COUNCILLOR DUFF - EXPLANATION PLEASE!

It was with interest I read the story in the Feb. 7 edition of The Telegram under the headline “Duff outlines SJSE Vision”.

In this story, Coun Shannie Duff, or is that St. John’s Sports and Entertainment (SJSE) board member Shannie Duff, gives her opinion on how she would like to see changes associated with the governance of Mile One Centre.

For me, her most intriguing comments are not so much about the governance issue, but her reflection that “there should also be a review of the current business plan in order to establish a realistic subsidy.”

Did I read that correctly?

A “realistic subsidy?”

Duff observed, “that it’s obvious a realistic subsidy has never been established”. My question to Duff is obvious, why not?

What has the SJSE board been doing these past few years - providing citizens with “unrealistic budgets?” Why?

As a councillor, Duff should have been on her feet in the public chamber demanding realistic budgets from SJSE. Or has this “realism” only now come to light?

Was she not a board member who signed off on the 5-year plan presented to the citizens of St. John’s in December 2005 with a corporate aim of being “debt free and subsidy free by 2010?” Where was the realism with that corporate aim?

I look forward to an explanation from Duff as to when she realized Mile One Centre’s business plans weren’t realistic, and why it is only now that citizens are discovering this.