The chair of the 2019 Canada Winter Games Committee was disappointed a majority of Calgarians voted against submitting an Olympic bid for their city.
In Tuesday’s plebiscite, 56.4 per cent of voters said no to hosting the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Lyn Radford said hosting the Olympics could have provided a big economic boost for Calgary.
“I believe when our economy downturned in 2015, and we had the (2019 Winter Games), it gave us hope. If we hadn’t pushed forward on that, we probably wouldn’t have a lot of hope in our city right now, and I think there’s great hope here,” Radford said Wednesday.
“This is what I was hoping that Calgary would figure out.”
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She said the Winter Games have brought new and upgraded facilities to Red Deer, an extended runway at Red Deer Airport, the new Highway 2/Gaetz Avenue interchange, as well as building capacity among residents who are volunteering and will gain skills to host future events.
“Those are misses that Calgary won’t realize now.”
She said the Olympics would have benefited Alberta and the rest of Canada, and Red Deer will never know what role it could have played.
“Everybody has been extremely impressed with how Red Deer has managed and organized the 2019 Games. When you have that type of background, it does leave the door open to opportunities,” Radford said.
Coun. Dianne Wyntjes said Red Deer respects the decision of Calgarians, but agreed that Calgary will miss out on provincial and federal infrastructure dollars had they been chosen as a host city.
“I think it’s a disappointment for Alberta because there’s always potential opportunities for growing industries as well as the tourism dollars. I look back at 1988 and it was a great show. Calgary did a top-notch job,” Wyntjes said.
She said the Winter Games are coming to Red Deer during challenging times, and she hopes there will be a way to make the new sports amenities available to citizens to improve their quality of life.
Coun. Lawrence Lee said he understands why Calgary wanted to look at hosting the Olympics.
“From a municipal perspective, I understand the vision of Calgarians in wanting to have an event of that scope. I understand the sense of community spirit to invigorate an economy that’s maybe not been the best,” Lee said.
But costs need to be balanced against the benefits, he said.
As a non-binding plebiscite, Calgary city council will still make the final decision. Lee said councils should be a true reflection of the people, so unless civic politicians know something the public doesn’t, they would be compelled to respect the plebiscite decision.
“From a governance perspective, that would be a really hard argument to win if you went against a plebiscite. I would say that for sure,” Lee said.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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