believe this could be a solution that makes sense for everybody involved,” Smith said in a statement.
Hey umm, Albertans.. I don't know if you have all realised this but our "largest trading partner" almost defaulted a few days ago. The Alberta government's budget projections are not even close to "on target" and yet somehow we're going to accurately guesstimate how much money a lottery will bring in which is largely based on how well the population is doing economically, or not. Of course there are always those lottery players spending their last dollar hoping they win big, is it these hopeless souls we hope to build an arena off of?
The U.S. is only a couple months from another close call with default, and then again only a few months after that. Alberta had to borrow to build it's new expanded highway 63 because apparently the "sustainability fund" isn't very sustainable or no longer even exists on anything other than cheap printer paper.
Ladies and gentlemen, the arena project is dead. As I wrote back in 2011, Daryl Katz had a limited window to push this project through on an unsuspecting public... time's up. There isn't enough economic stability left in our small potatoe economy to support this project, but that won't stop Alberta and Edmontians from throwing their remaining resources at it. Even if we did build it, hell, the only people in the end who will be able to use it are the temporary foreign workers we're handing our jobs over to. Albertas primary "solution" to it's economic problems is gambling, in many different forms, and it's become so ingrained in Albertan economic ideology we no longer recognise it for what it is and instead stamp "credible economic plan" on top.
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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink
Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.
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