Thread by @mpotkins

CORRECTION TO MY LAST TWEET.
Council will CONSIDER a proposal to fund FOUR major capital projects tonight.

- new arena
- BMO Centre expansion
- Arts Commons (phase 1)
- Fieldhouse
#YYCCC #YYC

The City's chief financial officer just said she is only comfortable moving forward with a single project, not all four. Asked why, she expressed concern about the City's liquidity and costs related to Green Line construction. #yyccc #yyc

Coun. Woolley sounding the alarm on this proposal. "We cannot in a fiscally responsible way undertake these and our chief financial officer has said that." #yyccc #yyc

Coun. Carra said proposal "gets the ball moving" and that the city has the financial capacity to do "four absolutely essential projects" without raising taxes. #yyccc

Coun. Sutherland says there are "numerous" reserves, funds available for the city to accomplish these projects. "Well within a billion plus," Sutherland says. Sutherland says there are many off-ramps to stop anytime along the road if the financials aren't satisfactory. #yyccc

Coun. Demong says city doesn't know what the financial implications of the upcoming provincial and federal elections. "We're jumping ahead of the gun here," says Demong. "Why would we go forward with all of this stuff hanging over our heads?" #yyccc

By the way, City admin says it cannot publicly identify exactly what sources of funding will be used to fund all of these projects... yet. #yyccc #yyc

BREAKING: Strategy to fund all FOUR major projects, including an arena, PASSES 11-4

Gondek yes
Sutherland yes
Woolley no
Keating yes
Chahal yes
Demong no
Farkas no
Chu yes
Magliocca yes
Davison yes
Farrell no
Jones yes
Carra yes
Colley-Urquhart yes
Nenshi yes

#yyccc #yyc

Council now turning to reconsideration of the old arena deal (abandoned in 2017) in favour of the new arena proposal. This is procedural, but it's also important. Several councillors taking the chance to weigh in on proposal. #yyccc

Almost no detail available at this point on the arena proposal. Though we just heard some interesting criticism from Coun. Woolley.

He suggests it's more generous to the Calgary Flames than the previous proposal abandoned in 2017. #yyccc #yyc

Council has approved a framework for a new round of negotiations for an arena. #yyccc

A motion arising to have the event centre assessment committee conduct public engagement on the terms of a deal with the Calgary Flames. PASSES unanimously. #yyccc

#YYCCC has just broken for the night.

They've just made some massive decisions on more than $1.5B in capital projects and it's 10:30 p.m.

SEE YA'LL TOMORROW BRIGHT AND EARLY!