At the end of the 1990s, the Expos were in deficit and their departure seemed more and more inevitable.
The owners were asking for help from the state, especially for the construction of a new stadium in the city center (yes, history stutters!).
Premier Lucien Bouchard would have liked to keep “major baseball” in Montreal. But not at all costs.
In March 1999, he declared: “Public funds were to be used for purposes other than these. Quoting his Finance Minister Bernard Landry, he underlined the “problem of asking people for money who pay taxes on a family income of $ 50,000 to help maintain staggering salary levels”.
Legault 1998
The Minister of Industry and Trade of the Bouchard government was … François Legault. In September 1998, he was promoted to unelected minister. One of the first files he was told about? Baseball in Montreal. The downtown stadium project.
The new minister was steeped in doubts: “I am willing to believe that there may be the image of Quebec abroad which is important, but what are the fallouts, and how it compares with other projects? “
On the stadium: “In fact, in the city center, will there be more people coming to see the Expos games? Is this going to work out? If that doesn’t work, is it money that we just threw in the trash? […] The file is not obvious. “
Finally, in March 1999, the Bouchard government offered Expos to assume interest on a loan of $ 100 million up to $ 8 million through existing tourism promotion programs. It was insufficient.
But in fact, Quebec was already helping the team since Charles Bronfman sold it to a consortium in 1991. Lots of indirect nudges which the columnist Michel Girard had drawn up a list: rent holiday of the order of 3 million $ per year at the Olympic Stadium (itself unprofitable); electricity costs half-borne by the state; refurbishment of the stadium at a cost of $ 30.5 million to “make it more accessible to baseball”. Total: $ 60 million over 7 years.
Rupture
At the time, Jean Charest’s Liberal Party pleaded for Quebec aid to ensure that the Expos were maintained in Montreal.
Today, the PLQ does not want to know anything more. Dominique Anglade, rightly, rejected the idea that public aid could be done “at zero cost” (a dubious expression used by the Prime Minister yesterday).
Liberal MP and tax lawyer Marwah Rizqy added a layer on Tuesday: before Quebec puts “a dime” into the baseball adventure in Montreal, its main promoter, billionaire Stephen Bronfman, should come and explain to elected officials. National Assembly its tax schemes in tax havens.
In terms of relations with the Bronfmans (who have always financed and supported the Reds), the famous “turn” of the PLQ therefore seems very real. “You won’t invite us to the same Christmas party,” Rizqy even exclaimed to Qub on Tuesday.
On the other hand, there is no rupture between Bouchard and Legault. In the baseball issue in Montreal, the current Prime Minister should even consult the former (well, that of 1998-1999).
