Raise the Hammer

turbo

Just so we're clear, my comments come from:

1. An analysis of the facts presented to us through public documents and comments made by the Ti-Cats, our own senior bureaucrats, and our Councillors.
2. 30 years in business, 25 of which were spent as the owner of a consulting business that grew from nothing to many dozens of very well-paid employees, not to mention million dollar contracts with large international corporations, and even a multi-million dollar MOU when I sold my business to an international company 20 times the size of my company.
3. A true distaste for being played like we're all idiots (through the same public documents and comments from the same people).

I don't pretend to be a captain of industry, but I'm not stupid. There is no doubt there will be some benefits from the Ti-Cats continuing to play in Hamilton, and from the construction of a conference centre and restaurant(s) nearby. The issue is one of maximizing the Return On Investment on taxpayer monies. At least it's a big issue for me.

I could have been convinced to be true partners with the Ti-Cats in the development of a stadium, even agreeing that governments always/usually foot the largest portion of the bill. But, the amount of manipulative spin that continues to come out of the Ti-Cat camp really annoys me, as is perhaps obvious in my comments.

If the Ti-Cats had just played it open, honest, and fair from the beginning, I would feel very differently than I do at present. You may think they've been good guys, just making sure they make a buck. I don't. And let me repeat for the last time, I think Bob Young has been getting bad counsel, but the fact remains he has chosen to take that counsel. I would never agree to sign a MOU that reads like the one being shown to Council today. You might. That's one big difference between us.