If these were normal times, Premier Gordon Campbell would probably feel very confident — perhaps, even a bit cocky — as he prepares his British Columbia Liberals for their upcoming campaign to capture a third consecutive term in the May 12 provincial election.
Alas, these are not normal times.
On the West Coast, the deepening global credit crunch has taken a costly bite out of the government’s once rose-coloured re-election scenario. Instead of a future that includes a relatively trouble-free 2010 Winter Olympic Games as well as several job-rich, non-Olympic transportation megaprojects (either under construction or in the final planning stages), the future is a series of large question marks.
Cost overruns and suddenly sour financing arrangements in both the Olympic and non-Olympic theatres have darkened Campbell’s re-election outlook while energizing the NDP Opposition and its leader, Carole James.
Sure, Campbell’s Liberals still have a good shot at winning in May. But they’ll have to work much harder to do it and, at this point, an NDP upset can’t be ruled out.
The latest setback comes via the City of Vancouver’s recent Olympic Village financing crisis, even though much of it is beyond the B.C. government’s control.
This is when newly elected Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson warned that city taxpayers could be “on the hook” for up to $1 billion if the financing mess cannot be sorted out.
It happened, in part, because the previous council, under former mayor Sam Sullivan, decided to get ambitious — but apparently without a fallback plan. In 2006, with credit still easy to obtain, the city jumped whole hog into the booming real estate business by pushing ahead with a swank 17-acre, 1,100-unit Olympic Village on the shores of downtown’s False Creek.
The plan seemed plausible: build the village on a spectacular location to house the Olympic athletes; then sell the combination of mostly luxury condos, along with some rental social-housing units, to the public at a handsome profit.
But city council accepted the highest of three bids, which, ironically, was submitted by the smallest of three developers, Vancouver-based Millenium Development Corp. The losing bids came from two well-heeled, large companies: Concord Pacific Group Inc. and Wall Financial Corp., both of Vancouver.
Soon, escalating construction costs, the subsequent real estate market meltdown and the global credit crisis left Millenium in the lurch. Its lender, New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group LLC, became nervous about the project’s rising costs and cut off funding this past fall, in the midst of construction. That left the city, which is obligated to have the $1-billion village completed by November, high and dry.
Consequently, the city was forced to ask the B.C. government to approve extraordinary temporary borrowing powers under the city’s charter — for about $450 million to complete the village. Hoping that the city’s Olympic Village financing imbroglio won’t tarnish the B.C. Liberals in May’s election, Campbell complied.
But other Olympic cost overruns, about which the NDP have long warned, are sticking to Campbell’s government anyway. The Games’ security bill, which will be shared with Ottawa, has now ballooned to as much as $1 billion from $175 million.
The upcoming Games have also contributed to substantial cost overruns for the downtown Convention Centre, which has to be completed in time to house the Olympic Media Centre.
Financing problems have also hit several non-Olympic projects, such as the public/private partnership that will build the $2-billion twinned portion of the Port Mann Bridge. Its startup has been delayed.
As for the NDP, these abnormal economic times have given them an opportunity to say: “I told you so.” IE
Campbell and the new normal
The NDP may deliver an upset if the Liberals can’t get their financing messes in order
- By: Brian Lewis
- February 6, 2009 October 29, 2019
- 15:13
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