Both Mayor Mike Savage and SSE founding partner Anthony LeBlanc say if council votes down the proposal in December, that decision will be final

When the proposed Shannon Park stadium issue returns to council in six weeks time, the decision councillors make will be final.

And Halifax's mayor is admitting there doesn't seem to be much interest around the council table to move forward with it.

This week, councillors voted down a motion from Councillor Sam Austin that would have immediately tossed out the stadium proposal from Schooner Sports and Entertainment. The motion failed by a vote of 9-8.

"There are a lot of councillors who've indicated they're not supportive of a stadium," said Mayor Mike Savage in an interview on Thursday. "Whether there is an opportunity for people to change their mind as we get more analysis from staff I don't know. I wouldn't see it as a hopeful sign that the stadium would pass council when it comes back."

While Savage was among the nine councillors who voted against Austin's motion, he did support another successful motion that will speed up the process. Staff will now bring a basic analysis to in December, rather than spending months preparing a full report.

The mayor said it's important to have staff do what staff does best, and look at the costs associated with the stadium that go beyond what's in the SSE proposal.

"We need to look at planning implications and transit implications," said Savage. "I do believe that we can get some basic, rudimentary analysis done. We don't need to go deep, deep into all of this to determine whether it's worth pursuing or not."

SSE surprised by negativity around proposal

One of the founding partners of Schooner Sports and Entertainment is still hopeful council will move forward with the stadium.



"We're kind of flummoxed why this is being met with the opposition it is," said Anthony LeBlanc. "I don't think people are looking empirically at the facts of the situation."

LeBlanc said SSE was "surprised" to see Austin's motion.

"We were happy to see the motion overturned," LeBlanc said. "I'm not going to get too concerned about the results, the good news is we're continuing the process and we're working closely with senior staff."

"The risk really has to be based on your expectation of a successful CFL franchise or not," offered LeBlanc. "If you think the CFL is going to be successful, the risk to HRM is literally zero dollars."

December decision expected to be final

HRM spokesperson Brendan Elliott said in an email that some further negotiation is possible in the coming weeks ahead of staff making a recommendation to council.

"In all situations where there are financial implications to consider, there is always room for some back and forth. However, it's safe to say the overall package as it's being presented is the basis for the review and potential recommendations."

The report from staff is expected to return in December, and if council votes down the proposal, there will not be another submission to the city from SSE.

"This has gone on a long time," said Mayor Savage. "This is what they've come up with, so I don't think it's realistic to say to them give us something else. I don't think they'd be interested, and I don't think there's much appetite on council."

On that point, Savage and Anthony LeBlanc appear to agree.

"The decision that is made will be final," said LeBlanc. "If it is rejected, yes, we have made an agreement internally within our partnership that we will not be continuing any further."

Council has two meetings scheduled for December, on the 3rd and 10th of the month. The stadium issue is expected to be on the agenda for one of those two meetings.