The Next Canadian Olympics

[esquire]

^ Smart call. The Olympics are out of control with their bloated costs. Build housing, sports and transportation infrastructure without giving the IOC a huge cut.

[Metro-One]

Well that's awful news, unlike other places in Canada BC needs big events like this to actually push through needed infrastructure projects.

Also these games were going to include locations in the interior as well, making it more province wide.

I feel given the relatively low cost the Olympic games tend to be in Canada compared to other countries, such as the disasters of Russia and Brazil (largely because in Canada nearly everything built for the Olympics is used afterwards, for example the Olympic Oval and Olympic Village) this is a penny wise pound foolish decision.

It may just be one person's observation, but here in Japan Vancouver's notoriety has really faded in the last 5 years, and such a loss in notoriety equates to a loss in tourism and other business interests. Out of sight out of mind.

Not to mention the joint bid with the first nations would have been quite interesting.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Smart call. The Olympics are out of control with their bloated costs. Build housing, sports and transportation infrastructure without giving the IOC a huge cut.

+1.

Rob Ford was an idiot, but one of the best things he did for the city was unilaterally pull Toronto out of bidding for the Olympics.

There are so many things we need to invest money in, especially in infrastructure over the coming decades to deal with climate change and a green economy transition.

Spending money and dedicating scarce construction trades labour to building ski jumping facilities and velodromes is a frivolous waste when we need those same money and people to be building electrical transmission infrastructure, renewable electricity generation projects, battery storage, EV charging networks, home energy retrofits, etc.

[WhipperSnapper]

let's instead become the Saudi Arabia for industrial scaled air scrubbers. Could be worth many trillions in 50 years. Lithium batteries, charging stations, home energy retrofits will fizzle out once global warming effects really starts impacting everyday populations in the developed world.

An anakogy ...We're at or below the stage of a million Americans dead from Covid. Things will be much more serious when its 30 million dead form Covid.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

It may just be one person's observation, but here in Japan Vancouver's notoriety has really faded in the last 5 years, and such a loss in notoriety equates to a loss in tourism and other business interests. Out of sight out of mind.

Not to mention the joint bid with the first nations would have been quite interesting.

Our notoriety is fading? Isn't that a good thing?

[someone123]

My cheaper plan for getting infrastructure projects through faster would be to kill off a bunch of useless municipalities. Right now the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation includes mayors/directors of:

- Bowen Island
- Tsawwassen
- "Electoral Area A", whatever that is
- Lions Bay
- Anmore

Even municipalities like West Van and New West should probably be amalgamated out of existence. New West is more directly crippling infrastructure in the city, while the various villages don't like SkyTrain development and the like because they don't see themselves personally benefiting, and they are sometimes overrepresented by 10x-100x in regional decision making.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by JHikka

B.C. won't support bid for 2030 Olympics, citing 'extraordinary expense'

https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-not...-2030-olympics

Good.

Anyone who hasn't realized what a colossal con job the olympic are, isn't paying attention.

[thewave46]

I'm curious if the IOC ever ends up with egg on their face when no one will host. Literally no one. They've come close a couple of times, but somebody's always stepped up to the plate.

I'd wager that it might be worth it to 'lose' an Olympic Games just to remind the IOC of their dependence on the generosity of host nations.

Good for Vancouver IMO.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by thewave46

I'm curious if the IOC ever ends up with egg on their face when no one will host. Literally no one. They've come close a couple of times, but somebody's always stepped up to the plate.

I'd wager that it might be worth it to 'lose' an Olympic Games just to remind the IOC of their dependence on the generosity of host nations.

Good for Vancouver IMO.

The remaining bids for 2030 are Sapporo and Salt Lake City. IOC's not concerned.

If anything, having all three of these hosts shows where the IOC's priorities are regarding hosting future events. All three are previous hosts and can use, to varying degrees, previous facilities. This is a large cost-saving factor in future bids and partly why Paris and Los Angeles were also chosen to host. It's clear the IOC understands the environment they're currently operating in and have made changes to their host selection formula. Both FIFA and IOC made significant blunders in the early 2000s/2010s in selecting hosts which since, hopefully, have been remedied.

I understand why BC would drop out of hosting but I think the complaints of cost of hosting are overblown given that many are cutting costs by returning to previous venues. See: Beijing as the most recent example. If anything, a lot of the high costs are due to security requirements, which in our post-9/11 world are required regardless.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Well that's awful news, unlike other places in Canada BC needs big events like this to actually push through needed infrastructure projects.

Also these games were going to include locations in the interior as well, making it more province wide.

I feel given the relatively low cost the Olympic games tend to be in Canada compared to other countries, such as the disasters of Russia and Brazil (largely because in Canada nearly everything built for the Olympics is used afterwards, for example the Olympic Oval and Olympic Village) this is a penny wise pound foolish decision.

It may just be one person's observation, but here in Japan Vancouver's notoriety has really faded in the last 5 years, and such a loss in notoriety equates to a loss in tourism and other business interests. Out of sight out of mind.

Not to mention the joint bid with the first nations would have been quite interesting.

There is absolutely no reason BC needs games to build those infrastructure projects. That's just a lie the BC Liberals told.

Since Vancouver is having trouble building hotels due to the outrageous prices of land (thanks in part to the last Olympics) and can't even fill open tourism jobs, I'm at a loss to think why we would want to even try and amp up demand.