Mayor weighs in on Olympic plebiscite as Canmore joins bid committee
Canmore's mayor says calls are coming to soon for a plebiscite to gauge whether or not people support hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
The Alberta government has said its potential funding for a games would be tied to Calgary holding a public vote, something the city's mayor says the province would have to help pay for.
Canmore has so far been left off as a catch to any funding promises.
But the mountain town could have a big role to play in an Alberta-hosted games.
'No point'
The Nordic Centre, owned by the provincial government, could host events such as biathlon and cross-country skiing.
The town itself would be transformed — it would have to build an athlete's village, be ready for lots of tourists and move all the extra people around the small community.
Politicians still don't know what people in Canmore think of this idea, the details are far away from being decided.
"There's no point in holding a plebiscite until you have a whole body of information to inform a decision," Canmore Mayor John Borrowman toldtheCalgary Eyeopener on Friday.
"That's certainly a question we're going to be discussing with council in the near future."
But to do so, Borrowman said the town would rely on the newly formed Olympic bid committee to produce enough inform citizens. Luckily, he said, the town secured a spot on that committee this week.
"We want to be assured that our perspective, the Town of Canmore's perspective, is strongly represented at the board," Borrowman said.
He visited this winter's Pyeongchang Olympics as part of an observer delegation.
Councillors in his community, he said, have concerns about cost, building the athlete's village and impact on water and wastewater.
In the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, Canmore did participate and that changed the town. It underwent a subsequent housing boom, and now is known as a prime tourism draw.
"Before the Olympics were approved for '88, Canmore was a small town without any industry because the mines had closed," Borrowman said. "There's a worry that that would be one of the long-term impacts but the situation has changed so much from '88."
The bid committee has said the final Olympics price tag — so far estimated as $4.6 billion — should be known in June.
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.
