Calgary gets one more chance at Games bid

TORONTO — It’s a tricky wicket, democracy. We are reminded of this every day, as humans all over the world respond to some of the most complex challenges in history by electing our dumbest, meanest people. It’s the worst system of government, as the old saying goes, except for all the others.

Anyway, about the Olympics. On Wednesday, the city of Calgary’s chosen representatives met to decide whether to shoot for the 2026 Games. There are only two other bids, in Sweden and Italy, both rickety as hell. Calgary, as long as it didn’t implode in terms of either representative or direct democracy, would have a shot.

But the bid had tottered in on shaky legs. Calgary city council’s Olympic bid committee had recommended killing the process; a last-second funding deal had been struck between the federal government and the province of Alberta, leaving the city responsible for a decision. Not all the particulars — like, say, who would be left holding the Halloween bag for any overarching cost overruns — had been nailed down.

So after a day of questions and debate, city council needed 10 of 15 votes to kill its Nov. 13 plebiscite, and got … eight. A majority, but not enough of one. So it survives, muddling through, unloved but undead.

In a way, it was a positive example of democracy. Council explored the bid, debated it, and streamed it all on the internet. This wasn’t a backroom bid, or a strongman bid. There were worries about money, about infrastructure, about the future. There were worries about debt thresholds and credit ratings and affordable housing.

The people in charge of the bid came in hot, with 2026 BidCo chair Scott Hutcheson haughtily charging, “By terminating the plebiscite today, you’re taking away our democratic right to bid.” City bureaucrats admitted they didn’t have a complete handle on financial risk, but that the infrastructure involved would likely lower the city’s credit rating.

It was, in other words, the crucible of a city council meeting. BidCo CEO Mary Moran admitted at one point that delaying the plebiscite so people could be better informed was a competitive disadvantage. It would have been truer if she had just said the competitive disadvantage was democracy itself.

Which, for the Olympic movement, is becoming a real bugaboo. For every Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028,there are the cities that dropped out either before a referendum or in the shadow of popular disapproval.

It’s easy for Beijing or Sochi to spend US$40 billion or $50 billion on an Olympics. Who’s going to argue? Beijing got the Games for a second time after the mess in ’22, when candidates dropped out and left nothing but China and Kazakhstan, and chose the superpower bailout — ’26 may yet get there, with Salt Lake City as a backup.

But Calgary’s last-minute deal was a little shaky, a little late. It proposed defined contributions of $700 million from the province of Alberta and $1.453 billion from the federal government, and required $390 million from the city. There remained a $1.1-billion contingency fund built into the system for overruns, but nobody knew who was responsible after that. They wanted to buy a $200-million insurance policy for $20 million to help cover any gap, but didn’t know if they could do it at that price.

A majority of Calgary council voted to kill the Olympics, but the Olympics wouldn’t stay dead, yet.

See? Democracy is a tricky wicket, and Calgary gets one more chance.