Ottawa Pulls Support for Edmonton Expo

The city’s mayor is furious that the federal government won’t help fund a fair to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel said yesterday, “I have never been as mad at anything” after learning the Conservative government will not fork over the $1 billion the city was asking for to fund an expo in 2017. The optics of Ottawa’s decision are particularly bad because the Tories have yet to rule out funding a contentious project to build an NHL-ready arena in Québec City, and the foiled expo bid could cost the Conservatives votes in a region that has been their stronghold. All but one seat in the province are held by the Conservatives. Mandel singled out Public Works Minister and Edmonton MP Rona Ambrose for particularly harsh criticism, saying she “failed us absolutely and completely.”