Talk about whining, the Mayor of Calgary has not looked over his shoulder at the MASSIVE amount of dollars WE Albertans paid for Calary to host the Olympics, AND build infrastructure and parks and legacy and continued funding. It pales in comparison to the costs for RAM or the meagre $15M share in the Art Gallery...they do have the Glenbow. He forgets all governments anywhere fund Capital Cities for such facilities.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/02/10/calgary-budget-reaction.html
from wiki:
"All levels of Canadian government helped to fund the Games. The federal government, provided $225 million (note all figures listed in Canadian dollar, not adjusted for inflation),
the province of Alberta paid $125 million and the city of Calgary with $50 million.
Canada Olympic Park in 2006.
Organizers and government claimed that the Calgary Olympic Games turned a profit. They declared a surplus of between $90 and $150 million, and this money was used to fund the various Olympic venues in Calgary. Ever mindful of the financial disaster of the 1976 Summer Olympics, Calgary organizers attempted to be financially successful, because there was political pressure on them to erase the spectre of a second Canadian Games at a loss. Organizers claimed that their use of these profits for the future Canada Olympic Park and the funding of Canadian athletes through the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) gave Calgary a lasting legacy and impact on the Canadian sports scene, and also provided funds for the maintenance and upgrading of athletic facilities in Calgary, Banff, and Lake Louise. Well after the Olympics ended, they declared, CODA continued to use its resources to develop resources for Olympic athletes in the city, which included supporting the National Sport School, Canada's first high school designed for Olympic calibre athletes, in a partnership with the Calgary Board of Education.
However, The Toronto Star,
citing a 1993 audit, challenged CODA's claim of profitability. The paper argued that
$461 million in government funding, primarily for the construction of games facilities, should have been considered in the final total.[3] General infrastructure and venue costs do not go into the balance sheets of an Olympic Organizing Committee. Only costs directly related to hosting the Games are included in the OOC's budget and balance sheets, as venues are often private or government built.
However, the games fuelled an endowment fund of $70.5 million that is now worth $185 million and continues to fund sport in a variety of ways. Additionally, the Calgary Olympic Committee (OCO) gave the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) $40 million, which after investment is now worth $110 million; those funds assist the COC's $8 million annual contribution to national teams, coaches and athletes and permits its existence as a self-sustaining organization that does not rely on government funding.[4]"
"Continuing funding of venues
The
Alberta provincial government, under Ed Stelmach on
30 August 2007, committed CDN$69-million, of WinSport Canada, (formerly called the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA)) CDN$276-million overall project cost, to construct Canada's first Centre of Sport Excellence. This announcement included the unveiling of a new facility design for Canada Olympic Park (COP) called the Athletic and Ice Complex.
Previous governments have already given funds recently to upgrade and/or maintain existing Olympic winter venues in Calgary and Canmore, Alberta in the past. For example, CDN$25.6-million was provided to renovate the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park area, in time for the 2005 Alberta Centennial FIS World Cup event. CDN$600,000 was spent in maintaining the ski jumping venue at Canada Olympic Park.[5] On 5 October 2007, the Canadian federal government promised an additional CDN$40-million toward the project, according to an article written by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).[6]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics
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