[Dude]

Regs- you can go ahead and edit / delete this if you find it is more than your site wants to handle.

I'm sending this to the head of every Provincial Soccer Association:

If you are receiving this e-mail, I am writing you as a concerned Canadian Citizen who loves the Beautiful game of soccer, but frustrated with the current state of our game in this country, and urging you to help in any way possible to try and advance a cause that is common to us all: improving the game at a National level.

As you may or may not be aware, The Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club has been on the record as willing to finance and proceed with construction of a soccer specific stadium located in the Vancouver area. The intent of the stadium, among others, is to be the home of Whitecaps FC teams, as well as a suitable BC based host venue for International caliber games, and World Cup Qualifiers. The Whitecaps are also on the record as stating that it is their desire to have their club playing in the top Professional league in North America, which is widely considered to be the MLS. The MLS has expressed a strong desire to expand to Vancouver, with the major stumbling block being the lack of a suitable facility.

As influential executives involved with the game, I think you can agree that one of the (several) major barriers to our domestic players and national caliber teams becoming more competitive on an international stage is the lack of a true professional league based in Canada, where players can not only play & train domestically against the highest caliber competition available in North America, but a league where they can be reasonably compensated to focus 100% of their efforts towards the pursuit of becoming the best footballers they can be.

To this end, as an interested party in advancing the game at the Provincial and National levels, you must agree that Canadian Soccer NEEDS THIS FACILITY!

The facts:

~Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot intends to privately finance Waterfront Stadium.

~Mr. Kerfoot owns a block of land on the Vancouver Waterfront in the Gasstown Area that he has proposed as the future site of Waterfront Stadium.

~This land, and site as it was originally proposed, is an impediment to the day-to-day operations of the Port.

~The Vancouver Port Authority (a Crown Corporation) and Vancouver Whitecaps have been in negotiations to discuss a suitable "land swap" for the past 15 months.

~On Wednesday, April 23, Patrick McLaughlin, the Director of Planning and Development for the Vancouver Port Authority intentionally leaked selected private details of their negotiation regarding the Whitecaps stadium to a reporter from local news station CKNW.

~The Whitecaps disputed the details leaked as fraudulent, and have offered their own release with their interpretation of the state of negotiations.

As a concerned Canadian system that loves this game, I have little interest in the political side of this dispute, but what I do know is that a private businessman has expressed interest in building a private facility at his own expense that will not only help in revitalizing a run-down area of the city, but will more importantly serve as a much needed, even critical home base for the highest level of Professional football in Canada, as well as a world class facility that can be used by our National level soccer teams.

Again: this proposal calls for PRIVATE FINANCING. It is absurd to allow political red tape stand in the way of this project.

I think as interested citizens, we are now in a position of having to speak out, and of having to push all interested levels of government to put pressure on the VPA to work co-operatively with the Whitecaps, and move this project forward. Again, being that the VPA is a Federally owned Crown Corporation, we as taxpayers have a legitimate voice to express with regards to their operations.

I am asking you, as a Provincial director for Soccer that falls under the CSA who has a VESTED INTEREST in seeing this project move forward in the best interest of CANADIAN SOCCER, to please petition your members to send a letter to their local MP and demand that they put pressure on the Crown Corporation to work in good faith and move this project forward.

Some key contacts who I'm sure will love to hear from your members:

• Lawrence Cannon: Minister responsible for Transport Canada, which oversees the Port Authority that is presently stonewalling the land transfer with the Caps. Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca

• David Emerson: MP for Vancouver Kingsway & current Federal Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver–Whistler Olympics. emersd@parl.gc.ca


Also, following is a list of Vancouver Area MPs (Liberal and Conservative members selected only):


Abbotsford
Ed Fast
Fast.E@parl.gc.ca

Delta-Richmond East
John Cummins
Cummins.J@parl.gc.ca


Langley
Mark Warawa
Warawa.M@parl.gc.ca


Newton-North Delta
Sukh Dhaliwal
Grewal.G@parl.gc.ca


North Vancouver
Don Bell
Bell.D@parl.gc.ca


Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam
James Moore
Moore.J@parl.gc.ca


Richmond
Raymond Chan
chan.r@parl.gc.ca


South Surrey - White Rock - Langley
Russ Hiebert
Hiebert.R@parl.gc.ca


Vancouver Centre
Honourable Hedy Fry
Fry.H@parl.gc.ca


Vancouver Kingsway
Hon. Emerson, David
Emerson.D@parl.gc.ca


Vancouver Quadra
Honourable Stephen Owen
Owenwen.S@parl.gc.ca



Vancouver South
Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh
Dosanjh.U@parl.gc.ca


West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast
Blair Wilson
Wilson.B@parl.gc.ca