Wait, what? The BC Liberals are Flush with cash?

The paint by numbers offering that was being coloured in by the BC Liberals on Wednesday is that British Columbians are seemingly so attached to BC Place, that putting a corporate brand on it is just something that won't be accepted, 40 million dollars apparently not enough to win over our love.

OK, now shake your head and read the above again and then ponder this:

The BC Liberals don't want any money?


By some chance is that  solar flare heading our way a harbinger of Armageddon or something?

Tis a Topsy turvy day in the wacky province, when the party supposedly of the capitalist right turns down 40 million big ones, especially when all they have to give up for it is some space on the side of a stadium to throw on the ole Telus brand.

For Telus, the future today was anything but friendly...

Little is being said about what led to the turning down of the Telus cash today, though the non-invitation of Premier Clark at a Telus event of last week suddenly makes a lot more sense now, the word no doubt having already been delivered (perhaps by Telus cel we hope) that their money wasn't good enough any more.

There are rumblings that one of the tenants at the would be Telus Field (oops bad corporate lackey), BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC weren't thrilled with the plan, or more to the point their main corporate sponsor, Bell, wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of playing at a field branded by the competition.

Perhaps an understandable marketing position, but unless Bell wants to underwrite the now departed 40 million dollars, they really shouldn't have felt too hard done by, they could always take the Whitecaps back out to the old Stadium grounds at Empire and put back together that meccano set look and brand it as their own home field.

The province, which for the last number of months has been proclaiming high and low that we are in a tight financial situation, requiring net zero mandates and other such cutbacks, all of a sudden doesn't want a cash infusion, go figure that one out

Some suggest that perhaps an ever bigger winfall yet awaits the Liberal treasury, that Telus may have been low balling the government, making their hoped for branding exercise the steal of the next twenty years.

Maybe yes, maybe no.

But in an era of financial caution and with any number of battles with public sector workers to come, tossing aside 40 million bucks seems like a strange bit of financial planning.

One for which we're sure British Columbians will anxiously await further details on.

The Province-- B. C. backs out of BC Place $40 million naming contract with Telus
Vancouver Sun-- B.C. puts brakes on $40 million BC Place renaming deal with Telus
Globe and Mail-- B. C. government rejects deal with Telus to rename BC Place
CBC-- BC Place renaming deal with Telus scrapped
24 Hours-- Telus loses battle to rename BC Place
CTV.ca-- Gov't hangs up on Telus over BC Place naming deal
Global BC-- No Deal: BC Place