Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

At a press conference on Nov. 15 announcing plans to stage two Los Angeles Kings preseason games at the Videotron Centre in October 2024 (see article in this edition), Martin Tremblay, chief operating officer of Quebecor Sports and Entertainment and president of Gestev, said the Kings’ visit would be a “festival of hockey.” However, opposition parties across the political spectrum are not celebrating.

La Presse revealed on Oct. 17 that the subsidy of up to $7 million provided to Gestev by the provincial government to stage the event was taken from a regional development fund overseen by the province but normally managed by the Ville de Québec and surrounding regional county municipalities – without consulting the city. “There’s no more breathing room in the state’s coffers [but] this morning, we learn that to subsidize two NHL games in Quebec City, the government is using a regional development fund for local businesses and nonprofits,” interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay tweeted Nov. 18.

“In order to give a gift of $5 to $7 million to hockey billionaires, the government used a fund intended for local nonprofits … and bypassed the fund’s rules of operation. Is this a prudent use of public funds?” tweeted Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Paradis, the party’s point person for the Capitale- Nationale region. Québec Solidaire, for its part, announced plans to ask the province’s auditor general to investigate, with Jean-Talon MNA Étienne Grandmont saying a local food bank needed the money more – a suggestion echoed at the municipal level by Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith.

Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime called on the government to cancel the subsidy, saying, “I understand the CAQ is trying by all means to win back Quebec City voters … but it’s not by trying to buy them with tickets for a preseason Kings game that it will succeed.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand has said his administration “wasn’t involved” in the province’s decision.

Quebec City has been without an NHL team since 1995. “We lost our team and we’d like it back one day,” Lévis MNA Bernard Drainville told Radio-Canada. He said he believed the government had made the right choice to invite the Kings “to send a signal to the NHL” that Quebec City was ready for a team, but that the “timing wasn’t ideal.”