Dix: BC Place for sale?

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix speaks during a provincial election campaign stop at the South Granville Seniors Centre in Vancouver B.C., on Tuesday April 23, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Adrian Dix says if his party forms government, the NDP will examine whether to sell BC Place.

Dix says his government would review the books of the BC Pavilion Corporation, noting the massive cost over-runs that occurred during construction of the retractable roof on BC Place and the downtown convention centre.

He says a spending priority of government should not be linked to running a sports stadium.

Dix says the expert panel will have 90 days to check the books and report back on the possibility of selling BC Place.

Dix says PavCo has accumulated $1.2-billion in debt, most of that during renovations to the BC Place Roof, and he predicts it will have operational losses of nearly $60 million over the next three years.

He says an NDP government would rather spend that cash on hospitals or social programs.