Olympic legacies lost on Squamish
Pre-Games hype fails to materialize for town with high hopes
Clare Ogilvie, The Province
Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008
SQUAMISH -- The town that once billed itself as "the Heart of 2010" is now the town with a broken heart.
Jilted by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, Mayor Ian Sutherland said yesterday that 2010 plans for Squamish have fallen through at almost every turn.
"Generally speaking, Squamish has always been one the biggest boosters . . . and I think it is fair to say that there is a bit of dismay in the community that there is not a more active role for us to play in the Games," Sutherland said before a meeting called by Vanoc last night to tell Squamish residents how they can benefit from the Winter Olympics.
Sutherland said Squamish lost a planned passenger ferry terminal for spectators, its chance to be a transportation hub, a plan to house media on a cruise ship and an ice arena for the Paralympics.
"It is frustrating," said Sutherland.
"When [Olympic officials] were going after the bid . . . we had [people] here every week telling us what a great experience it would be for Squamish. It would be our chance to welcome the world and now we are being given a different message by the current operators of Vanoc, and it is frustrating.
"I'm frustrated. All members of council are frustrated. The community's frustrated. At the end of the day, we are making the best of it and we will carve our place out, but it is certainly not what we were lead to believe a few years ago." Squamish lies between Vancouver, which is hosting the ice sports, freestyle and snowboarding and Whistler, which is hosting the Alpine and Nordic events.
While Vancouver and Whistler were bidding for the Games, Squamish named itself the "Heart of 2010" and launched a campaign around that theme.
But when the Games were won in 2003, the town was told to abandon its campaign because using "2010" was an infringement of Olympic rights.
"We got held up by petty bureaucracy," said Sutherland.
"That was just plain foolish. We were the 'Heart of 2010' for the two or three years during the bid process and Vanoc thought it was the greatest idea they had heard of in their lives and suddenly they get the Games and we couldn't use that phrase any more -- that was just silly.
"But at the same time we thought, well, this is just one hiccup and everything else will work as it goes along, not appreciating how many more detours there would be." Now, said Sutherland -- who is running for the Liberals in the federal election -- the town is looking out for itself first, and the Games second.
"I think what we are doing now is trying to take a step back and work through the issues with Vanoc the best we can and look out for ourselves," he said.
Squamish resident Brent MacDonald, who was among about 100 residents at last night's VANOC meeting, said the Games are more hassle than they're worth.
"One of the main benefits of hosting an Olympics is to have the legacies, and without them . . . it seems more hassle than it's worth," he said.
"There really is no benefit at all for Squamish if people aren't going to be allowed off the bus to see it." VANOC spokeswoman Maureen Douglas said VANOC is committed to Squamish's success.
"Yes, there have been some challenges and some ideas that haven't been able to work for everyone concerned," she said. "And we also have the resource limitations of a budget that has to be very responsibly managed on behalf of the entire country.
"All of those things are factored into decisions, revisions and changes in plans. But it doesn't stop us believing in the success of the Games for every community . . . including Squamish." Chamber of Commerce president Margo Dent said it is time to stop worrying about what the town didn't get, and look to the future.
"The chamber is looking at what are the opportunities in front of us and how do we make the most of them," she said.
Dent noted the 2010 Volunteer Centre will train the 5,000 to 7,000 volunteers needed in Sea-to-Sky country.
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