Cities ponder bid for Games

Vancouver and Quebec City may compete to host 2030 Winter Olympics

While the Canadian Olympic Committee prepares its teams for Tokyo and Beijing, two groups on opposite sides of the country are looking further down the road at the Winter Games of 2030.

A Quebec City committee led by general manager Mark Charest unveiled its $5-billion vision last week, six days after John Furlong presented the Vancouver Board of Trade with a $2-billion proposal for the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Games in as many as nine B.C. communities.

The plans are vastly different. Quebec City includes a $1 billion ask from the federal government to cover security, while B.C.’S proposal hived off that cost from the operating budget, but will be asking Ottawa to cover it. That still leaves a $2-billion difference between the two, stemming from B.C.’S readiness to use existing venues in Vancouver, Richmond, Whistler and elsewhere. Quebec City’s committee might have to spend $200 million on ski jumps and a sliding track, and tens of millions more to extend the vertical drop of the alpine skiing venue of Cap Maillard to meet the IOC mandate.

But Charest said the focus is on greener, cheaper options like staging two downhill runs instead of one and having Calgary co-host on ski jumping, Nordic combined, bobsled, luge and skeleton. However, that city’s jumps and track need pricey upgrades.

Those factors would seem to put B.C. out front, but the race hasn’t really even begun, and the COC will be far too busy over the next 11 months to back either group.

“We are committed to being an active partner in the development of Canadian bid concepts that will drive value to host regions, sport in Canada, and the country as a whole,” the COC said in a statement to Postmedia.

While B.C. chases provincial support, Quebec City has mobilized hundreds of leaders from the business community and will try to leverage that backing into municipal government approval, which will be a tough nut to crack. Charest is optimistic.

“We said we’re going to try to mobilize business leaders, then the population in general to inform them that IOC reform allows us to organize cheaper games. Our goal was not to go to the government without any tools. Our goal is to be talking with the government soon. We have to convince our city to lead, then our provincial government.”

And then, he said, they might be in a delicate position.

“We sure hope we’ll not be in the position of east against west. I’m saying to you honestly, that was not our marketing aspect because we did not want to get involved in a fight. What we’re saying is let’s get the Games in Canada.”