Transparency for Olympic funds won’t apply unless Calgary wins, NDP says

The NDP government’s requirement that Calgary 2026 be subject to transparency rules will only apply if Calgary is awarded the Olympics, the province has clarified.

With the announcement last week that the province is committing $700 million toward the cost of Calgary hosting the 2026 Winter Games, more details are emerging about the funding conditions.

A letter from the provincial government states that Calgary 2026, or any successor corporation or organizing committee, will be subject to provincial transparency and freedom of information laws, “or equivalent rules or regulations.”

“Three billion dollars in public funding must be spent in a transparent manner and we expect all of our partners would agree,” Marion Nader, press secretary for Culture and Tourism Minister Ricardo Miranda, said on Tuesday.

“Our government will consider all legislative and regulatory options, and will work with the other funding partners and Calgary 2026 on future transparency requirements.”

The province’s money is also contingent upon a majority of Calgarians voting in favour of hosting the Olympics in the Nov. 13 plebiscite.

But the requirement for increased transparency — which could involve making the bid corporation subject to provincial or federal freedom of information laws — won’t apply unless Calgary bids and is awarded the Games next June. Nor will it be applied retroactively to the work of the bid corporation to date.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi has raised doubts that Calgary 2026 will actually be made subject to the province’s freedom of information and protection of privacy laws, even if the bid proceeds.

“(Finance Minister Joe Ceci) probably misspoke in that if he really wanted FOIP to apply, he would have to make a legislative change,” Nenshi said Monday. “But we have talked a lot about the importance of transparency in this work while maintaining commercially sensitive information that doesn’t actually drive up cost and there’s no problem with that.”

Nenshi said the bid corporation has already committed to making as much information public as possible, making the province’s request “redundant.”

“It’s super redundant. It basically is grandstanding. It’s already being done.”

No Calgary Olympics campaigner Erin Waite says regardless of the conditions imposed by the province, the perception of the city or the bid corporation withholding information has eroded public trust in the project. She said the province’s financial contribution also clearly signals a lack of enthusiasm.

“The amount of funding plus those conditions says there’s not a lot of enthusiasm for this project,” Waite said.

“It is support because support was asked for, so they followed through and provided support and good for them. But I do think the underlying message is there isn’t a lot of appetite and that’s just being responsible to today ’s economy and the government’s financial position.”

Three billion dollars in public funding must be spent in a transparent manner and we expect all of our partners would agree.