Premier Addresses Olympic Cost Hike

Friday, February 03, 2006 02:02 PM

Premier Gordon Campbell is not surprised by the new price tag for the 2010 Olympics He says the original bid ($470 million) was based on 2002 dollars, and construction costs have sky-rocketed since then. The Vancouver Olympic Committee has announced it is $110 million dollars short for the costruction and upgrading of venues making the new cost total $580 million.

In Prince George to ( among other things) announce a special research project at UNBC, the Premier praised VANOC for being responsible with it's budget. "VANOC has always done the best it can, look at the plans for the ice oval. When it was found the oval couldn't be built at the original site within the budgeted amounts, VANOC looked for an alternative, and the City of Richmond stepped up to the plate."

The Premier noted there is a contingency fund "That is what contingency funds are for. We set aside $139 million dollars to address these kinds of issues. We will pay $55 million of the shortfall, and VANOC will go to the Federal Government for the balance."

The Premier says this doesn't mean things are out of control "Frankly, there will be some people who will look only for things that go wrong with the Olympics, this is not something that has gone wrong."

The Premier meets with Opinion 250's Ben Meisner later today for a one on one interview that will be televised by Shaw on the 11th and 12th at 8:00 p.m. and available for video download here on Opinion250 next week.
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Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 02:02 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on February 3 2006 4:39 PM

The original bid was based on 2002 dollars. Duh?. Anyone in their right mind would have taken inflation, and the high cost of labour into account. It was no secret that labour costs would escalate in BC and especially in Vancouver, and especially for the Olympics and especially at Whistler, and surrounding area. I suggest the bid was lowballed to get people in the Greater Vancouver, area, and the outlying areas on board and after they got the Bid, then the actual costs start to come in. The suggestion that a bid in 2002 dollars would somehow still be viable 6/8 years later is an insult to the intelligence of every jCitizen and Taxpayer of this Province and Campbell should be taken to task for even suggesting that that is the reason for the increased costs.

Posted by: acrider54 on February 4 2006 7:18 AM

Told you he was here to collect more money

Posted by: Percy on February 4 2006 8:26 AM

Imagine if you had to go back to your banker and ask for another $110 Million to start your business. You forgot to take inflation into account. Oh, yes, I also didn't account for increased cost of labour. A recent study indicated the real income of workers has not increased in the past 30 years.

Our health care is in crisis, our education is struggling, we still have homeless people, we don't have adequate housing available for our seniors and our streets and highways are often the cause of accidents in BC, but, we can find and justify hosting a $580 Million sports day for a handful of elite athletes. Percy

Posted by: diplomat on February 4 2006 8:48 AM

News item today: Montreal taxpayers just finished making the last payment on the huge cost overrun of the 1970s Summer Olympics!

Famous statement at the time by then Mayor Jean Drapeau:

"There is as much of a chance of these Olympics not being 'on budget' as there is a chance of a man having a baby."

Looks like Gordon is going to have to dig deeper into our pockets.

Will politicians ever learn?

Posted by: Palopu on February 4 2006 3:09 PM

Politicians can do these things because **heads in the sand** taxpayers and citizens allow them to. A note to the Premier telling him how you feel will go in the right direction to slow down this inane spending of money. I note to our Mayor and Council from Citizens of the City about the out of control spending by Prince George is long overdue. Silence is usually taken as agreeing.

Posted by: diplomat on February 4 2006 9:04 PM

Palopu:"A note to the Premier telling him how you feel will go in the right direction to slow down this inane spending of money."

Well, I think it is a little too late for that since the province is onehundred percent committed to put on the 2010 Winter Olympics no matter how much it will cost in the end!

I used to write letters to some politicians, for instance to Paul Ramsey when he was the NDP finance minister! His answers to my questions in respect to his borrowing of insane amounts of money from the bankers were answered with generalities and platitudes.

Once they have been elected they tend to treat the "uninitiated" with a lofty attitude, knowing everything better, or so they think.

They bask in the spotlight of attention and strut about like the proverbial rooster on the manure pile!

Perhaps you can give it a try!

Cheers! diplomat.

Posted by: owl on February 5 2006 1:36 AM

"I used to write letters to some politicians, for instance to Paul Ramsey when he was the NDP finance minister! His answers to my questions in respect to his borrowing of insane amounts of money from the bankers were answered with generalities and platitudes."

I understand that the deputy ministers for the various ministries keep records of all such template letters which can be used by subsequent individuals who attain the office of "Minister", no matter what party they happen to be from.

;-)

Posted by: diplomat on February 5 2006 8:33 AM

Owl: "I understand that the deputy ministers for the various ministries keep records of all such template letters which can be used by subsequent individuals who attain the office of "Minister", no matter what party they happen to be from."

Funny you are saying that! In fact I accused Mr. Ramsey's staff of concocting reply letters to me which appeared to be the result of a pasting together of computer stored templates/paragraphs!

Did the writer mention the word "debt"? Well, let's see. That requires a #17 reply. Did he mention "roads"? That requires a #39, and so forth.

Because of the almost mechanical nature of the answers I became convinced that my legitimate questions in fact never made it to his majesty's desk.

I gave up, all the while thinking that he himself just had to be more intelligent than what the letters to me indicated.