Katrine Conroy, MLA

Kootenay West

January 8th, 2010

Arrow Lakes News

In less than 35 days the Olympics will be held in British Columbia. The many years of planning and building are at an end and athletes from all over will come to our province to compete and see if they are the best in the world. Has it all been worth it? Has all of the spending created something positive for BC, not just for the next few weeks but for years to come?

Listening to the Liberal Government and some of the economic studies that have been done you would have to think that the news is very positive and the economic impacts will be profound. However, is that really the case? A recently released PriceWaterhouseCoopers report on the economic impacts of the 2010 games gives us no real insight into the net benefits or costs of hosting the Games.

What we do know is that there has been larger than expected spending on the Olympic Village and the speed skating oval and this increased spending has had a positive impact on lower mainland employment numbers. However the increased spending by the cities of Vancouver and Richmond for these facilities also means that that these cities will be spending less on other initiatives or perhaps have to increase their tax rate.

The Liberal government has not released a full accounting of all of the costs and resources that have been used for the games. The citizens of BC do not yet know how much the games will have cost and how they will be paid for.  

What will the Olympics leave as a legacy for the citizens of Nakusp and the surrounding area? It is hard to see many positive features at this point other than a feeling of pride in our Canadian team.  There have been few benefits that have reached outside of the lower mainland. 

The Olympics will soon be here and I wish the athletes well.  As soon as the festivities are over however, I and my colleagues in the NDP Opposition caucus will continue to ask the government some very key questions. What are the true costs for the Olympics and how will they be paid?  I will press them to make sure that essential services in rural BC are not further hurt by any cost savings that are attempted. While we might all wish our Canadian athletes the best as they pursue their dreams we have to remain vigilant to protect our schools, our hospitals and our environment. We should not all have to pay a price for a very large party in Vancouver-Whistler.