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ANALYSIS

If you want to get Saskatoon residents out to vote, let them have their say on an arena project. If you want a divided city, employ the same strategy.

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That theory was proved 30 years ago today. On April 23, 1986, more than half of Saskatoon voters turned out for a rare stand-alone referendum on whether to build a new arena.

By comparison, less than 37 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2012 municipal election, which Coun. Ann Iwanchuk called “pathetic” this week. Just over 27 per cent voted in 2009.

Three decades ago, a divisive debate about where and whether to build a new arena to replace the 48-year-old Saskatoon Arena downtown ended when 70 per cent of voters backed building a new arena.

The vote took place six months after a referendum held with the Oct. 23, 1985 election on whether to build an arena on a site south of the present-day Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.

Misconceptions about these two votes persist to this day, but a closer look reveals much of the information used in the debates is questionable with 30 years of hindsight.