Time crunch starts for Canada Games bid

Technical review went well, says evaluation chair

Five years from now isn’t that far off. Not with Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph banding together in a joint bid to host about 4,000 elite young athletes for the 2021 Canada Summer Games.

“If there are facilities that need to be built or rehabilitated, it’s not really all that long of a window,” said Wayne Carew, chair of the Games’ bid evaluation committee.

“You’ve got a fairly significant fundraising effort that needs to take place as well. That can be a minimum two-year period just getting ready. To raise the money and provide the facilities, it’s really not all that early.”

Last Thursday, a technical review committee visited Waterloo Region and Guelph to have a look at all the potential athletic venues being touted for use in 2021.

The committee wants to make sure this area, with its regional sport tourism office drumming up support and enthusiasm, has mustered the facilities to pull off hosting the Games.

Their stops, Carew said on Monday, included Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph, RIM Park in Waterloo and The Aud in Kitchener.

“They had a really good tour of your facilities,” Carew said. “I know they felt quite good. They got the impression that your bid committee has been pretty active and busy and very enthusiastic. That’s good to hear, too.”

Naturally, the three other communities bidding to host in 2021 — Niagara Region, Ottawa and Sudbury — aimed to put their best bid faces on during technical committee visits last week as well.

On Sept. 12, a shortlist of bidding communities will be released. Maybe none of the four bidders will be cut from further consideration.

“If everyone meets all the technical requirements, we could end up with four,” Carew said.

Each remaining bid will then have until the end of January to get their comprehensive proposals to Carew’s bid evaluation committee. By March or April, a winning bid is announced for the every-four-years summer event.

Next year, Winnipeg will host the Canada Summer Games with 16 sports and 250 events. The 2013 summer games in Sherbrooke generated $165-million in economic activity, according to the Games’ website. So big bucks can be at stake for host areas.

And future athletic stars can be seen competing locally before arriving on the biggest international stages. Steve Nash, Eugenie Bouchard, Lennox Lewis and Rio silver-medalist sprinter Andre De Grasse are Games alumni.

“It’s an exciting time,” Carew said.