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Ottawa’s convention centre won’t be able to make a $4-million payment on a loan it still owes for its construction, the centre’s bosses have told the provincial government.

The payment is due next September, after a five-year break from payments on what started as a $40-million loan but has grown to nearly $50 million.

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By now, the Shaw Centre by the Rideau Canal was supposed to be turning a profit of $6 million a year on $26 million in revenues, according to the business case for the publicly funded reconstruction it undertook a decade ago. It’s not close.

The centre hasn’t published an annual report yet for past year, but its financials are included in the provincial government’s public accounts, detailed statements for all the government’s ministries and agencies recently tabled in the legislature.

“While the centre is expected to be able to meet its obligations relating to its ongoing operations as they come due, the centre does not expect to have sufficient cash on hand to make this payment in addition to meeting its other liabilities,” say the centre’s financial statements for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Can’t get much plainer than that.