L.A. Kings in Quebec City: parts of agreement revealed | CityNews ...

Posted April 23, 2024 4:51 pm.

Last Updated April 23, 2024 5:19 pm.

The Quebec government will not pay for meals or alcohol for Los Angeles Kings players coming to Quebec City for two warm-up games this fall. The information was not previously known.

The leader of the official opposition Liberals, Marc Tanguay, asked that the $5 to $7 million subsidy agreement signed Sept. 9, 2023, between the Quebec government, Quebecor, and the Kings to bring the team to the Centre Vidéotron be unraveled.

“Are you going to make sure that Quebecers won’t be paying for alcohol, particularly bottles of wine? Are you going to make sure of that, or is it possible that we’ll be paying for that?” asked Tanguay.

Youri Rousseau, associate secretary in charge of the Secrétariat à la Capitale-Nationale, began by saying that “any expense whatsoever related to the organization and presentation of the event” would be reimbursed.

“That’s very, very broad,” said Tanguay, urging Rousseau to be more specific. The CAQ’s Mario Asselin, then intervened to object to the Liberal interim leader’s questions.

Rousseau finally revealed that the agreement does not provide for the reimbursement of players’ personal expenses, such as meals and alcohol.

“Quebecor will cover the costs of presenting events and the Los Angeles Kings will be responsible for their own team expenses, meals, personal expenses, and so on,” he explained.

“So these are expenses that will not be covered by our assistance.”

Without knowing it, Rousseau had just revealed a part of the agreement that had previously been kept confidential by access to information officials.

“We’ve lifted the corner of the sheet a little,” said a delighted Tanguay. “I would like to thank the deputy minister for disclosing information that had previously been redacted.”

During the discussions, Rousseau also revealed that $2.5 million had already been paid to the Quebecor Sport and Entertainment group since the agreement was signed.

A further $2.5 million will be paid to the company 30 days before the event.

To ensure that Québecor does not incur any losses, the government has undertaken to pay up to a further $2 million after the event, if it makes a loss.

If no losses are incurred, thanks in particular to ticketing and parking revenues, “Québecor could be called upon to reimburse” certain sums, said Rousseau.

The announcement of this government subsidy caused a stir last fall when Finance Minister Eric Girard said that public finances were “tight” in the context of negotiations with the public sector.

The subsidy — granted to bring in a multimillion-dollar hockey team, it was pointed out — has become a symbol of the government’s disconnection from these negotiations.

From October 2 to 8, Quebec City will host the Los Angeles Kings training camp and two exhibition games with the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews