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Why not Regina?!?! Oh yeah, thats why.

City gets nod for Juno Awards show
The stars will settle in Edmonton next spring when the city hosts the first Juno Awards show ever held in Alberta, government officials announced yesterday.
“It will be the single largest musical-awareness event to occur in the history of this province,” said Alberta Community Development Minister Gene Zwozdesky, a former musician and former chairman of the Alberta Recording Industry Association.
“It will attract producers and record labels from not only across Canada but also from across other parts of North America and indeed a few even from around the world.”
Edmonton launched a bid to host the Juno Awards after Mayor Bill Smith spied the suggestion in a March 2001 column by Sun writer Kerry Diotte.
Smith said he learned yesterday that the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences – which organizes the event – is officially endorsing Edmonton’s pitch. “Of course, we’re very honoured to accept,” a beaming Smith told reporters at a hastily organized news conference.
“The Junos will be coming to our city Sunday, April 4, 2004.”
Edmonton still has to work with the academy’s board to meet a couple of conditions, but “they’re not significant,” Smith said.
Funding to host the event is already in place, he added.
The province has committed $250,000, the city will contribute services in kind, and Senator Tommy Banks has helped secure $250,000 in federal funding.
Banks said that hosting the Junos is a real coup that will “showcase” Edmonton.
“It’s certainly more than one television show,” he said. “There will be a lot of business done there.”
Zwozdesky said the economic impact should be “in the millions of dollars.
“You have to imagine that stars who will be receiving the Juno awards will bring with them their own entourages, but they will also bring enormous numbers of fans who will all require hotel rooms and food to eat and gas to drive their vehicles and other such things,” Zwozdesky said.
Premier Ralph Klein said the Junos are a good fit in Edmonton.
“It’s a culturally alive city. Certainly, it has demonstrated a devotion and commitment to the arts and I think (Skyreach Centre) would be an entirely appropriate venue,” he said.
The tentative schedule of events includes the televised Juno Awards show April 4 at Skyreach Centre, an off-camera awards show and gala dinner April 3 at the Shaw Conference Centre, and other weekend events including an autograph signing session and clubs showcasing local artists and Juno nominees.
The Junos have been held in the West twice – both times in Vancouver.