Globe & Mail is reporting that construction work starts next week

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Looks like if the Conservatives win the election that the federal funding isn't in doubt although it has yet to receive formal final approval:-

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060112/STADIUM12/TPSports/

...MLSE executive vice-president Bob Hunter said in an interview that construction will be pushed forward even though $27-million of funding has not been given final approval by the federal government.

"We are somewhat at risk right now because we are proceeding without final approval -- we believe in this project so much," Hunter said. "The contract has been awarded to build the stadium, there is a design team on site and they will start excavation next week."

Conservative finance critic Monte Solberg told The Globe and Mail's Ottawa bureau yesterday that if his party forms the next government, it will honour all federal infrastructure program commitments, which would include the Toronto stadium.....

[TopDogg]

Excellent news.

I love the fact that MLSE aren't resting on their laurels waiting for the final funding to work its way through the bureaucractic channels. This shows their level of commitment to the project.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

This also helps take care of the last cheque in issue between MLSE and the City of Toronto that Dave Perkins was highlighting a few weeks ago. MLSE are now clearly willing to get things rolling where the site prep work is concerned (worth remembering that the cash call for that was when the Argos bailed out at York U) without waiting for the other cheques to arrive.

[Captain Canuck]

Perkins was whining yet again about the stadium yet again today in one of his articles, saying the money should be going to Olympic facilities & athletes instead.

Jarrek, who runs the Voyageurs board, also posted on the board that the stadium will be designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon (www.bbb.ca), who apparently designed the Air Canada Centre as well.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Perkins was whining yet again about the stadium yet again today in one of his articles, saying the money should be going to Olympic facilities & athletes instead.

He clearly has deep issues where soccer is concerned. Since when has Ontario municipal infrastucture fund money been used for Olympic athlete funding? Check out what he had to say in an article about York Region's Commonwealth Games bid:-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1134687011263&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist980457778208

York Region actually had a very sensible bid, headed by Bill Crothers Ñ meaning sensible as far as these things go. Crothers and his team obviously put a lot of thought into aspects of the proposal that made their way to some media people. There would have been a large legacy of sporting facilities for the GTA.

A legacy in terms of sporting facilties based on taxpayers money is obviously OK as long as it doesn't involve soccer. :rolleyes:

[RealGooner]

He clearly has deep issues where soccer is concerned. Since when has Ontario municipal infrastucture fund money been used for Olympic athlete funding? Check out what he had to say in an article about York Region's Commonwealth Games bid:-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1134687011263&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist980457778208

York Region actually had a very sensible bid, headed by Bill Crothers Ñ meaning sensible as far as these things go. Crothers and his team obviously put a lot of thought into aspects of the proposal that made their way to some media people. There would have been a large legacy of sporting facilities for the GTA.

A legacy in terms of sporting facilties based on taxpayers money is obviously OK as long as it doesn't involve soccer. :rolleyes:

The hypocrisy......its clear that Perkin's agenda is defending Football and Baseball against encroachment and competition from another potentially very popular summer sport. Baseball is boring and scandal-ridden. Football is expensive for most kids to get involved with. Soccer is the next big thing. He and Ted Rogers know that Pro soccer is a sleeping giant in this city, and I am sure that the idea of the Leafs being involved scares the s*** out of them.

[AndrewW]

Last time I checked soccer was an Olympic sport. Add to this that Toronto MLS will likely feature more U-23 Canadian players than any other demographic of Canadian player and, presto, Olympic development potential!

Maybe someone should email him to remind him of soccer's Olympic status. :cool:

[Captain Canuck]

Perkins would no doubt distinguish things by saying that his problem isn't with soccer, but pro soccer, but we know better (he hates soccer), and besides, our national team (especially the women's teams) are not a pro soccer outfit, even if the players are pros.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

More info from Corriere Canadese:-

http://66.218.71.231/language/translation/translatedPage.php?lp=it_en&text=http%3a%2f%2fwww.corriere.com%2fviewstory.php%3fstoryid%3d47121

(link should be translated into English)

[SweetOwnGoal]

He clearly has deep issues where soccer is concerned. Since when has Ontario municipal infrastucture fund money been used for Olympic athlete funding? Check out what he had to say in an article about York Region's Commonwealth Games bid:-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1134687011263&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist980457778208

York Region actually had a very sensible bid, headed by Bill Crothers Ñ meaning sensible as far as these things go. Crothers and his team obviously put a lot of thought into aspects of the proposal that made their way to some media people. There would have been a large legacy of sporting facilities for the GTA.

A legacy in terms of sporting facilties based on taxpayers money is obviously OK as long as it doesn't involve soccer. :rolleyes:

I disagree with Perkins, but you are showing the above article out of context.

Perkins has consistently been opposed to any public money being used for stadiums forever. He is a bit of a broken record on the topic.

He was opposed to the 1996 Olympic bid, he was opposed to money being spent of SkyDome, he was opposed to the 2008 Olympic bid. And if you go back and read the quoted article, you will realize that he was opposed to the York Region CWG bid too. He said that it was "as sensible as that type of thing gets," I believe.

Dave Perkins is very consistent on this topic.

