April 7/08
I’ve never been too clear on what kind of opera the fiasco was and is. At times it looked like a horse opera, and at other times a soap opera. Regardless like all entertaining operas, there is one trueism that holds true - it ain’t over until the fat lady has sung, and the last sounds coming from stage right from the Friends of Upper Fort Garry via their media mouth piece Gordon Sinclair wasn’t it. Of course it now depends on what the tax payer audience is prepared to accept.
Like most of the local bloggers I provided my opinion, even to the point of sending Sinclair an email, which of course went unanswered. In fact even though it seems the Friends are anxious to turn the whole project over to the Forks Corporation, no one could be bothered even looking at the Forks site as an option for the project.
Of course now it’s out of site out of mind. But I’m still left wondering if the Friends actually ever registered as a fund raising entity, and when and if they will be providing a full accounting of the monies they supposedly raised.
There’s a lot of high profile names that promised a lot of money for the project. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I have a feeling that perhaps there might be token payments, but the full total won’t ever be turned over by the high rollers for the project.
Just as I have a feeling that those in the blogging community that expressed such a passion about the issue won’t be bothered checking to see if the high rollers make good on their public commitments. I doubt if Gordon Sinclair will do it, you see he’s already done his part as cheerleader of public opinion - the details are someone else’s job.
In the end, the taxpayers lose an opportunity to obtain some revenue from development, and the site will end up as nothing more than an extension of the commercial development that is the Forks - business with a historical theme supported by taxpayer money.
Everyone will forget about the empty promises and no one will be held accountable. In a way it’s a fitting tribute to local history, it’s what happened the last time the local natives were restless - and history will once again be allowed to repeat itself.








