Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid

June 25, 2002

2010 Olympic Bid

"The greatest benefit of the Olympic Winter Games will be to provide improved infrastructure. New and modernized sports facilities, improvements to road and rail transportation, a greater focus on environmental awareness and control, combined with the expansion of existing technical infrastructure will benefit both local residents, sports enthusiasts as well as the multitude of international tourists who visit the region each year."

That quote is not from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic bid committee, it comes from page 7 of Salzburg, Austria's bid document (pdf). Salzburg's emphasis on needed improvements to transportation and other infrastructure is similar to Vancouver's bid. Vancouver requires billions of dollars of investments in a road to Whistler, rapid transit to the airport and a convention centre, not to mention upgrades to sports venues. Both of those capital intensive bids contrast with the refreshing approach from Berne, Switzerland (page 17 pdf):

"No new transport infrastructures will be developed apart from those which are planned and would be necessary even in the absence of the Olympic Winter Games. This applies particularly to parking space. The available means of transport will be used in such a way that no new road and rail construction will be needed solely for the Games. Wherever possible, preference will be given to network extensions already planned anyway."

The Berne bid document goes on to say:

"The traffic generated in connection with the Games will be catered for in the most environmentally friendly manner possible. The disruption to the lives of people living in the venues will be kept to a minimum. This means that Switzerland's already well-developed rail network should serve as the transport backbone. The supply of transport will be supplemented by coaches so as to ensure flexibility of coverage. ASTAG, Switzerland's road transport federation, has prepared sophisticated concepts for the use of coaches in connection with Switzerland's national exhibition, Expo.02."

Berne's Olympic bid makes it clear that Switzerland is not going to distort priorities because of the games. Vancouver Sun's columnist Vaughn Palmer has done an outstanding job of criticizing the Campbell government's fascination with its Olympic bid. Essentially, Palmer has argued that Vancouver's bid will dramatically distort priorities.

Palmer has correctly noted that other bidders have put their formal questionnaire responses on their websites. Those are the responses quoted above from the Berne and Salzburg websites. Vancouver's bid document remains a secret. Berne's website points out that "For the first time ever, candidates for the Olympic Winter games 2010 will be thoroughly reviewed in a comprehensive catalogue of questions, the so-called questionnaire, before their candidacy is admitted." Why can't British Columbians see what they are getting for $34 million in Olympic bid effort? Why isn't the Vancouver response to the questionnaire on the web just like Salzburg and Berne? If openness and public involvement is measured by the International Olympic Committee, Vancouver's bid would already be in trouble.

Palmer has also pointed out that rational transportation planning would apply scarce resources to improving truck transportation to Vancouver's port long before dollars were spent on a highway to Whistler, and rapid transit would be extended east before it went through the most expensive property in Vancouver to service the airport. Berne's Olympic bid appears to follow the good public policy criteria advocated by Palmer.

An Internet search on economic impact of the Olympics produces article after article of boosterism. The hard evidence that does exist suggests that the economic impact occurs primarily during the construction phase. Boosters hope for long term investment and tourism benefits. There is not much evidence to suggest that those long term benefits ever materialize. If the primary economic benefits of a successful Olympic bid are in the pre-games construction phase, then any comparable public sector investment would reap comparable benefits. In particular, the more sensible investments in improved truck routes and an eastern extension of rapid transit would be as good or better for BC's economy.

During the election campaign Gordon Campbell said his government would be more competent managers. Their handling of the Olympic bid is calling even that into question.