A spokesperson from the mayor’s office said negotiations between the city and federal government continue on funding for a potential 2026 Olympic bid, despite a report in the Calgary Herald saying a committee will be asked to recommend killing the bid on Tuesday.
The Herald said the information came from a senior municipal source with knowledge of the negotiations.
The mayor’s office said a report based on the conclusion of the negotiation talks is to go to the Olympic assessment committee tomorrow.
Coun. Ward Sutherland said he hadn’t heard anything about a recommendation to cancel the bid process, but said he did get notice that the committee meeting had been bumped from 1 p.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Canada’s minister of sport also reiterated Monday the federal government is continuing to negotiate with the city and province over an Olympic funding formula, but no additional money will be offered.
Kirsty Duncan appeared on the Calgary Eyeopener, where she said the federal government has made clear « since March 2018 » that it will fund up to 50 per cent of the public contribution toward the 2026 Olympic Games if Calgary is chosen as the host city.
« That is the policy on our website, and we’ve done that. We’ve come forward with a commitment of $1.75 billion, » she said, referencing a Friday announcement.
Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart, one of the members of the Olympic assessment committee, tweeted about Duncan’s comments, saying « and now we pull the pin, » seemingly referring to ending the bid process.
Calgary’s Olympic BidCo estimates a 2026 Winter Games would cost $5.23 billion, with $3 billion of that coming from the public purse.
The $1.75 billion commitment from the feds is in 2026 dollars, which equates to $1.5 billion in 2018 dollars, or half the needed amount.
Federal Minister of Sport Kirsty Duncan told the Calgary Eyeopener that the federal government will fund only up to 50 per cent of the public money needed to host the Olympics if Calgary is chosen. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)
« We have been clear since the beginning we would fund up to 50 per cent, we would not go above the 50 per cent and we have never wavered from that position, » said Duncan.
Duncan also pointed out the federal contribution would match the provincial and municipal amounts.
The province has previously said it would contribute $700 million, while the city hasn’t unveiled its funding plan yet. Based on the other two orders of government, Calgary would have to contribute $800 million to get the maximum federal contribution.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci expressed outrage over the weekend at the federal announcement, with Ceci calling it « bad faith » and saying he understood there wouldn’t be a matching condition attached.
Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci says the province has no more money to offer a Calgary Olympic bid and again called on the federal government to drop its matching condition. (CBC)
Nenshi also penned a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday, saying he would ask city council to scrap the bid — ahead of a Nov. 13 plebiscite — if an agreement couldn’t be reached by Monday.
The city’s Olympic assessment committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday and council is set to meet for a strategy session on Wednesday.
Pressed repeatedly by Eyeopener host David Gray on what the three sides are negotiating if none are willing to change their position, Duncan was non-committal in her answers.
We ask Minister Kirsty Duncan to clarify the government’s announcement on Olympic funding. 7:20
« It’s been a busy weekend and people are working hard. I’m proud to work with our partners, the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta, and we keep doing the work, » she said.
« I’m well aware of the timelines for the plebiscite. We support that Calgarians should make their voice heard, and should Calgarians decide to go forward with a bid, we will be right there beside them and we’re still working at it, we’re still at the table. »
Robert Livingstone, who runs GamesBids.com — a website that tracks Olympic bids — said he wasn’t at all surprised by the federal position.
« Honestly, I would have been surprised to hear that the dollar matching concept would have been dropped, so there’s miscommunication at some level somewhere, and I’m not sure where that would have come from, » he said.
« It is a policy the federal government has used to fund sports events for years now. So I don’t see why it would have been different for Calgary and why they would have made a different plan, unless there was some agreement made back in March. »
Speaking in Edmonton on Monday, Ceci said negotiations continue but the province has no more money to offer and called on the federal government to remove the matching condition.
« Seven hundred million dollars is all we can do, » he said. « That being said, there is a path forward for this bid and it relies heavily on the federal government coming to the table with what they originally promised the province and the City of Calgary during negotiations. If the feds can commit $1.75 billion in 2018 dollars to this project and drop this 50/50 funding rule, then we have what we need and the bid can go ahead to plebiscite. »
Despite Duncan’s assertions, Ceci said the 50/50 rule was not discussed during the negotiations.
« This was learned through the news last week. This was a surprise to us, » said Ceci.
Study shows surpluses
Calgary’s BidCo also issued results Monday of a study looking at Olympic cost overruns and revenue surpluses between 2000 and 2018
The study was done by two professors and a PhD student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany and the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in France.
« The report intentionally excludes major infrastructure not needed to stage the Games, » it reads.
« These projects, such as roads, trains and public facilities, often complement the Games, are accelerated to coincide with the Games and may be part of the overall Games legacy. They are not, however, required to stage the Games and as such are not counted as a Games cost. »
The report found that with the exception of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, each event analyzed either broke even or had a surplus.
« This report clearly shows that, historically, Games organizing committees either balance their budgets or realize a surplus through good planning and rigorous financial management, » said BidCo chair Scott Hutcheson in a release.
« All Olympic Winter Games in this report balanced their books, and Vancouver 2010, which was modelled on the [1988] Calgary Games, showed that we host Games well in Canada and we’ll do so again in 2026. »
Tourism Calgary Cindy Ady says a 2026 Olympic Games in Calgary would be a $5-billion injection into the local economy. (Kate Adach/CBC)
Should Calgary be chosen, it will be a much-needed economic boost, said Tourism Calgary CEO Cindy Ady.
« This is almost $5 billion being injected into the Calgary economy when it’s been through a pretty tough recession and is looking forward as to how it redefines itself and where it’s going to go in the future, » she said.
« Relative to just tourism, though, one out of every 10 Calgarians make their living in tourism. So if we were to go back to previous Games, whether it be Vancouver or Salt Lake or others, for sure the main beneficiary is the tourism industry. Vancouver had a double-digit increase post-Games, and every year since they’ve had double-digit increases … it’s the billion-dollar brand push that you won’t get in any other way. »
With files from The Calgary Herald, Michelle Bellefontaine, Kate Adach, Sarah Rieger and the Calgary Eyeopener.