I am sure the people deciding on the venue for the "games" will be impressed with the woodwork. Big deal.
The "spin off" will be 70 to 90 million dollars, eh? And where do these millions go? Will they benefit the unemployed or the minimum wage workers or will they fatten the bottom lines of corporations providing food, accommodation, infrastructure and such?
And who will pay the millions in direct costs of sponsoring the "games"? Maybe costs will just be added to Prince George's growing debt to be paid down...with interest...by future taxes.
Let's be polite and call this "malarky".

I am a little curious how much money is going to end up comming out of my pocket in the end to pay for some or all of this.

I am not interested in financing this at all...

Summersoul, I would have to say most of the money will go into construction projects related to the winter games, thus it will employ quite a few trades people.

Lot of money will end up in the hospitality industry as well.

The benefit of our high taxed society is that so much of the money spent is being recaptured by the government. The event is just an excuse to spend the money. Thus if you really look at it hard, The government plows in $5 billion dolllars to pull the winter olympics. This attracts 10 billion dollars in private investments around the olympics. Contractors employ a lot of workers, workers earn wages and pay taxes, worker spends money and pays taxes, the retail business workers pay taxes, the contractors pay taxes, etc. Thus the initial 5 billion dollars has likely already been recaptured with in two years.
So, when mega dreams come up, don't be in such a hurry to squash them, we just have to make sure that we earn more of the benefit than the next community. That's what this race is all about.

Minimum Wage, well, if you took the time to get training, maybe, you could get out of that trap. If your not willing to invest in yourself, why should the employer invest in you, when the person next to you will invest in them selves.

You can read me all the hard luck stories, well, thats for when your old and worn out. if your talking about your hard luck when your not even 50, I just refer that too being whinney. Suck it up, buttercup. We live in a capitalist world, it is the survival for the fittest. Thus we all got access to same 12 years of education, so stop having the kids being a seat warmer.

There are a lot of hard working young people out there, but if you look deep into there lives, its because the family taught them early that they have to smart and work hard to get ahead. These young people (30 and younger) have several homes and work what ever they need to do, yet still be able to find time to raise a family and have down time. So, do you think they had everything handed to them. No, they invested in themselves with training and took it to the next level, instead of whinning about their hard luck stories.

yada yada yada

The wood carving looks very nice.

Hopefully it will be returned to us when the selection committee is finished with it so that it can go on display in the Two Rivers Gallery.

This city is 111 MILLION dollars in debt!!! Does anyone see the problem here? STOP SPENDING ON NICE TO HAVES. The tax payer group is tapped out and I do not want to spend on my grandchildren's dime. WAKE UP! We have all been told what debt does and yet our leaders on all levels of government is on a continuous SPENDING SPREE. God the stupidity is tiring.

The easiest and most efficient way to save money, is to NOT SPEND IT!

I cant afford to be taxed anymore, i say take your winter games and stick em where the sun dont shine.
by the way hespoke how the hell could someone who makes min wage invest in anything let alone an expensive education?

Bring the Winter Games to PG!!! It will be the best thing that ever happened to this place!

Best for who? I am still waiting for my owelypics benefits cheque that was supposed to be "the best thing that ever happened to this place!".

Who will benefit from a big party that has strayed far from its original intent.

Very cool; great concept, excellent execution. Kudos to all involved.

Once again a sports opportunity is relying on art to make a go of it. Too bad we don't value art more.

Ben/Elaine - looks like you have an italics tag that wasn't closed in the story (likely the photo credit), hence everyone's italic comments.

Boudicca, some people fall off the track, and fail to improve themselves with post secondary education when they leave high school, they take the easy way out and make a living working for min wage, and live at home. Move out with a bunch of friends and before you know it, your 30 and working as an assistent manager for $11/hr.

Others go to college and university and live at home until they get a decent job.

some are thrown out at 18 and are expected to float on their own, and they struggle for a few years, but if the fights in them. They find away to get a better job, and take night classes.

Some take min wage jobs when their EI runs out and they collect enough stamps and get back on the dole.

Its up to the parents, to teach values to the kids, so they understand. What the heck is an allowance? Do you get the kids to do house hold chores to earn it?, or do you get guilted into giving them money. Do you let the kids start eating stuff at grocery store before you even go through the till, what are you teaching them?????

I see a bunch of people here screaming about spending money. Well folks, 70 percent of the spending for these games comes from the provincial and federal gov't. This money will be spent regardless of who is awarded these games. The question is do you want your tax dollars spent here or would you rather just give them to Kamloops or Kelowna? I already gave enough of my tax dollars to vancouver's games. I say spend it here this time.

Provincial, Federal, Municipal, City, Regional District, It's all our tax dollar, who cares where it's spent, the average tax payer will not see a nickle of it unless you are in the hospitality buisness. Normal working Joe & Joesphine's will nothing in return.

Jaws. What will the money be spent on. Give us some examples. One would think that if billions are going to be spent we should see some benefits.??

As usual people in Prince George get caught up in the hype and overlook the obvious. These games have been held in Canada for years, yet very few people on this site can tell you where they were held in the past and what the benefits were.

The reason no one remembers or knows is because its really not a big deal, and once the games are over life goes on.

Whitehorse Yukon and Grande Prairie have held the Winter games in the past. How many people from this area, and on this site attended??? I suspect none. Why didnt they attend?? I suspect because they were not interested.

Who benefits from the Games, Atheletes (They get to compete) Managers, and Coaches, (They get paid to participate) Business in the community because they can make a buck, and contractors because they can build some buildings.

Some jobs are created, however the whole shebang is paid for by tax dollars, and two months after the games no one will remember diddly squat.

The money is spent on the costs of holding the games and upgrades to facilities. The city's share (as reported by opinion 250 ) is approx 9 million. BC and the Feds provide 9 million each as well.

Now I know what you're gonna say " Don't spend our money ! " but sooner ( in the case of our leaky old hockey rinks ) or later we as city taxpayers will have to pay to fix these buildings anyways.

What I'm saying is that these games WILL happen and the 18 mil from the other levels of gov't WILL be spent. Just because you or I or anyone else may not like it the feds WILL spend the money on these games anyways.

I would just rather see those Federal and Provincial dollars ( our tax dollars ) spent fixing our facilities and creating jobs here instesd of Kamloops or Kelowna.

Dont try to make sense Jaws - its not taken well on here - lol
Bring on the games!

Having the games is a moot point. They will be had until the interest in them wanes or the country is in true dire straits. Neither of those are likely to happen in the immediate future.

Thus, they will happen in BC and the funding formula will stay as it is.

The question that has to be answered is which location will provide the best bang for the dollar. Which location will promote the games to its fullest and make sure that they will continue after this one becuase they were so grea, the uplifted the spirit of the people not only in the community that holds them but throughout the rest of the country.

Kamloops has shown in the past that they fit the bill on a national scale. For my part, I hope that we can show the selection committee that we can fit the bill as well as Kamloops can. On top of that, I would like us to show that we can be even better than that.

God only knows we can use a bit of a lift at this time on the national scene.

I will critique things in this community as can be seen. Most often, though, it is because I want things to be better than they are, not worse. This is one of those events that will be money well spent if we do it right. Some will not be tangible, but it will be there for sure.

When we get them, we will have to thank the group who managed to pull it off and then we will have to seize the moment to eek every last little bit of advantage out of the trust we have been given.

You know people, this is 2010. We have not had the best 3 decades just past. How about making a decision that the next decade is going to be better than any of the last three and much more a reminder of the decade from 1970 to 1979.

I think we deserve it and only we can do it. It is up to us. Just remember, no one else will give us a handout.