Feds, province support Calgary Olympic bid

The federal and provincial governments would financially support a Calgary bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to documents released Friday by the city. City administration said in a report the governments of Canada and Alberta have agreed to contribute to the estimated $30 million a bid would cost.

The feds would chip in $10.5 million and the province $10 million, the report said.

Council is expected to discuss a potential bid at a strategic meeting of council Wednesday.

City administration will recommend council establish a formal bid corporation.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi has repeatedly said a bid can’t go ahead without financial support from the federal and provincial governments. Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will invite cities to bid for 2026 in October, 2018 with the deadline being January, 2019. The winning city will be announced in September, 2019.

Calgary city council voted in November to spend up to $2 million more on continued exploration of a bid, but only $1 million was released pending an answer from the federal and provincial governments.

The city’s Olympic project team has been continuing the work of the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee, which pegged the total cost of hosting the 2026 Winter Games at $4.6 billion.