With speculation continuing that a potential deal could be in the works to relocate the NHL team the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, provincial officials discussed the issue Wednesday.
Premier Greg Selinger said his government would support bringing the Thrashers to Winnipeg by stepping in to help with debt loads on the city's arena, the MTS Centre, but wouldn't subsidize the team.
"The team is completely a private operation. The government is not going to be directly involved in anyway on that," said Selinger.
Rob Warren at the Asper School of Business said the province's plan is a good idea.
"By backstopping the debt on the arena they're really playing a solid card because what they're going after is an asset-backed loan more than anything else," said Warren.
PC leader Hugh McFadyen said he wants a team here but doesn't want taxed dollars used. In 2007, he unsuccessfully campaigned for his party to form government and floated the idea of selling bonds to bring the Jets back.
He said Selinger's proposal shouldn't be compared with his previous idea.
"No, that would be voluntary contributions by people and taxes aren't voluntary. There's a significant difference," said McFadyen.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation also said taxpayers' dollars shouldn't be used to bring an NHL team to Winnipeg. It suggested the best way for government to support a team is to lower taxes so people have more money to spend on tickets.
The owners of the MTS Centre and the Atlanta Thrashers, meanwhile, wouldn't comment on whether a potential deal was being considered to bring the team to Winnipeg.
- with a report from CTV's Laura Lowe
