By The Canadian Press

CALGARY

Calgary councillor no longer in favour of new arena

Jul 29, 2019 | 10:54 AM

A Calgary councillor who pushed for more time to look at the city’s tentative deal for a new arena now says he’ll be voting against it.

Jeromy Farkas says the money would be better spent on many other city projects that wouldn’t carry flooding risk.

The city and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation announced a deal last week that would see the two groups equally split the cost of a $550 million arena that would replace the Scotiabank Saddledome.

In a weekend Facebook post, Mayor Naheed Nenshi defended the deal, saying the event centre won’t lead to new development by itself but will help some of that development get built quicker.