The City of Calgary is just getting started on its journey to host the 2026 Olympics, but there are some questions being raised about whether the committee is made up of the right people and if it is going in the right direction.
Mayor Nenshi says there isn’t a conflict of interest on the $5M panel which includes former Olympians, members of Tourism Calgary and Sue Riddell-Rose, the daughter of billionaire Clay Riddell, the co-owner of the Calgary Flames.
He isn’t concerned about her inclusion despite her family ties.
“She herself doesn’t have an ownership stake and we don’t wanna reject anyone because of various family ties.”
Nevertheless, it would be silly to think that a potential Olympic bid had no connection to the multi-billion dollar CalgaryNEXT proposal.
Owners have been seeking government funding for the project and winning an Olympic bid could be an easy way to secure that money.
But council insists that isn’t the prime reason to bid for the Games.
“If the Flames need a new arena, that’s also the same thing that we’d be using for Olympic events,” said Gian-Carlo Carra, Ward 9 councillor. “CalgaryNEXT is in no way driving this, but it’s absurd to think that there isn’t some overlap.”
There are also questions about the economic impact the Olympics could have on the city.
“All the good things that get pitched come with a price because you have to raise prices down the road to pay for them so we don’t see benefits in house prices, we don’t see benefits in housing starts, we don’t see benefits in overall employment,” said Tsur Somerville, a professor with the University of British Columbia.
To make things even stranger, council voted in favour of keeping results of the economic impact analysis confidential until and only if the city is awarded the bid.
Councillors Chu and Farrell voted against that motion.
“Calgarians need to be able to analyze the promises being delivered on and keeping it confidential is a real worry for me,” Farrell said.
The first update on the proposal is due in January.
