Councillor wants Olympic decision put to public vote
Committee to give council its final recommendation on bid Monday
The group studying a potential Calgary bid for the 2026 Olympics is slated to present more than 5,400 pages of work to city council on Monday, including a final recommendation that will answer if a repeat Winter Games is both “feasible and prudent,” following 10 months of work.
While elected officials will have to make a yes or no decision on whether to proceed with a formal bid before the spring of 2018, one city councillor wants to let voters have a say through a plebiscite question at the ballot box this fall.
In addition to hearing a final recommendation from the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee (CBEC) at Monday’s council meeting, elected officials are also expected to debate a notice of motion from Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu that asks for a plebiscite on the hot-button topic.
Chu, who prides himself on being fiscally conservative, said spending nearly $400,000 on a plebiscite at the October municipal election is worth it to give citizens a say on an event that could cost more than $4.6 billion in 2017 dollars.
“Would I want to spend that money? Of course not,” he said. “But with the unknown we’re going into, ($390,000) is money necessary to spend to ask the people, ‘Do you want to spend (billions on the Olympics)?’ ”
At the CBEC’s last update to council in June, the group said the price tag for a repeat Calgary Games is $4.6 billion, a tally offset by an estimated $2.2 billion in revenue from tickets, sponsorships and the International Olympic Committee.
“The money only comes from one place — the taxpayer,” Chu said, noting he has problems with the group’s math, including a $610-million tab for security.
“$4.6 billion is lowballing, especially on security. It’s very low in light of what’s going on in the world,” Chu said.
Sean Beardow, a spokesman for the CBEC, said Wednesday that pursuing an Olympic plebiscite is up to council, not the committee.
Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell, who along with Chu was one of only two members of council to vote against spending $5 million to explore an Olympic bid, said it’s difficult to fully inform the public about an issue with a plebiscite.
“I have problems with plebiscites. They boil down to a yes or no question, and with the Olympics, it’s more complicated,” Farrell said.
Both Farrell and Chu expect the CBEC will recommend Monday that council vote “yes” to pursuing a formal bid for the 2026 sporting event. But Mayor Naheed Nenshi told reporters Wednesday he doesn’t expect that will be the recommendation, and is doubtful council would approve moving forward with a bid.
A recent shift in timelines from the International Olympic Committee buys council more time to make a decision. Cities that want to bid on the 2026 Games now have until March 2018 to notify the IOC of their intent.
In recent weeks, CBEC has released both a 10-page report to citizens that summarizes the committee’s findings and a nearly 400page feasibility study and conceptual master hosting plan that shows much of the work behind the looming recommendation to council.
Headed by former police chief Rick Hanson, the group has identified four clusters for potential events and facilities, and identified the modifications that would be needed to bring existing facilities to Olympic standards.
That includes a ski jump from the 1988 Olympics that would need extensive upgrades and has for months challenged officials, who’ve concluded more due diligence is required on three potential ski jump options.
In its report to the community, the group concludes constructing a new ski jump in Canmore could cost more than $100 million, “which may be problematic from a sustainability perspective, due to the sport’s small athlete population in Canada.”
The bid exploration committee introduces a third option of using the existing ski jumping facility at Whistler, built for the 2010 Vancouver Games, a move it acknowledges would add transportation, accommodation and security costs, as well as a loss of “revenue and legacy potential for Calgary and region.”
The group’s hosting plan operates under several assumptions, including that a new 18,000-seat arena will soon be built and operating, a new multi-purpose field house will be constructed in the Foothills Athletic Park, the BMO Centre will undergo an expansion, and that a currently unfunded $10-million revitalization to the Canmore Nordic Centre and $20 million in upgrades to the WinSport Sliding Centre will be funded and completed, all before 2026.