Swedish taxpayers’ group likes Calgary’s Olympic bid
The Canadians can have their Swedish meatballs and Ikea furniture. Come 2026, the Swedes will be celebrating with Canadian maple syrup.
So hopes the Swedish Taxpayers Association, which is urging its local officials to keep the Olympics out of Stockholm, one of three finalists for the 2026 Games along with Calgary and a joint Italian bid.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation made headlines earlier this week when it endorsed Stockholm’s bid for the Games, an announcement made across the street from Ikea as representatives donned Swedish flags and held a plate of Swedish meatballs.
On Thursday, their Swedish counterparts responded. They’re endorsing Calgary.
“The Swedish taxpayers are shocked by the Canadian support for Stockholm’s bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics,” said Christian Ekstrom, CEO of the Swedish Taxpayers Association. “We are surprised to see our Canadian friends and allies are trying to foot the bill to Sweden.”
Ekstromsaid Calgary would make a “terrific host,” with average temperatures well below those in Stockholm.
“Suggesting that Stockholm is a good place for hosting the Winter Olympics is simply fake news,” Ekstrom stated, pointing to Sweden’s higher taxes. “Therefore it would only be fair if Canada were to host the 2026 Winter Olympics.”
Those at the helm of Sweden’s Olympic bid have tried to assure Stockholm’s newly formed local government that the city’s taxpayers will not be asked to foot the bill for the 2026 Winter Games.
“We have not approached the notion of tax-based funding or any financial guarantees whatsoever” for the operating costs of the Games, Mats Arjes, chairman of the Swedish Olympic Committee, said last week, adding that the only financial guarantee required would be for “national security,” which was already tax-funded.
Stockholm’s bid team says 90 per cent of the venues that would be used for the Games already exist, and that only a new ice rink and a skiing venue need to be built.
“We have been protesting in Sweden (about) Stockholm trying to get the Olympic Games because we think, just as our Canadian friends in the taxpayers association think, that this will cost a lot of taxpayers’ money,” Ekstrom said.
Franco Terrazzano, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said it looked like a “friendly match” was forming between his organization and its Swedish equivalent.
“I’m not concerned that this is starting a war, but it’s funny to see that there’s some taxpayers over there that don’t support the Olympics and the current model that’s leaving taxpayers on the hook for a whole lot of money either,” he said.