It has to be the greatest double key-ring ceremony in the history of Canadian sport.

Thursday, one day after the keys to the new Mosaic Stadium were turned over in Regina, the keys to Rogers Place were turned over in Edmonton.

It’s certainly a pair of the most feel-good stadium construction stories you’ll find anywhere on the planet coming to spectacular conclusions, on-time and on-budget at the same time.

PCL, a company born in Saskatchewan and raised and headquartered in Edmonton, a major international player in sports stadium construction, just delivered two of the most impressive buildings to the home communities of the company whose credits include the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, MTS Centre in Winnipeg, BMO Field in Toronto, and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

And the proudest people involved are the craft and trades people wearing the PCL hard hats.

“We’ve seen Edmonton and Oilers pride every single day,” said Mike Staines, PCL Edmonton operations manager.

“Everybody feels very fortunate to be involved in this project — the 5,000 to 6,000 people who have spent a large amount of time on this job,” he added.

“I’m a tradesman from years gone by and when tradespeople come, they always want to work on something they’re proud to show to their families,” said Alan Kuysters, PCL vice-president and district manager of Edmonton buildings.

“I can see all the people who worked on this bringing their families to the events in this building and saying, ‘I did this and I did that.’ There’s nothing more warming to your heart when your kid says ‘Wow, Dad, you did this?’ Years from now their kids will be saying their mom or dad worked on this. And it goes beyond that. They feel like they did it for their community. I know a lot of guys who are bragging to their friends in other cities about what Edmonton is going to get.

“The tradespeople have seen it every day. The average member of the public hasn’t seen it.”

Staines said it’s been fun to watch the PCL workforce.

“It has been really cool is, as you’re walking around the job site every day, you see them taking that step back and looking at what they’ve accomplished in the 30 months we’ve been here. It’s genuine pride of what they’ve done for their community.”

And that’s true with both PCL bosses.

“It’s very similar,” said Kuysters.

“I’m 33 years in the business. In that time you come along a couple of what I call career projects. This building is a career project. There’s not an arena built like this in every city in Canada or in North America. There’s a real sense of being lucky to do it, because not everybody gets that chance. It’s our community and every day I think about the enjoyment this place is going to bring to people.

“The other projects I’ve worked on have never inspired the desire and thirst for information and photos as this one. They’ve had those webcams looking at it from every direction. When one of those webcams went down, we heard about it very quickly.”

Staines is originally from England.

“I’ve been in Edmonton for eight years and in Canada for 11, and my mother back in England looked at the webcam every day.

“I have a real sense of pride and accomplishment about what we’ve been able to do. I’m looking very much forward to when I’m able to bring my wife and kids to events. My dad in England is already talking about it. He’s coming across and is actually going to be in Edmonton when the building opens with the first Oilers regular-season game. He’s going to go to the game with my son, because I’m out of town. That alone gives you a tremendous sense of achievement. It’s a team achievement and that’s what I take the most pride in.

“I see these young people on our team who are fresh out of school. Their first job has been a career job. It’s pretty rewarding seeing them do that.”

It’s interesting that with PCL headquarters here, there’s a level of frustration to see the masterpiece come into being and yet not have been able to get a look at it.

“We have about 700 people back at the corporate head office here that haven’t been down there to set foot in that building yet,” said new PCL media relations man Shane Jones (no relation), the former Global TV commentator.

“They’re kind of like an extension of the operations team. The pride coming from our office building every day has been remarkable that way. It’s just been amazing to walk the halls of the corporate head office. They just know that they are part of something special.”

Kuysters points out the history involved here with the company started by Ernest Poole in Saskatchewan in 1906 that he relocated here in 1932 after constructing the Edmonton Public Library a few years earlier.

“We’ve built a lot of downtown Edmonton in the 1970s and early 1980s. In recent years there hasn’t been a lot of building going on in downtown Edmonton. The arena has been a catalyst for a lot of what is now going on and we’re building a lot of the structures that are going in around the arena. Corporately we see it as being able to get back to building Edmonton, to get back to building our hometown.”

You may have noticed that PCL’s logo looks very similar to the logo of the Edmonton Eskimos.

“The old Poole Construction logo was the original green and gold and PCL continued that as their branding colour,” said Staines.

The new Mosaic Stadium in Regina is nowhere near the magnitude of the $610-million project of Rogers Place but everybody agrees all the same emotions are at play.

“Personally working on it, they are very much like we are,” said Kuysters.

“Rider Pride burns brightly in Regina and the opportunity to work on the new stadium for your hometown team is something for that work force to treasure, too. There’s nothing like it.”

Unlike Saskatchewan, which had a key turnover ceremony, big press conference and media tour Wednesday, the turning over of the keys was not an event. Instead they’ll have a ribbon cutting ceremony and major event Sept. 8 and of course the open house with likely 60,000-plus visitors Sept. 10.

“The building wants to put on a show,” said Staines.

“They want to put this building through its paces some more before it goes on public display. We’ll be standing right beside them on Sept. 8 and we’ll be behind the scenes supporting them on the 10th.”

terry.jones@sumedia.ca

@sunterryjones

PCL TIMELINE

PCL is a group of independent construction companies that carries out work across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and in Australia. These diverse operations in the civil infrastructure, heavy industrial, and buildings markets are supported by a strategic presence in 31 major centers.

1906 — Ernest Poole starts a construction business in Saskatchewan.

1922 — First Branch office established in Edmonton, with first project being the Edmonton Public Library on Jasper Avenue.

1932 — Ernest moves the Poole family and headquarters to Edmonton.

1948 — John and George Poole purchase the company from their father.

1977 — Bob Stollery and 24 other senior managers purchase company from the Poole family.

1996 — PCL completes Ottawa’s NHL arena (now known as Canadian Tire Centre).

1999 — PCL completes Air Canada Centre in Toronto

1999 — PCL completes the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, in a record 18 months.

2004 — PCL completes MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

2011 — B.C. Place retractable roof and revitalization.

2012 — University of North Carolina Charlotte football stadium and athletic complex.

2014 — Dodger Stadium Improvements Los Angeles.

2015 — Retrofits and new roof BMO Field Toronto

2016 — PCL completes new Mosaic Stadium, Regina.

2016 — PCL completes Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* Currently building LAFC soccer stadium (2018) in Los Angeles.