LANDLORD AND TENANT ISSUES
Saturday, January 22, 2022
I went for a walk, on a winter’s day …
Each year in January, most media – rife with predictions and polls, fill our eyes and ears with blathering predictions for the year ahead. As if economists and news media scribes are any better fortune tellers than someone with a crystal ball and a tent …
The other day I saw several newswire items that pegged our confidence level very low and predictions that inflation would make 2022 a horrible year. Like everyone who buys bread meat will tell you, inflation is spiking prices. Most experts factor in feed shortages for livestock and supply-chain glitches. Here in Alberta, if not the engine of our country, at least. Albertans produce the fuel for that engine, and we are more confident than we’ve been in several years.
Transitions away from a carbon economy are well advanced here – and energy companies who are riding a current price surge for oil and natural gas have long been leading the way in that regard are quick to agree there is much room for confidence in our thinking.
It isn’t facts or dour predictions that determine confidence.
It’s our mood, sentiment, and confidence that run our barometer.
I get a lift from being around people who share that sense of optimism, people who want to do business because it feels good and sets the stage for bold ideas to come to fruition.
In Calgary, it is easy to bash city hall or the Flames owners for a failed arena development deal; I don’t see it that way. I see clever owners backing away from an equity stake in a building in favour of being the anchor tenant in a spanking-new city-owned property. If they are to sell the team, it’s a far more straightforward process that way, and they avoid investing about one-third of billion dollars. That looks pretty smart for them. The citizens of Calgary, and their City Council, now have to face whether we want an NHL team or not, whether or not we wish to have a first-class facility. Whether or not we have an NHL team has always been a choice in the hands of team owners/investors, and the league – citizens and taxpayers of Calgary have never had a voice in those choices.
We could lament the last time we collectively made a poor decision (or was it?) NOT to pursue the 2026 Winter Olympics.
That vote was one of no-confidence.
Had we gone ahead, I expect we would have won the bid.
If we build a new arena, Calgary will be the landlord with a great tenant.
If we don’t, we’ll look like fools with weak leadership.
Reader feedback:
I enjoyed this morning’s read Mark. It's always great to be given another day, JJ, Calgary, AB