Observing the lock down of Vancouver as the Olympic organizers ready this city for those who can afford, or have a desire to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics, one can only conclude that this “movement” has had its day.
I mean seriously; grown men and women running around the country at a huge cost, holding what amounts to a giant Bic lighter over their heads. What exactly are they trying to symbolize?
Perhaps in the days when the world’s population lived in relatively isolated Nation States or Federations, at a time when travel and communication between the various cultures was difficult, a world event bringing the representative athletes together might have made some sense. Then it may well have symbolized a coming together, a transcendence of the political barriers to human interaction, but those days are long gone. Today the world is instantly connected, and travel commonplace. We don’t need a multi-billion dollar sporting event to “connect the world” we can do it for free over Facebook.
We are investing in prison-like fences which are erected around the venues. We are closing off the streets to keep the public out and paying our army and police billions of dollars to provide security to the games. We are watching the absurdly expensive and somewhat embarrassing trucking in of snow to cover the wood and straw on the ski hill because, surprise, surprise, a rainforest can be tricky for winter sports. But what underscores the fact that the time for the Olympics has past is that all these events already have an equivalent world cup competition. Those world-class athletes, who are lucky enough to be able to afford to compete against one another, already do so. And they do so regularly at world-class venues where there is lots of snow. And they compete for a fraction of the cost to the taxpaying public who will have to pay for the Olympics.
Now I confess, I sat at the Cabinet table when the idea of hosting the Winter Olympics was first brought forward. At the time it was pre-9/11 and seemed like a good idea. I argued for the Games to be held in the interior: Kamloops, Vernon and Kelowna have excellent existing venues of Sun Peaks, Silver Star, and Big White, and the interior communities would benefit from the upgrading or construction of new facilities for curling, speed skating and hockey. No need to spend a billion plus on the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler. Anyway, I and those like-minded were overruled and Whistler/Vancouver became the site and it is safe to say that if I knew then what I know now, I would not have been so supportive.
How can anyone take seriously those who promote the spending of over four billion dollars for a month-long party on the slopes? And for those who point to the Cultural Olympiad, how do you rationalize that one-time spending against the drastic cuts to arts funding that we have seen by both the Province of British Columbia and Ottawa?
If there is no money for educators, no money for libraries, no money for writers, painters, sculptors or filmmakers, or even for the Olympic athletes themselves, it’s hard to understand how so much money can be provided to those who put the event on.
If you have to set aside twenty million dollars for wage bonuses to the top tier organizers to make sure they don’t quit before the end, that surely is sign enough that this “movement” has seen its day.

1. Alan Kidd Says:
   January 28th, 2010 at 6:46 am

   Olympic Accountability.
   I just hope someone has been keeping track of all the promises and public commitments made by I.O.C. and VANOC over the last five years. It’s also important to note what hadn’t been said that we now know these two bodies were aware of but neglected to say.
   Security costs were grossly underestimated, the RCMP were not consulted at the initial stages (before the vote) when the games were touted as “affordable”.
   When last I heard, the Games’ security costs are running close to a billion.
   The IOC, (having the experience of being involved in countless Olympic Games events), know all of the inconveniences that locals will have to tolerate (when hosting an Olympic Games event) but did they advise VANOC of what was coming and if so why were Vancouverites not informed before voting for the games?
   My point is that these two organizations have not been forthright, they’ve carefully released (in measured stages) the road closures and inconveniences, they have the temerity to tell vancouverites to be on their best behaviour (everyone knows how rude Canadians can be), they have recently released a pamphlet to city staff about “smiling”.
   Is there no limit to the excess of these people?
   Vancouver City Councillors have been offered tickets to attend games, not just for themselves, but also their spouses. This smells of self serving elitism.
   All this under the nose of residents of the poorest neighbourhood in the country.
   Is anyone following the trail of money poured into IOC’s pockets by Sponsors?
   I also wonder about BCTV being a sponsor, how will they ever report an objective summary to the games after having been part of them as a sponsor?
   I seriously hope that someone has been keeping track so that we can point fingers when the final bill comes in.
   It took Montreal 30 years to pay off their Olympic event!

2. Fred Steele Says:
   January 28th, 2010 at 4:14 pm

   Interesting to say the least. What really upsets me is the lies more than the waste. Yes
   it will be six billion or more, but the truth is many people would have said yes given a
   chance even with the cost or something less expensive. We were lied to from the start
   by Gordon Campbell, we were then fed continuous lies of on time and on budget. There
   were a series on nasty little side deals to protect some and not others, meaning the poor
   taxpayer. Once Vancouver was given a vote on the issue, everyone should have had a
   say by ballot. This whole thing is being conducted to feed Campbell’s ego and we will benefit not one penny. Some people refer to sponsors as just that, but I believe the
   BC Government called them partners, in that case if they are partners is a business venture and it loses money, I believe we should make them share the loss along with us
   as they stood to profit if they indeed were partners or was that just a lie too.
   Thanks Gordon for writing this its only too bad we didn’t elect you the Premier when we
   had the chance, but you always had my support, and that of Ken Charlish

3. Tim Lahey Says:
   February 12th, 2010 at 6:38 pm

   The 1980 Winter Olympics near me in Lake Placid were the last of the true Olympic village games. Even then our games strained our state budget with last minute cost overruns. Perhaps these opening ceremonies that I’m now watching will be the last of the events to marshal in a spectacle of sports spread across thousands of square miles. In the U.S. even our NBC TV network is expected to lose money on these games. It seems that only the facility contractors will be winners.

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