Local politicians in Abbotsford, B.C., are under fire from residents who say it's wrong for millions of taxpayer dollars to be spent on a local hockey team while some city programs remain underfunded. Abbotsford city council has approved a deal with the Abbotsford Heat hockey team that will guarantee the club as much as $5.7 million in annual expenses. "That's a private business and the private business should live or die based on its ability to sell that product to the community," said Vince Dimanno, chair of the Abbotsford Ratepayers Association.Taxpayers should have absolutely nothing to do with that." The Heat is a farm team for the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames and although the team is in second place in its division in the American Hockey League, it's not drawing the fan support its ownership had hoped for. So the city has agreed to pick up the shortfall in the team's revenue, up to $5.7 million a year. "It's a contract where we're agreeing to purchase from them 'X' number of games in our facility," said Abbotsford Mayor George Peary. The city owns the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, which it built for $82 million in 2009 and where the Heat plays its home games.
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