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What Stephen Harper was to the Keystone XL pipeline debate, Gary Bettman is to the Calgary Flames’ proposal for a new arena and football stadium complex for the city.

As an advocate for the high-profile infrastructure project, Bettman is a minor character in a complex process who has a lot to say but only a marginal influence on the eventual decision. The National Hockey League’s New York-based commissioner made a visit to Calgary this week — where business and governments are struggling to cope with a historic plunge in oil prices — and stopped just short of suggesting Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s support for the controversial development was a “no brainer.”

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Harper, then Canada’s prime minister, said in 2011 that White House approval of the contentious pipeline from the oilsands required little or no mental effort, only have to the Obama administration reject it.

“If this project is going to happen, the mayor needs to embrace it, the city needs to embrace it,” Bettman said after a speech to the Chamber of Commerce on Monday. “If he’s not prepared to embrace it, then the people will have to deal with that.”