Somebody has to blink or hopes of landing Olympics will disappear
The Olympic bid is down to this — who blinks first?
Because if nobody blinks, there is no Olympic bid. And there’s probably no Nov. 13 plebiscite either, even though mail-in voting has already started.
Council’s Olympic committee may vote Tuesday on a motion to kill the bid and the plebiscite. I say “may” because by that time somebody might have blinked.
This has become a minute-tominute story, as the main players try to save face and save the bid at the same time.
Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci actually said something new on Monday: “We remain committed to the Olympics.”
There have been few statements like that from the NDP. Mostly it’s been about how they’ll guard their pile of $700 million, to ensure that no extra loonie leaks out.
Ceci added: “I have said that we can cash-flow $700 million. We want this to go to plebiscite.”
Asked by Postmedia’s evershrewd Emma Graney if he, as a Calgarian, will actually vote for the Games, Ceci stumbled for a beat and then said: “I’ll see what’s available for me on voting day. I’ll vote with my heart with the information they provide us.”
No provincial or federal politician wants to play the part of Brutus in this project assassination.
A few hours earlier, federal Sport Minister Kirsty Duncan appeared on CBC’s Calgary Eyeopener to insist time and again that Ottawa is happy to spend $1.75 billion in 2026 dollars, but only if the province and the city match those funds.
Both the Notley government and Mayor Naheed Nenshi insist they were told they wouldn’t have to match federal dollars.
In a passionate letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Nenshi said the Prime Minister’s Office was informed in March that “it was actually impossible for this to work under the policy.”
Duncan said the matching policy is right there on the federal website. She implied that all parties understood Ottawa would apply it.
Duncan repeated gushing Olympic enthusiasm and rote political answers so often that radio host David Gray said afterward: “I felt like I was talking to Siri.”
Nenshi called the mix-up a “tremendous misunderstanding,” in his letter to Trudeau. Regular citizens would call it “a blatant lie” by one side or the other.
People with knowledge of federal-provincial relations would call it “business as usual.”
What’s clear now is that everybody involved wants to blame the other if Calgary’s bid collapses in ruins. But it’s also clear — to me, anyway — that they would all rather see the bid go ahead with a deal that carries the plebiscite.
Ottawa is actually making quite a generous offer. Alberta’s $700 million is probably the best the NDP can do, given political and fiscal realities.
It’s interesting that UCP Leader Jason Kenney doesn’t condemn the potential provincial spending.
“We’re broke,” he said. “We don’t support further raising the provincial share.”
Calgary’s civic commitment, disclosed in correspondence by the NDP but never by the city, is said to be $370 million.
Ceci suggested Monday how the logjam might be broken.
"If the feds can commit $1.75 billion in 2018 dollars to this project, and drop their 50-50 funding rule, then we have what we need and the bid can go ahead to plebiscite.
“That was what was originally committed during negotiation and we hope they can go ahead with it.”
Ottawa wouldn’t likely do all of that. There are big faces to be saved.
But the feds could ease up on the full matching requirement, while still insisting on value calculation based on 2026 dollars (a lesser amount due to inflation).
Nenshi made a good point when he said the federal offer is considerably less than Ottawa’s spending on the 2010 Vancouver Games, even though Vancouver was subject to dollar-for-dollar matching.
One thing is certain — if Ottawa blinks, Alberta will have to blink back. And they’d better flex those eyelids right now.