Calgary 2026 Olympic bid could be put on ice today

CALGARY — A Calgary bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games appears virtually dead.

City council will vote Wednesday on motions to kill the bid and cancel a Nov. 13 plebiscite asking Calgarians if they want the games or not.

Coun. Evan Woolley, who chairs Calgary’s Olympic assessment committee, brought forth the motions Tuesday at committee and those motions were referred to council.

“We do not have acceptable agreements in place with the other orders of government,” Woolley said. “The clock has run out. I think it’s time we move on.”

The bid corporation Calgary 2026 estimated the cost of hosting the games at $5.2 billion. Calgary 2026 asked for a combined $3-billion contribution from the federal and provincial governments and the city.

The city has yet to state what its share would be, but when the mayor said Calgary shouldn’t pay more than the province, it appeared the three levels of government were not going to get to the $3-billion ask.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi wasn’t ready to call Calgary’s bid for 2026 dead Tuesday.

“As you heard from Councillor Woolley, the challenge is time here,” he said. “The runway is short. We have promised Calgarians that they would have plenty of time to consider prior to casting their ballot. What council has to do tomorrow is determine whether there’s enough there for Calgarians to vote on two weeks from today, or if in fact they feel that the clock has in fact run out.”

Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics.