Montreal cancels World Police and Fire Games
Montreal has cancelled its plans to host the 2017 World Police and Fire Games, one of the largest international multidisciplinary sporting events on the planet, following a growing union movement to boycott the event.
Slated to coincide with Montreal’s 375th birthday celebrations, the games were expected to draw 10,000 athletes from 70 countries, as well as their families, and bring in revenues of close to $100 million to the city.
Montreal’s police and firefighters’ unions had vowed to boycott the games to protest against provincial legislation spearheaded in large part by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to reduce pension payments, and over the suspensions and firings of firefighters who participated in protests.
In recent weeks, they have won the support of police unions internationally who said they, too, would boycott, threatening attendance figures and risking a multi-million dollar loss for the city. This week, the 60,000 members of the Canadian Police Association voted to join the boycott. In February, thousands of Australian firefighters pledged to abandon the games as well.
The mayor’s office confirmed Saturday that Montreal has renounced its bid to host the games, which were awarded in 2011 after Montreal’s chief of police proposed the idea in 2010. The total cost of hosting the event was estimated at $20 million, several million of which the city has already spent on infrastructure.
Coderre said the city was making the responsible choice to try to preserve the games by shifting them to Toronto, and that it was refusing to cave in to “blackmail” on the part of the unions.
“It’s a shame that they chose to engage in petty politics and, ultimately, the decision is falling on the backs of its members,” he said.
Montreal is in talks with the organizers of the games, based in California, and the mayor of Toronto to try to have the games shifted to that city, since it has the infrastructure in place following its hosting of the 2015 Pan Am Games. Otherwise, the event risks being cancelled altogether, for the first time in its 31-year-history.
Coderre said the effect to Montreal’s economy will be minimal given the 10-day games were slated for late July and early August, when Montreal is packed with tourists during its busy summer festival season.
Montreal’s firefighters’ union said in a statement Saturday it learned of the decision to cancel the games “with a certain sadness,” but said it felt it had no option but to boycott given the “intransigence” of the Montreal administration over labour negotiations.
It was the Montreal firefighters’ union that started the boycott movement in 2014, following the punishment of dozens of its members in connection with a raucous protest at Montreal’s city hall. They were backed by Quebec’s firefighters association and, this month, the Montreal and Canadian police officers’ unions said they would support them.
Opposition party Projet Montréal had been pushing for the cancellation as well, saying the boycott was threatening to cripple the games and leave the city in the hole. Hundreds of local firefighters, police and emergency response personnel were expected to volunteer at the event to offset costs. Their withdrawal meant significant extra costs to hire additional personnel.
Started in 1985, the games are held every two years and bring an average participation of 9,000 athletes. According to the World Police and Fire Games administration, their event ranks third in the world in terms of numbers of participants, after the Olympics and the Asian games. Along with the 9,000 athletes, another 20,000 family members and support staff generally attend, filling local hotels and restaurants.
Montreal beat out Toronto and Chengdu, China, in 2011 for the right to host the games.