Olympic Series Part Four...The Northern Share

By Ben Meisner

When the Vancouver Olympic Committee's John Furlong spoke in Prnce George last week, he neglected to mention that the Olympics were about 50% above budget, that translates into about $400 to $500 million dollars.  

Based on the formula that rural BC accounts for about 67% of all money flowing into the province, $268 million is the amount we are being called upon to pony up. There are some in Prince George who seem bent on trying to hook our wagons onto the Olympic torch, but is there northern support?

Walk down the street or strike up a conversation and if you get around to talking about the Olympics you will quickly get a stern look.  By and large, there is a  good number of Northern B.C. residents  who don't support the 2010 games.  When Furlong neglects to mention when he’s in town that he needs another $400 million and instead talks about the sacrifices we must make in order to hold the event, you tend to get some grimacing looks .

If you break down the number of seats in the province then it should hold that about 500 million dollars should be made available for this type of event outside of the city of Vancouver, it however “ain’t” going to happen. 

To this point we have been tossed a bean or two with the government believing that it will be sufficient to keep us quiet and standing at the sidelines boosting the affair. 

The government did some slick selling of the games early on when it handed out about 33% of the tickets to the aboriginal population thereby guaranteeing support. At the same time, it also brought that section of society into the fold with a view to having them on board and not raising any sort of a fuss.  You've seen the footage from  some countries when the games have been staged and the poor have been parked outside of the stadium. The Olympics are not for the poor, for that matter, other than a chosen few, they are not for the average individual  who will find that they will be parked in front of their TV watching the events as they have in the past in spite of the fact they are taking place within 800 kilometers of our door. 

Furlong, the CEO of the games, said there will about 77 billion in construction in the lower mainland leading up to the affair. Whistler, which will see a huge increase in spending driving the prices up for the locals, quite frankly didn’t need the boost in its economy. It has already been hot as a destination and all this event will do is make it more prohibitive for the average BC resident to access. 

If government at all levels wants our support then it is time for the residents of this region to say , “what’s in it for us “.  A feeling of pride is a great thing for the people of the province.  Tthe problem however remains that the bills that flow in following the event are to be shared by all of the residents. That ten day party may leave us with a multi million dollar hangover.

The cupboard is void of money and with an infrastructure that is in need of repair (such as the Cameron St. Bridge) where will this money come from to ensure that we are spreading the wealth of the province equally amongst everyone?

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