Olympic fact-finding trip blasted as ‘boondoggle’

The latest wave of delegates en route to Pyeongchang on behalf of Calgary’s potential 2026 Olympic bid adds 11 names to the city’s factfinding mission.

Inane mail sent from Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s office on Wednesday obtained by Postmedia, the “second wave” of delegates includes the names of four executive members and seven observers — including city and provincial officials, the mayor and chief administrative officer for the Town of Canmore, and members of the city’s Olympic bid committee.

That brings the city’s observation delegation to 15.

While the city’s shouldering about $90,000 of the trip’s $135,000 cost, both the provincial and federal governments, the Town of Canmore, and the Canadian Olympic Committee are chipping in as well.

Postmedia previously reported officials accompanying Nenshi to Pyeongchang included deputy city manager Brad Stevens, deputy premier Sarah Hoffman, and Premier Notley’s deputy chief of staff, Jen Anthony.

Wednesday’s email lists additional delegates as Kyle Ripley, director of the Calgary Olympic and Paralympic 2026Project, Canmore mayor John Borrowman, Al- berta Tourism Minister Ricardo Miranda, and Advisory Panel Sport and Venues chair Gene Edworthy.

Amongthe observers listed as attending include Calgary bid committee members Augusto Romeo and Reno Davis-Yue, Canmore CAO Lisa De Soto, and Ministry of Culture and Tourism director Patrick Mattern.

Nenshi’s trip also includes meetings in the South Korean capital of Seoul arranged by Alberta Economic Development meant to promote Calgary among Korean business leaders.

The mayor departed Korea on Tuesday, spending the rest of the week attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus in Ottawa.

Calgary is one of four potential 2026 host cities invited to Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of its observer program.

Other host candidates participating in the program are: Sion, Switzerland; Sapporo, Japan; and Stockholm, Sweden.

With the withdrawal of bids from Reno, Denver and Salt Lake City in the U.S., Calgary remains the sole North American venue still interested in hosting the 2026 Winter Games — with some observers suggesting our city is a favourite among IOC officials.

In June, the Calgary Bid Explo- ration Committee told council hosting the 2026 Winter Games would cost $4.6 billion — offset by an estimated $2.2 billion in ticket revenue, sponsorship and money from the IOC.

While Nenshi has yet to officially express an opinion on Calgary making a formal bid for the Games, Coun. Sean Chu said the mayor’s previous comments to the media suggest he’s in favour of the city tossing in its hat.

“If that’s the decision he’s already made, why do we need to spend money to send people there?” Chu asked. “This is nothing but a boondoggle.”

Colin Craig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation likewise questions the need to send such a large delegation.

“Obviously, if the city is going to put in a bid, you wouldn’t want just the mayor to go and take notes — you’d need people with expertise that could look at different components of the Olympics to understand what exactly the city would be getting itself into,” he said.

That being said, he questions the financial wisdom of Calgary hosting the 2026 Games, given how previous host cities have fared financially.

“There’s no money for an Olympic bid,” Craig said. “The Alberta government is running a $12-billion deficit and the federal government is running an $18-billion deficit — it doesn’t make sense to pile on even more debt to host the Olympics.”