As I said, I disagree with his stance. In fact, I've been disagreeing with it for 15 years. But, it's not accurate to suggest that he is a hypocrite. Just wrong.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Perkins is still at it with an article boosting a Conservative candidate from Toronto as a possible sports minister in the next government:-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&cid=970599109774&ce=Columnist&colid=980457778208

he neglects to mention that the new soccer stadium will be available for community use most of the time thanks to the fieldturf surface.

[tufline]

Why do we discuss jerkins at all. He is a goof and we dont need to bring him up. DOnt read him ignore him

[RealGooner]

Why do we discuss jerkins at all. He is a goof and we dont need to bring him up. DOnt read him ignore him

Tufline I don't think any media personality with an anti-soccer stance should be ignored. He should be monitored, which is what we are doing here.....

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I think he's probably barking up the wrong tree with this Conservative candidate. John Godfrey his Liberal opponent won by over 16,000 votes last time so it would take an absolutely catastrophic election night for the Liberals in Toronto for John Carmichael to get in. Most of the latest polls show the Liberals bouncing back again in Ontario. Worth noting that John Carmichael's quote about needing facilities anyway regardless of championships that are attracted in didn't necessarily fit into Perkins' desired anti-stadium spin.

[Blizzard]

I think he's probably barking up the wrong tree with this Conservative candidate. John Godfrey his Liberal opponent won by over 16,000 votes last time so it would take an absolutely catastrophic election night for the Liberals in Toronto for John Carmichael to get in. Most of the latest polls show the Liberals bouncing back again in Ontario. Worth noting that John Carmichael's quote about needing facilities anyway regardless of championships that are attracted in didn't necessarily fit into Perkins' desired anti-stadium spin.

True enough although in the big scheme of things, this bounce back is unlikely to be enough though we'll see. We certainly don't want to put much stock into polls.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Another day another Perkins article. The man is clearly obsessed with this issue:-

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1137624636778&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist980457778208

[Captain Canuck]

The last ditch effort of a sad old man.

Got to love his plan to take the 27 million put it into developing four old "stadiums" that could be used to host WYC matches. Apart from the fact that $27 million wouldn't be enough to make these facilities usable for the U20 WYC, and that the City of Toronto isn't hosting four groups (does he think its Toronto only that is holding this tourney?), even if it was you'd have four baby White Elephants as a result instead of a badly-need mid-level facility that will be used regularly. A great usage of tax-payers money no doubt!

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The last ditch effort of a sad old man.


Here's hoping. The $75 million infrastructure thing is the one angle of attack that concerns me a bit. He obviously struck out on getting an anti-stadium quote from John Carmichael for yesterday's article which is a good sign. The bit at the end about using 4 TO municipal stadia plus the Skydome for the WYC shows he simply doesn't have a clue about what's involved with the tournament and that it is a national 6 city event and not just a Toronto event.

[Toronto Red]

I have some empathy for us Toronto Taxpayers. I am the first to admit that a soccer stadium for TO is Fantastic but it is a shame that we have to take all that government money for it. It taints the project from a publicity perspective. MLSE, if they were really serious, could easily foot the bill, or better yet, match the goverment dollar for dollar and build a world class soccer stadium. (Maybe they will later)

The really shameful thing is that in the six years I have lived in and enjoyed Toronto, the city has done SFA to show itself as a world class city which it ought to be. I have seen Toronto globally ranked as a tier 2 city, incidentally this is higher than LA. This is very high when you consider that Tier 1 is only composed of London, New York and Tokyo.

I know soccer is pretty unpopular with your average Canadian, all present here excepted I'm sure, but out of interest, compare the number of quality hockey arenas in Toronto (3 if you include Hamilton) versus the number of quality soccer stadia in London or more accurately Greater Manchester in England. No comparison there! Manchester actually has a 17,500 seat hockey arena to boot! London has a brand new 10,000 seat hockey stadium called the Wembley Arena. Wembley Stadium (incredible by the way) is costing about $1.5 billion Canadian. Check it out at www.wembleystadium.com. I know demand plays a large part that's why I compared it to Hockey!

Why are there not two or even three NHL teams in the Toronto area?Wouldn't that be fun!!

Toronto needs to show that it is a major player in the world and comes up short every time! Very Disappointing when you consider the wealth in this area. How were they ever going to build an 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium, frightening!!

Sorry but I like a little rant now and then. I am just a frustrated soccer fan in desperate need to support a local professional soccer team (major league)and I don't really want to emigrate back to the UK! Too wet!

[socamonarch]

"The hook for the stadium, previously planned for the University of Toronto, York University and Downsview before settling at the CNE on city-owned land, is the 2007 world under-20 soccer championship. Far more sensibly, though, and for less money, taxpayers could substantially upgrade four municipally owned and operated soccer stadiums (in Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke and Lamport Stadium) and provide thousands of GTA youngsters a better place to play. Those upgraded stadiums could be used for the world under-20 event, which usually draws small crowds, with more attractive games played at the Rogers Centre, a structure built as the SkyDome with some $500 million of public money."

I love how Perkins conveniently forgets that the stadium was originally supposed to be at Exhibition place in the first place- on city owned land.
It saddens me that the person with the loudest mouth has really no clue what he is talking about.. But the average joe or politician would not know that and may take his word for gospel..
I think we should take up a fund and save some money so the first MLS toronto shirt that comes out goes to him... We can even put his name on the back.. let's spell it... J A C K A S S :)