{"id":187758,"date":"2018-10-31T23:41:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T03:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=187758"},"modified":"2018-10-31T23:42:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T03:42:20","slug":"calgary-2026-olympic-games-bid-survives-city-council-vote-plebiscite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/31\/calgary-2026-olympic-games-bid-survives-city-council-vote-plebiscite\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary 2026 Olympic Games bid survives city council vote on plebiscite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
“Over the next few days I will be trying to explain this deal to people, but I’m now at the point where I can actually say to people ‘this is a great deal we’ve negotiated’ and I’m encouraging people to vote yes.”‘ (File Photo<\/a>: Naheed Nenshi\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CALGARY \u2014 A potential Calgary bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games survived a city council vote Wednesday, when a motion leading to the cancellation of an upcoming plebiscite did not pass.<\/p>\n

Ten votes out of 15 on council were required to abandon the Nov. 13 plebiscite asking Calgarians if they want to host the games or not.<\/p>\n

Eight voted in favour of a motion that would have led to abandoning the plebiscite and scrubbing a bid.<\/p>\n

Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi was among those who wanted the plebiscite to go ahead.<\/p>\n

“It was a very close vote,” the mayor said.<\/p>\n

“Over the next few days I will be trying to explain this deal to people, but I’m now at the point where I can actually say to people ‘this is a great deal we’ve negotiated’ and I’m encouraging people to vote yes.”‘<\/p>\n

The plebiscite’s result is non-binding, but will influence the next council vote on a Winter Games bid.<\/p>\n

Mail-in ballots for the plebiscite were mailed out earlier in the week. Advance voting is scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“This is a great opportunity for Calgarians,” Calgary 2026 chief executive officer Mary Moran said. “Now it’s important for them to get informed and understand this is a good deal.<\/p>\n

“This is $4.4 billion of investment coming into our community that should be taken very seriously.”<\/p>\n

It appeared a bid was headed for the ditch Tuesday when a councillor said there wasn’t a financial agreement between the federal and provincial governments and the city to fund the games.<\/p>\n

But Calgary 2026 presented a revised financial plan, which the Canadian and Alberta governments agreed to in principle, to council Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The estimated cost of hosting the 2026 Games was reduced by $125 million to a total of $5.075 billion.<\/p>\n

A pro-Olympic rally drew dozens of red-clad supporters to the steps of city hall before council met. Those who didn’t make it into chambers sat in chairs and watched proceedings on a screen outside the doors.<\/p>\n

But a Canadian Taxpayers Federation representative was dismayed a bid wasn’t abandoned Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“The CTF will be continuing to educate the public on why the Olympic bid is just not a good choice for Calgarians,” said Alberta director Franco Terrazzano.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately today city council did not end the bid. This is a smoke-and-mirror show right now. We don’t have a deal between the three levels of government. We have a deal to start negotiating a deal.”<\/p>\n

Calgary 2026 dropped the required public investment from $3 billion to $2.875 billion.<\/p>\n

The Alberta government’s commitment remained at $700 million, while the federal government would provide a total of $1.453 billion.<\/p>\n

“We support the Calgary Olympic bid,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

“Calgary is a world-class city. It would be great to host the Olympics in Canada, but obviously the ultimate decision is up to Calgarians and Albertans themselves.”<\/p>\n

The city was asked to contribute $390 million, which includes $20 million to pay the premium for a $200-million insurance policy against cost over-runs.<\/p>\n

Calgary 2026 has said $1.1 billion in contingency funds are built into the draft host plan to mitigate financial risk and that the $200 million in insurance is included in that figure.<\/p>\n

The $150 million already committed to improving the Victoria Park area \u2014 which is a proposed games hub \u2014 was included in the city’s contribution to 2026 as a credit, in order to get matching funds from the federal government.<\/p>\n

Moran said the security and essential services budget from the RCMP and Calgary police came in under initial estimates at a savings of $155 million.<\/p>\n

Less security personnel also means fewer beds required for them, she said.<\/p>\n

An alternate location for the athletes’ village is being sought, Moran said, because the original location includes the expense of moving a transit hub.<\/p>\n

“The good news for Calgarians is costs are going down, not up,” Moran said.<\/p>\n

The International Olympic Committee invited Calgary, Stockholm and a joint Italian bid from Milan and Cortina to be candidate cities for 2026.<\/p>\n

Calgary was the host city of the 1988 Winter Olympics. The venues still used for international and domestic competition and training are the foundation of a second bid.<\/p>\n

Calgary 2026 estimated $502 million would be required to get those venues Olympic-ready again.<\/p>\n

The IOC has committed $1.2 billion in cash and services to the 2026 host city. The IOC will accept bids in January and the host city will be elected in June.<\/p>\n

“If we’re successful in the international field in June next year, this could be the most sustainable Olympic city there’s ever been,” Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith said.<\/p>\n

“Having them in eighty-eight and having them again and having those facilities revitalized, incredible story.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Terry Pedwell contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 A potential Calgary bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games survived a city council vote Wednesday, when …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":160340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","category-sports","mauthors-donna-spencer","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}