CALGARY – A rain-drenched water-skiing event and the money-losing visit of the Dalai Lama are being blamed for the demise of 12-year-old Calgary event planning company Carter McRae – and its founder’s career as a political adviser.
In an interview, Stephen Carter, 40, said he resigned Tuesday as chief of staff for Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith because of the feared backlash from the many suppliers who cannot be paid for their products or services.
His company’s seven staff were laid off about a month ago.
“Obviously, I didn’t tell Danielle Smith about it when I got hired,” he said.
“She’s been very understanding. This is impacting her as well and that shouldn’t happen . . . People are coming after me and hitting me with a scattergun.”
Carter offered Premier Ed Stelmach an apology earlier this month after he posted comments on Twitter that seemed to mock the way the premier speaks.
But the problems with the business he runs with his wife, Heather McRae, came to a head in August when cold, wet weather hurt attendance at the World Water Ski Championships at Predator Bay, south of Calgary.
Then receipts came up short during the Dalai Lama’s visit to Calgary in early October.
“What’s happened is the World Water Ski Championships didn’t come through with the promised dollars that they were supposed to pay us and we also lost some money on the Dalai Lama event. The two things added together were just too much to manage,” Carter said.
The water-skiing event brought in over $1 million, Carter said, but left the non-profit society that organized the event broke. They shortchanged by almost $500,000 the money owed to Carter McRae, he said.
“We owe lots of money to lots of little suppliers,” he said, adding the company is insolvent but hasn’t been placed into formal bankruptcy.
He said a significant creditor is him and his wife, owed about $200,000. They have two young daughters.
He said the water-skiing event incurred extra expenses which included the building of an extra road into the facility.
“We were really looking at this being our pinnacle, you know, we had the Dalai Lama, we had the water ski championships and we felt this was going to put us on the map,” he said, adding ruefully, “I guess it has.”
Carter said he doesn’t know what he’ll do next.
Carter McRae’s troubles are not reflective of the overall industry in Calgary, says Jocelyn Flanagan, chief executive of the largest event company in town, e=mc2.
“Our industry is definitely changing and becoming more strategically focused in that our clients really are looking more at return or investment and return on objectives,” she said. “Sort of the need list and not the want list.”
She said the activity has not rebounded to the robust levels of 2007 but they’ve recovered from the depths of 2008 and a middle ground has been reached where there is a normal level of business.
Flanagan said there is active competition for work in Calgary these days but enough work to go around.
DHEALING@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM
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