Calgarians will decide whether the Olympic games will come to Calgary in 2026 following a tight eight to seven vote in which council decided to send the whole matter to a city-wide plebiscite.
Councillors Shane Keating, George Chahal, Jeff Davison, Ray Jones, Gian-Carlo Carra, Diane Colley-Urquhart and Mayor Naheed Nenshi voted to go to plebiscite.
Eight councillors Jyoti Gondek, Ward Sutherland, Evan Woolley, Peter Demong, Jeromy Farkas, Sean Chu, Joe Magliocca and Druh Farrell voted to end the bid but without the ten votes needed to put the issue to rest once and for all it means Calgarians go to the polls to on November 13th to decide whether to submit a bid.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says everyone knew it would be a close vote and for him there were three questions that he was looking to have answered.
“Question number one is it good for Calgary, question number two is it a good deal and question three do people have enough time and enough information to vote properly,” says Nenshi. “Yes hosting the Olympics would be good for Calgary. This is an amazing deal, a ten to one return, I’ve never negotiated a deal like this before and as an older lady told me yesterday in a parking lot people are smart; they’ll understand that we’ve got 13 days to the vote and give us the deal and let us vote and ultimately I said we have to let the people vote.”
Tuesday night Ward 8 Councillor Evan Wooley put forth the motion to end the bid but despite all the concerns some people have he believes Calgarians should make the choice about the bid.
“One of the reasons for my motion from yesterday is we still have more unanswered questions than answered ones. I had worried we would see decreases in the budget 10 per cent I think we haven't sorted out the insurance solution,” says Woolley.
“It was long, and as someone said it got tedious at times but I think the process is important and I'm really excited the citizens of Calgary will have the chance to vote November 13th, says Tricia Smith the President of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“I'm so excited not just for the decision that was made but for the deal that's going to be in front of Calgarians. I think this is better than we expected,” says Jason Ribeiro of Yes Calgary 2026.
"There was a little bit of gymnastics to make those numbers work and particularly scaling back what had been put on paper as the costs to me just increases the odds that over time we will see increases if this goes forward,” says Erin Waite with No Calgary Olympics.
Shortly after the vote by Calgary City Council, Quebec MP and Federal Minister of Science and Sport Kristy Duncan tweeted:
"I'm excited to hear that Calgary City Council voted to keep the Calgary 2026 bid alive. Calgarians deserve the chance to exercise their democratic right to vote on this issue. All three levels of government have been pushing hard to make sure we can make this happen in a way that benefits Calgary, Alberta, and all of Canada. This is an opportunity we can't pass up - it's good for the economy, for our athletes, and for all of us who get to witness history in our own backyard. Calgary is a world-class city and Calgarians hosted one of the best Winter Olympics in history in 1988, and we know they have what it takes to do it again in 2026.
This all comes after a revised funding plan to work with after a deal was brokered by BidCo with the provincial and federal governments.
Calgary’s Olympic Committee told CTV News that a proposal was reached late Monday evening but signatures from the Premier and Minister of Sport were not added until late Tuesday.
"This is a proposal that makes sense and is a good deal for Calgarians," said Scott Hutcheson, BidCo board chair in a statement. "I'm confident we and our government partners can agree to move forward and reach an agreement in principle."
The total proposal for a bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games now comes in at $2.85 billion and will still be shared by all three levels of government.
Under the revised plan, the federal government will cover $1.423 billion, the province will put in $700 million and the city will contribute $720 million.
The funding would include preauthorized improvements to Victoria Park and Stampede access along with an insurance redemption.
On Tuesday, a motion was brought forward by councillor Jeromy Farkas to terminate the Olympic bid process and it was supported by Calgary’s Olympic committee after a lengthy closed-door meeting.
Council started talking about the proposal on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and the vote took place just before 6:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.
“There still remains a $350 million funding gap in this proposal. I think there’s going to be a lot of questions asked at council. Again, the agreement, any agreement needed to be communicable to Calgarians, it needed to be fiscally responsible and that’s the lens with which, I think, council will be looking at it this morning,” said Evan Woolley, Chair of the Olympic Committee.
“Calgarians now know what’s in the proposal and how much the City of Calgary will be responsible for. And, you know, we’ve obviously been working on it for the last several days and we’re delighted that now the information is out there,” said BidCo CEO Mary Moran.
A group of supporters, wearing red, gathered in front of City Hall for a rally before the meeting.
No Calgary Olympics released a statement following the funding announcement and says the revised agreement generates new concerns around budget shortfalls and ensuring cost overruns don’t fall on Calgarians.
The group is calling on council to end the bid process and ‘focus on what Calgary needs and not what the IOC wants.
The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee also want council to continue to pursue a bid and said in a statement that both organizations hope they will ‘embrace the opportunity to renew and create new legacies for generations to come.’
At least ten councillors will have to vote in favour of the motion to halt the bid process and stop the plebiscite.
For more information on the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bid, click HERE.
Follow @CTVJKanygin for the latest on this story...
