Post by WJG on May 16, 2011 23:36:39 GMT -5
Thrashers Viagra to NDP 0
Return of NHL would give Selinger boost in October
Tom Brodbeck, Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Monday, May 16, 2011 10:29:12 CDT PM
There will be no shortage of lottery-winning dances, booze-fueled street celebrations and beaming faces when the National Hockey League announces it’s coming back to Winnipeg.
And if the announcement is made prior to Oct. 4 — the day of Manitoba’s scheduled general election — you won’t find a single Manitoban more jubilant than our politically beleaguered premier, NDP leader Greg Selinger.
Talk of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg as early as next season continues to heat up, with reports out of Atlanta, Ga., this week insisting the team is finished in the southern state and that there are now talks between the club and Winnipeg’s prospective NHL owners, True North Sports & Entertainment.
It continues to be “when” and not “if” the NHL will return to Winnipeg, one of the strongest hockey markets in the world. There are still a few naysayers who insist we shouldn’t get our hopes up about the NHL returning to River City. But most of them have been converted over the past few years. They now see what many of us saw several years ago.
We no longer hear any sports “experts” insisting that the NHL will “never” return to Winnipeg. They can’t make that statement anymore without sounding like morons.
All of this bodes very well for Selinger, whose struggling party has dipped in the polls over the past year and whose NDP brand is in desperate need of some political Viagra.
And if Mark Chipman of True North announces that an NHL team will be playing their home games at 300 Portage Avenue for the 2011-12 season, it just may be the political antidote the Selinger government needs to secure victory in the fall.
It’s not that Selinger could necessarily take credit for the NHL’s return to Manitoba. Although he could probably get some mileage out of the fact that it was his government that made it possible for True North to build the MTS Centre and that without it, we wouldn’t even be talking about bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg.
But where Selinger would get a real political boost is from the overall jubilance and dancing in the streets that would occur if the NHL did return before October.
The return of the NHL to Winnipeg would be the single most important economic and social development this city has seen in decades. It would be explosive and it would change the face of Winnipeg.
It would make Winnipeggers and Manitobans feel very good about themselves and very positive about their city and province. And when that happens, just like going to the polls during an economic upswing when people have jobs and positive outlooks, the incumbent is usually the beneficiary.
The NDP in Manitoba is struggling on a number fronts. They face the usual time-for-a-change dynamic that any administration grapples with after more than a decade in power. They have a weak, personality-challenged leader who struggles to perform effectively in the blood-sport of politics.
The NDP has plunged Manitoba into record debt and has created a structural deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars. They have taken political hits on issues like photo radar, child welfare and even health care, with wait times for services like diagnostic imaging still in the two to four-month range.
Worse, Manitoba continues to lose economic ground to provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and now Saskatchewan. Middle and high-income Manitobans have become the highest taxed Canadians west of Quebec over the past 11 years.
All of which doesn’t bode well for a successful re-election bid for the NDP in October.
But something as gargantuan as the NHL returning to Winnipeg would neutralize at least some of that, maybe even enough to re-elect a struggling, long-in-the-tooth administration.
Who knows? The National Hockey League just may be Greg Selinger’s saviour.
www.winnipegsun.com/2011/05/16/thrashers-viagra-to-ndp
Return of NHL would give Selinger boost in October
Tom Brodbeck, Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Monday, May 16, 2011 10:29:12 CDT PM
There will be no shortage of lottery-winning dances, booze-fueled street celebrations and beaming faces when the National Hockey League announces it’s coming back to Winnipeg.
And if the announcement is made prior to Oct. 4 — the day of Manitoba’s scheduled general election — you won’t find a single Manitoban more jubilant than our politically beleaguered premier, NDP leader Greg Selinger.
Talk of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg as early as next season continues to heat up, with reports out of Atlanta, Ga., this week insisting the team is finished in the southern state and that there are now talks between the club and Winnipeg’s prospective NHL owners, True North Sports & Entertainment.
It continues to be “when” and not “if” the NHL will return to Winnipeg, one of the strongest hockey markets in the world. There are still a few naysayers who insist we shouldn’t get our hopes up about the NHL returning to River City. But most of them have been converted over the past few years. They now see what many of us saw several years ago.
We no longer hear any sports “experts” insisting that the NHL will “never” return to Winnipeg. They can’t make that statement anymore without sounding like morons.
All of this bodes very well for Selinger, whose struggling party has dipped in the polls over the past year and whose NDP brand is in desperate need of some political Viagra.
And if Mark Chipman of True North announces that an NHL team will be playing their home games at 300 Portage Avenue for the 2011-12 season, it just may be the political antidote the Selinger government needs to secure victory in the fall.
It’s not that Selinger could necessarily take credit for the NHL’s return to Manitoba. Although he could probably get some mileage out of the fact that it was his government that made it possible for True North to build the MTS Centre and that without it, we wouldn’t even be talking about bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg.
But where Selinger would get a real political boost is from the overall jubilance and dancing in the streets that would occur if the NHL did return before October.
The return of the NHL to Winnipeg would be the single most important economic and social development this city has seen in decades. It would be explosive and it would change the face of Winnipeg.
It would make Winnipeggers and Manitobans feel very good about themselves and very positive about their city and province. And when that happens, just like going to the polls during an economic upswing when people have jobs and positive outlooks, the incumbent is usually the beneficiary.
The NDP in Manitoba is struggling on a number fronts. They face the usual time-for-a-change dynamic that any administration grapples with after more than a decade in power. They have a weak, personality-challenged leader who struggles to perform effectively in the blood-sport of politics.
The NDP has plunged Manitoba into record debt and has created a structural deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars. They have taken political hits on issues like photo radar, child welfare and even health care, with wait times for services like diagnostic imaging still in the two to four-month range.
Worse, Manitoba continues to lose economic ground to provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and now Saskatchewan. Middle and high-income Manitobans have become the highest taxed Canadians west of Quebec over the past 11 years.
All of which doesn’t bode well for a successful re-election bid for the NDP in October.
But something as gargantuan as the NHL returning to Winnipeg would neutralize at least some of that, maybe even enough to re-elect a struggling, long-in-the-tooth administration.
Who knows? The National Hockey League just may be Greg Selinger’s saviour.
www.winnipegsun.com/2011/05/16/thrashers-viagra-to-ndp