OTTAWA - If champagne corks are popping at midnight on Dec. 31 in Quebec City's city hall, it will probably only be to usher in the New Year.
Mayor Regis Labeaume's deadline for securing funding from the federal government for a new professional hockey arena has not been circled on calendars around Parliament Hill.
On the contrary, it's been a irritant among the very people Labeaume's been trying to pressure into coming up with $175 million in funding for the facility. The Quebec government has said it would pitch in the same amount, the city $50 million, and the rest from the private sector.
"The government does not like to negotiate with a gun to its head," one Conservative said flatly.
Sources said several options are being examined for how the federal government could come up with a system for funding such facilities across the country, but in a way that emphasizes the private sector over the public purse.
Some have suggested looking for a funding mechanism through PPP Canada Inc., a Crown Corporation that approves public-private partnerships on major works. Others have pointed to a possible envelope of infrastructure funds, unrelated to the stimulus program.
But they say Labeaume has not come up with enough details to show who the private-sector investors would be in Quebec, and how the whole funding plan would work. Corporate executive Yvon Charest is currently trying to rustle up the funds on behalf of city hall.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed to be sending a message to Lebeaume this week that the city needs to put some cards on the table.
"I said that it's mainly a private-sector solution, and I'm waiting for action that shows it's a feasible project and that the private sector is ready to finance such a project," Harper said in an end-of-year interview with TVA network.
"Me, I'm a big sports fan. I'd love to see NHL teams in Quebec, in Winnipeg, in Hamilton. But men and women must be ready to invest."
Labeaume might have given the federal government a strategic reason to drag its heels when he said this month that he had a "Plan B" for financing the arena should he get nothing from Ottawa.
The more money Quebec City can get on the outside, the easier it will be for Ottawa to chip in.
A spokesman for Labeaume said this week that talks were ongoing between city hall and International Development Minister Josee Verner, the federal point person.
"We've been clear that it needs private financing, and right now we have nothing on the table," said Jimmy Laforge, a spokesman for Verner.
