The Calgary 2026 BidCo confirms the Government of Alberta and Government of Canada have signed an agreeement on their funding contributions for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games should Calgary be selected as the host.

According to the bid corporation, the deal was signed Tuesday evening following several days of discussions.

"This is a proposal that makes sense and is a good deal for Calgarians," said Scott Hutcheson, board chair of the bid corporation, in a statement released late Tuesday evening. "I'm confident we and our government partners can agree to move forward and reach an agreement in principle."

The agreement includes a revised public funding request totaling $2.875 billion that would be split as follows: 

Federal

  • $1.423 billion (an amount matching the combined contributions of Government of Alberta, City of Calgary and Town of Canmore)
  • $30 million of leveraging initiatives identified in the hosting plan

Provincial

  • $700 million

Municipal

  • $370 million
  • $150 million in preauthorized Victoria Park and Stampede access improvements in conjunction with the Government of Alberta
  • Insurance redemption amount of $200 million covering a defined contingency

The announcement came hours ahead of Wednesday's city council vote that could have quashed all plans, including the November 13 plebiscite, for a potential bid to host the Games.

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Calgary’s Olympic committee has introduced a motion to end the Olympic bid process and the proposal will go before council on Wednesday.

The motion was brought forward by councillor Jeromy Farkas and the committee met at 9:30 a.m. to consider the recommendation.

The meeting was moved to an in-camera session for further discussion and the chair of the Olympic Committee, Evan Woolley, put forward a motion to suspend the committee’s work on the Olympic file at about 1:30 p.m.

The committee said acceptable funding is not in place and that it will ask council to scrap the bid.

Woolley said that they do not have a funding commitment in place right now and that ‘the clock has run out and it’s time to move on.’

“Without funding agreements today, we cannot deliver on our mandate. There is not a fiscally responsible plan without these funding agreements in place and we cannot be transparent about the details of this plan when there are no details to show on the funding side,” said Woolley.

The total cost of the games is estimated to be $5.23 billion and $3 billion of that would be public money from the three levels of government.

Negotiations between the federal, provincial and municipal governments have not been able to come up with a cost-sharing agreement.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi told reporters that the committee talked about cutting costs but that it couldn’t close the gap enough and that it would not have been able to give citizens enough information before a November 13 plebiscite.

“This is obviously disappointing to reach this point today,” said Woolley.

R Scott Hutcheson, board chair for the Calgary 2026 Bid Corporation, issued a statement on Tuesday expressing his optimism on the future of the bid.

"Today, we were part of a productive and constructive discussion at City Hall.  Tomorrow's vote at Council will be of extreme interest to all Calgarians.  Negotiations with government are positive, are continuing - they have not stopped - and we remain confident an agreement will be reached.  We know thousands of Calgarians understand what's at stake and the importance of deciding the outcome themselves.  These would be Canada's Games, Calgary's choice."

Council is expected to vote on the motion on Wednesday and will need ten votes in favour to kill the bid and cancel the plebiscite.