Canmore mayor let down by vote to end Olympic bid

The mayor of Canmore says he’s disappointed that Calgarians have rejected a potential bid by their city for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

John Borrowman, who has lived in Canmore since before the 1988 Calgary Olympics, says he believed in the benefits to again co-hosting the Games.

Canmore was the site of Nordic ski events in 1988 and would have held some events again and built an athlete’s village as part of a successful bid.

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The mayor says the investment, which included affordable housing for the Rocky Mountain town west of Calgary, would have been worth it and the risks would have been manageable.

The bid is essentially over after a majority of Calgarians voted “No” in a plebiscite on Tuesday.

City council, which was already nervous and divided over bidding, is expected to officially end the effort on Monday.

Housing affordability is a major issue in Canmore.

The bid corporation’s plan had called for 240 affordable housing units in Canmore to be managed by the town’s housing corporation.