industries

Breaking the BC Place Renaming Agreement

The botched deal between the Liberal government and Telus over naming rights at BC Place – or whatever it's going to be called – indicates a government that can't manage. I haven’t a clue who’s responsible for the unravelling of the agreement between the B.C. government and Telus over a $40-million naming rights deal. And I don’t much care. Whoever it was – and that might be Telus, the B.C. government or Pavco, the BC Pavilion Corp. – certainly made a schmozzle of it.

By Tony Wanless /

Renaming BC Place | BCBusiness
The botched deal surrounding the renaming of BC Place indicates that the government needs remedial management training, says Tony Wanless.

The botched deal between the Liberal government and Telus over naming rights at BC Place – or whatever it’s going to be called – indicates a government that can’t manage.

I haven’t a clue who’s responsible for the unravelling of the agreement between the B.C. government and Telus over a $40-million naming rights deal. And I don’t much care.

Whoever it was – and that might be Telus, the B.C. government or Pavco, the BC Pavilion Corp. – certainly made a schmozzle of it.

Here was a deal first reached in 2010 to joy all around, and then reaffirmed with a letter of intent a little more than a year ago. Apparently what led up to the deal had a pretty good track record.

But then last month the government called it off, claiming at first that it didn’t want to lose the BC Place name to Telus, and then that it was pulling out because the signs Telus planned to put up in the stadium were too big. Others had it that the government didn’t want to anger Telus rival Bell Canada, who was going to sponsor another stadium but was turned down.

Now, it appears from a column by The Sun’s Vaughn Palmer that the cause was that too many changes were made during the negotiations and the government was no longer comfortable with the deal.

And the blame is being spread even further. It’s now said that it’s Premier Christy Clark’s fault because she oversaw the negotiations.

Even Greg Kerfoot, the software mogul who tried to build that other stadium – a soccer stadium near the foot of Granville Street – but was refused by the Campbell government, has been blamed.

Who’s really at fault is anybody’s guess.

But while we play this game of pointing fingers, the issue has blown up in the government’s face.

And it makes us wonder: What is the Liberal government really telling business people here in B.C.?

  • For one, we’re saying a deal isn’t a deal, no matter what was said before.
  • For two, we’re trying to play favourites among big telecom companies.
  • For three, how much can you trust a government?
  • For four, obliquely, lobbyists may have far too much influence over government decisions.
  • For five, the Liberal government may not be as friendly to business as it would like everyone to believe.

But, mostly we’re conveying the impression that this Liberal government needs remedial management training.