Alberta Premier Danielle Smith raised the prospect of Calgary or Edmonton making a bid to host a future Olympic Games, during a speech to the Rotary Club of Downtown Calgary on Thursday.
Billed as a “state of the province” address, Smith’s address was a wide-ranging defence of her government’s record on such issues as the economy, health care, immigration and her relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
She also spoke about her desire to see construction of a number of new passenger rail projects around the province, including lines connecting Calgary and Edmonton and Calgary and Banff, as well as efforts to build a number of new sport facilities, such as new homes for the Calgary Flames and Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Elks, which she said could help Alberta attract more, large, international sporting events.
“Just putting it out there because maybe the 2026 Olympic bid was not the right time,” said Smith, in reference to the 2026 Winter Olympics, which Calgary explored making a bid to host.
However, the city ultimately withdrew its interest after more than 56 per cent of Calgarians voted against the idea in a public plebiscite, with many people concerned about how much hosting the games would cost, which the Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimated at about $2,000 per household.
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“But maybe if we have this integrated rail system, new mountain resorts that have been fully developed out, amazing new stadiums and arenas in Calgary and Edmonton, quick flight to Vancouver to be able to use the bobsled and the ski jump, make sure that the Canada Olympic oval is brought up to speed, and then maybe we’re in a position to be able to put a bid forward without telling Calgarians it’s going to cost you 5 or 6 or $10 billion,” Smith added.
The skyrocketing cost of hosting the Olympics, and the political fallout it has caused, has prompted the International Olympic Committee to change its process of choosing host cities in favour of cities that already have many of the needed facilities in place.
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As long as they don’t beg the federal government to bail them out after they lose billions of dollars, like every other city that hosts the olympics, go for it…
State of the province?
LMAO
Govt corruption all the way around.
No. Need the mh care / ahs scandal / etc etc. investigated first.