If You Build It, They Will Come Part 2:Dinner & Drinks for 1,200

Jeff Garrah, aka The Kingston Economic Development Corporation, will soon be issuing a Request For Proposals to build a Conference Centre in the Limestone City because “we lose potentially $50,000,000 a year in business because we don’t have a large enough facility.” Mr. Garrah also says the Municipality might be expected to pay for construction of the Convention Centre, which we’re guessing would be located in the Down Town Spending Zone. Oh and by the way, a private management firm would be hired to run the place.

Say…doesn’t that sound an awful lot like the same business plan as the LVEC / KRC? Have we not learned from our past mistakes?

Mr. Garrah, who is paid with tax dollars, cites economic spinoff as the reason for building the KEDCO CONVENTION CENTRE, stating that conference centres in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa don’t make money and were not built too make money. On the other hand, there is no comparing the Limestone City to those bustling metropolitan areas because afterall, Kingston is a World Class City and certainly the Kingston Convention Centre will pay its own way, simply due to geography, history and festivals. And if the Centre cannot pay its own way, well, apparently that is what taxpayers are for. Pity about our tiny airport, eh?

You are now leaving Kingston: A City Where History Repeats Itself. Please lock the gate on your way out to keep the taxpayers from escaping with their money.