Olympic bid money ‘set aside’ in budget, Ceci says
While there was no budget commitment to support a Calgary Winter Olympics bid, the province said money has been earmarked for that purpose.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi has said he’s fully confident the province and federal government will each soon ante up around $10 million to fund preparations for a potential bid for the 2026 Games.
But while there was no mention of any such funding in Alberta’s 2018-19 fiscal blueprint, Finance Minister Joe Ceci said that commitment is still a possibility.
“We’re having ongoing discussions with Calgary about that, so we’ve set aside some money proactively in our budget to go down that BidCo road should we decide to,” he said, referring to the body, if funded, that would bid for the Games.
“There’s been no decision, of course, here.”
Ceci said that decision would be made “soon.”
The city has said that without a commitment from other levels of government, it would abandon any notion of making a bid.
On Thursday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said that funding ’s absence from the budget wasn’t unexpected, adding he still has high hopes that money will come through.
“I would have been surprised if they’d said anything in the context of a big budget,” said Nenshi.
“I continue to be very confident both the province and the federal government will come to the table to help fund this bid, and if they won’t, council will stop work on it.”
IOC officials have signalled they’d look favourably on a bid for the Games from Calgary, which hosted what was considered a highly successful, groundbreaking Winter Olympics in 1988.
On Tuesday, city council voted 8-6 to remain on the path of making a possible bid by approving $2.5 million to fund BidCo.
Naysayers argued that without solid, immediate commitments from Ottawa and the province, the risks to the city are too great.
The province has to still carefully weigh investment in a bid with taxpayers’ interests, Culture and Tourism Minister Ricardo Miranda said in a statement.
“While things are looking up — our economy is growing and Albertans are returning to work — Albertans still expect their government to spend their money in a responsible way,” he said.
“That is why our government is committed to ensuring that any costs associated with Calgary’s Olympic Games bid are carefully balanced around the needs and expectations of Albertans.”
The bid process would cost $30 million, with $9.5 million coming from the city, $10.5 million from the federal government and $10 million from the province.
Civic lawmakers say they expect to have those funding commitments in the near future, since they hope to make a final decision on the Games in June.
Earlier this week, city council promised to make a decision in April on holding a non-binding plebiscite asking Calgarians if they wish to host another Winter Olympics.