The addition would give the centre one large room that could accommodate more than 3,000 people in a meeting or seat more than 1,500 for dining. We need the room because there are gatherings that we just cannot go after because we dont have the capacity, explains Economic Development Edmonton spokesman Jim Rudolph. The expansion will allow us to better compete and again pursue conventions and conferences that may have ruled us out because the venue wasnt big enough.

As other cities have boosted their convention space, the Shaw Conference Centre has slipped from 63rd place in 1997 to 84th place in 1999. In the convention business, 20 years is an eternity.

It was May 1983 that the Edmonton Convention Centre kicked open its doors, but the story of the place now called the Shaw Conference Centre goes back much further than that. The tale begins in the late 1960s, when a group of visionary Edmontonians proposed that the city build a downtown Omniplex, containing a convention centre, hockey arena and stadium. But that was defeated in a 1971 plebiscite.

A second plebiscite, triggered by the Edmonton Voters Association late in 1979, gave the citizens another chance to have their say on the building of a convention centre, this time anchored into the slope of the river valley on Grierson Hill. Because the plebiscite was actually on whether to rescind the bylaw to build the centre, a yes vote meant the voter didnt want it. Despite the awkward wording, Edmontonians voted 63 per cent in favour of proceeding.

The thinking was that the centre should be located on the slope of the valley to take advantage of the citys greatest asset. Voters had approved a facility with an estimated price tag of $32 million but within 18 months, the cost had ballooned to $81.8 million.

No wonder the Nix Six group of council, led by then alderman Laurence Decore, called it a white elephant. Decore, when he became mayor a few years later, expressed the wish that the convention centre would just slide into the river.

The reason it hasnt and a big part of the hefty price tag was because of the way it was built and anchored into Grierson Hill, Edmontons most nefarious slippin and slidin slope. It is named for Edmund Del Grierson, an early Edmonton entrepreneur and city councillor. In 1903, Grierson and partner Fred Jackson built the Alberta Hotel, right where Canada Place now stands.

The hotel was dismantled and carted away some 20 years ago and Grierson has long passed on, but his hill is still doing what it has been doing for a few thousand years. The process of erosion and the forces of gravity are constantly working to encourage the glacial till and the soil to head for the bottom of the valley.

A rabbit warren of coal shafts drilled in the late 19th century only further weakened the hill and, over four generations, slides along Grierson were a common occurrence. The engineers who built the Edmonton Convention Centre were intent that the building wouldnt head downslope, too, and so came up with elaborate anchoring system using deep foundation pilings dozens of feet into the bedrock. Grierson's Hill may well slip away one day, but the building most certainly won't.

The cost of making it so wasnt cheap and, as the projects costs escalated, there were fears that property owners residential and business would end up paying big. But the Alberta government came through with $20 million just in time and that helped with the tab.

When it opened in the spring of 1983, it was hailed as a world class convention centre and a facility that would put Edmonton on the map. Theres no doubt that, over the last 20 years, the centre has been a strong draw for tourism and industry and Edmonton is a different city because of it.

But the journey hasnt been a smooth one. There have been years it has lost money, an attempted takeover by Northlands and, in more recent years, a restructuring that has seen the operation directed by Economic Development Edmonton (EDE).

Last year, the centre was the site of a nasty and prolonged strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401. The seven month job action ended in November after EDE agreed to recommendations made by a mediator.

Sources say the federal money for the expansion will come from funds remaining in the $2.05-billion Infrastructure Canada program established three years ago. Now the city must come up with its $10 million share and do it without hitting property taxes hard. Otherwise, business and homeowner support for an expanded convention centre will slide just like Grierson Hill.

If youd like to offer your thoughts, please drop me an email at lawrenceherzog@hotmail.com

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