Quebec Won’t Help Expos Out

The Expos’ future in Montreal grew more uncertain Wednesday.

The Quebec government continued to refuse to use tax money to build a new downtown ballpark, and managing partner Claude Brochu said the team can survive only with government help.

Quebec finance minister Bernard Landry said the province’s stand had not changed: no tax money for professional sports teams.

“People who earn $50,000 a year don’t want to see their taxes used to make life easier for people who earn millions of dollars a month,” Landry said. “There are economic spinoffs [to baseball], but that isn’t the determining factor.

“It isn’t like increasing Quebec’s industrial base with aluminum plants. There can’t be a solution that is hard on taxpayers.”

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Houston Astro outfielder Moises Alou had surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Vail, Colo. Alou, injured on Feb. 19 during workouts in the Dominican Republic, will be sidelined five to six months. . . . Cleveland Indian designated hitter Mark Whiten has a stress fracture in his right foot and will be sidelined at least two weeks.