City council has decided to take Calgary’s Olympic bid to the next level and will move ahead with creating an Olympic bid corporation.
On Tuesday evening, council voted eight to six to continue working on a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The bid would cost $30 million and that funding would be shared by all three levels of government if approved.
It is estimated that it would cost about $4.6 billion to host the games in Calgary and the IOC would contribute about $925 million to the pot.
A funding commitment from the federal and provincial governments has yet to be secured but the mayor is optimistic the funding will come.
“I remain confident that we are in good shape for the federal and provincial money and I would expect a decision soonish,” said Mayor Nenshi.
Some councillors feel there should be a plebiscite to allow the public to weigh in on the bid decision and the mayor says he is not opposed to the idea.
“The Plebiscite has to be on a specific proposal. It can’t just be, do you love the Olympics. It has to be on here’s what the feds are putting in, here’s what the province is putting in, here’s what the city is putting in, this is the benefit we think we’ll get, do you approve of that or not,” said Nenshi.
“Let’s have a public engagement, a least something. A little bit of public engagement. Now we got nothing,” said Ward 4 Councillor, Sean Chu.
Ward 7 Councillor Druh Farrell says she doesn’t like plebiscites but she was willing to support one in the absence of other consultation.
“I have been hearing no detail on public consultation and I’ve been bringing that up repeatedly and so depending on how robust that consultation is and it’s not just more boosterism, that’s what I worry about. There will be time for celebration and boosterism if we decide to undertake the Olympics. Right now we need to be dispassionate. We need to be looking at this decision through the cold light of day and so the engagement that I was expecting, and consultation, needs to be the pros and cons of the Olympics and whether or not Calgarians support them,” she said.
A plebescite could take four to six months to conduct and there is some concern that there will not be enough time before the International Olympic Committee reviews bids in September.
On Wednesday, council voted ten to three to push a decision on a plebescite to a meeting on April 10.
For more on the city’s potential Olympic bid click HERE.
