L.A. Kings: the situation has become ‘clownish,’ says Quebec Conservative Party Leader

Subsidizing the Los Angeles Kings to play in Quebec City while Salt Lake doesn’t have to pay is “completely clownish,” says Quebec Conservative Party Leader Éric Duhaime.

He was reacting to an article by La Presse on Monday that revealed how the Kings will play a preseason game in Salt Lake City without any help from the state of Utah or the city – or taxpayers.

Last fall, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard agreed to pay between $5 and $7 million in public money for the Kings to come to Quebec City for two preparatory games in 2024.

“There’s something completely clownish about it. We’re being made to look like [amateurs],” Duhaime said Monday.

The decision sparked public outcry and unease among CAQ MNAs, especially when the Montreal Canadiens offered to play in Quebec City for free.

“The same Minister of Finance who went and put $5 to 7 million on the table for Kings games is going to tell us that he hasn’t got a penny, that we’re in a bad way, and that there’s going to be a huge budget deficit. This is even more unacceptable in the current economic climate,” Duhaime explained.

“If Minister Girard has squandered $5 to 7 million for absolutely nothing, it’s certain that we’re going to have to call for his head,” added Duhaime.

For Québec solidaire parliamentary leader Alexandre Leduc, there is no doubt that the CAQ is “negotiating badly” and “failing to obtain what is best for Quebec.”

“This government must take responsibility for its bad financial decisions and stop putting the burden on the workers who carry our public services at arm’s length,” said Leduc in a written statement.

The Parti Québécois (PQ) condemned the fact that Quebec has distinguished itself in this matter “for the wrong reasons.”

“Elsewhere, private promoters are getting organised. To put it plainly: the Kings could have come without the government rushing to give them $5 to 7 million of our money,” said Pascal Paradis, PQ spokesperson for the Capitale-Nationale region.

This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.