Sports
New Brunswick pulls plug on 2021 Francophonie Games, blames Ottawa
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 Toronto Maple Leafs made the “what colour is that green light?” decision to fire their head coach Sheldon Keefe last week. The removal of Keefe after five years followed a dispiriting first-round playoff series loss to a very ordinary Boston Bruins team. Coaching may or may not have been the root cause of that loss. (Keefe himself admitted “teams are waiting for the Leafs to beat themselves”.)
The real reason for the firing is 1967, and we don’t think we need add more than that.
In essence, the management of MLSE— the owner of the Maple Leafs and a lot of other sports stuff in Toronto— needed to throw a body to the baying hounds of disappointment. Also known as Leafs Nation. Newly minted CEO Keith Pelley, fresh from the PGA Tour/ LIV psychodrama, was certainly not going to pay the price.
Nor was GM Brad Treliving who has only been on the job for two seasons. The key decisions on Toronto’s lopsided salary cap were decided long before Treliving occupied his desk. That left two people in vulnerable positions. 1) Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, who has been drawing an MLSE cheque for a decade. 2) Keefe.
When was the last time you saw a coach fire a team president? Precisely. Keefe joins the list of (briefly) unemployed coaches who circulate in the NHL like McKinsey consultants. Shanahan gets a lukewarm mulligan from Pelley. But after the failure of the Kyle Dubas experiment— “who needs experience?”— and now just a single playoff series win in a decade Shanny’s best-before date has arrived.
Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan attends a news conference in Toronto on April 14, 2014. Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said Peter Horachek will remain the team’s interim head coach until the end of the season. Shanahan met the media Friday for the first time since coach Randy Carlyle was fired on Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Depending on who he and Treliving enlist to coach— remember, Mike Babcock was too tough and Keefe was probably too player friendly— it had better produce instant results. Because Shanny, the pride of Mimico, is out of chances. The coach choice will also be affected by whichever player or players that management decides are superfluous to ending the Leafs’ ridiculous run of misery.
The Leafs brass’ press conference last Thursday did little to shed light on what happens after Keefe’s expulsion. Just a lot of MBA determinism on a bed of baffle gab. A crabby Steve Simmons question/rant briefly threatened the harmony of the moment, but order was restored. And the media bitching switched from the press box to social media and podcasts.
Speaking of the fourth estate, the other unmentioned aspect of this story— indeed every story in the NHL these days— is just how it was revealed to the public. When people sipped their morning Tim’s or Starbucks the (almost) coincident bulletins came down the social media pike about Keefe’s dismissal.
Predictably, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet and Daren Dreger of TSN announced the breaking news within heart beats of each other. While there had been speculation on Keefe’s fate for days, the announcement coming from the networks duo confirmed the story in the minds of the industry. That allowed everyone else drawing a cheque as a hockey journalist to pile in and swarm the dead body.
In today’s sports journalism, where social media has replaced newspapers, scoops are governed by a protocol. There are the heralds— in the NHL it’s currently Johnston and Dreger— and then there are the disseminators. The days of a rabble of reporters all scrambling to get a story bigger than who-will-play-in-tonight’s-game are gone. Today, it’s a very narrow funnel for scoops.
It’s the same in the NFL where Ian Rappaport (NFL Network) and Adam Schefter (ESPN) monopolize the tasty scoops on behalf of their employers, who also happen to be NFL rights holders. In the NBA, Brian Windhorst (ESPN) has the inside rail when it comes to the LeBron James/ Steph Curry scoops. In MLB… it’s probably Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic) but no one cares about baseball anymore, do they?
The leagues like it this way, doling out stories to guys they can trust. None of this is criticism of Johnston or Dreger, who have deftly maneuvered themselves into the coveted “from their lips to your ears” spots. From our own experience we can remember the exhilaration of having the best source or sources on the really big stories. Like Johnston/ Dreger, we worked hard for a long time to develop those sources and only very reluctantly let anyone else horn in on our stories.
It was also our observation that this order of things journalistic suited a lot of reporters who either couldn’t get good sources or didn’t want the stress of being first on stuff. It was enough that, like the Keefe story, they’d get the goods eventually and most fans would not care who was first. So long as you had a take. So be it.
Some resentful types took potshots at our work if it upset their pals in the dressing room or the management suite. On the Stephen Ames/ Tiger Woods story in 2001, we had the late Pat Marsden tell us on air that we’d done a great job on Ames’ criticisms of Tiger. Only to hear him lambaste us— again on FAN 590— only minutes later as we listened driving home from the studio. But we digress.
Many reporters are complacent in playing the game, so long as their bosses didn’t enquire why they are getting scooped all the time by the same few rivals. With the death of daily newspapers that doesn’t happen much any longer. (Many editors today may only see stories when publication brings a libel notice.) For them a salty take is good enough.
The scoop business is also affected by the multiple roles now demanded of sports media types. In addition to their “day job” on a beat they also have to supply digital content and talk-back hits to the Mother Ship. Most also are feeding a weekly podcast, dictating time on air rather than time working the phone. There are only so many hours in a day to chase a story.
Better to play the Breaking News waiting game.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher 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. Now for pre-order, new from the team of Evan & Bruce Dowbiggin . Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL & Changed Hockey. From Espo to Boston in 1967 to Gretz in L.A. in 1988 to Patrick Roy leaving Montreal in 1995, the stories behind the story. Launching in paperback and Kindle on #Amazon this week. Destined to be a hockey best seller. https://www.amazon.ca/Deal-Trades-Stunned-Changed-Hockey-ebook/dp/B0D236NB35/
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