A budget of $730 million was approved by city council. The amounts in the tenders received were less than 2% higher. At that time, the total cost of the project amounted to approximately $744 million, which was considered a great success by our city council. The agreements with the province and the federal governments were very clear: federal and provincial contributions would total no more than $200 million. Any additional cost would have to be borne by the city. There was absolutely no risk for either the provincial or the federal government.
On February 26th, 2008. See this statement in context.