City council has voted to approve up to $2 million to continue its bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics despite some saying that they were not provided with enough information to make a decision.
On Monday afternoon, council voted 9 - 4 to approve the funds but some of the money will be withheld until there is commitment from other levels of government.
“This is going to be a mutual decision between the three orders of government on whether or not to move forward. I don’t want either of the other two levels of government seen as an enemy here, we worked well with them and I would just like to continue to make sure that all three of us agree that this is something we want to do,” said Nenshi.
Just over a week ago, city administrators told Mayor Nenshi and council that if the city wants to proceed with its Olympic dream, it will need to come up with additional money, on top of the $5 million that was earmarked for the bid committee earlier this year.
In October, the Bid Exploration Committee told council that it would cost $4.6 billion to host the Games and that just over half of that money would come from taxpayers.
Many Calgarians want to go ahead with the bid despite the mounting costs.
"It brings the world together, it brings Calgary together. As a citizen, I think we should do it," said Kristen Vo.
Some are concerned about what has happened to other host cities and want to make sure another Olympics will be a good for the city.
"It depends on the chances of it being successful. and success in terms of the operation of it; if we aren't going to lose a ton of money and if we are going to get some good facilities out of it. But if it's not going to look like that and it's going to be difficult as it is in other countries, then I don't think it's worth it," said Kaj Christensen.
“Unlike the money that we spent before where there were tangible things like a facilities plan that is helping us move forward as a city on many other things, this is a real risk and we may end up not bidding, or there’s a small possibility that we bid and we lose the bid, but are we willing to take that risk to do something that could be incredibly special for Calgary? And I think that’s really where the councillors ended up. Everyone has lots of questions, everyone has lots of concerns, but in the end an overwhelming majority of council said, you know what? Let’s take the risk,” said Nenshi.
The issue will come before council again in the New Year for a progress report.
The International Olympic Committee said that bidding cities will need to submit a formal proposal by January 2019.