Rebel News Podcast - Olympic bid： Can Calgary afford multi-billion dollar party for IOC aristocrats？

00:00:00.000 How much are you willing to spend to woo and curry favor with one of the world's most corrupt and sleazy organizations, the IOC?

00:00:09.020 Calgary's mayor hopes that number is over $5 billion.

00:00:13.560 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:00:30.000 The city of Calgary's hopes to host the 2026 Olympic Games are getting closer to reality, and I'm getting worried.

00:00:43.400 There's a municipal plebiscite slated for November 13th that will finally give city taxpayers an opportunity to have their say in how their tax dollars are being spent.

00:00:53.840 Are taxpayers willing to spend billions and billions of dollars to have a two-week-long legacy party for Mayor Nenshi and Premier Rachel Notley?

00:01:03.000 The yes side of the plebiscite debate sure hopes so.

00:01:05.840 The yes side hopes that taxpayers will be able to overlook their money being spent on courting and pleasing corrupt International Olympic Committee officials

00:01:16.720 to support what lowest estimates say will be a $5.2 billion event.

00:01:23.840 Or do taxpayers think their money is better spent on, I don't know, garbage collection, pothole fixing, and municipal maintenance,

00:01:31.100 especially in the wake of the cancellation of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion,

00:01:37.180 a cancellation that nuked 8,000 jobs?

00:01:40.760 I guess we're going to find out in two short months.

00:01:44.000 Notable former Calgary politicians have come out and expressed concern about the cost.

00:01:49.060 Former alderman John Shamal says he's a hard no on the Olympics for economic reasons.

00:01:55.560 In the meantime, taxpayer-funded Olympic bid examination corporation Bidco is campaigning for a yes.

00:02:03.680 Joining me tonight to update us on any new Olympic bid news and to cut through the municipal spin

00:02:09.420 and help us all understand the true cost of the Calgary Olympic bid is my good friend William Macbeth from Save Calgary.

00:02:18.200 Hey William, thanks for joining me.

00:02:38.240 You folks at Save Calgary are right on top of all the Olympic bid news.

00:02:44.120 And I wanted to have you on because there has been a few developments on the Olympic bid front.

00:02:48.860 We finally got some numbers out of the city of Calgary and Bidco.

00:02:56.640 Why don't you break those down for us?

00:02:59.280 Sure.

00:03:00.020 And we should probably start by saying we have some numbers.

00:03:03.200 From those of us who have looked at them, we're not really that confident that these numbers are in any way reflective of reality or real life.

00:03:13.680 But at least we have a document.

00:03:16.220 We have a document with some numbers on it, which is a place to start the conversation, I guess.

00:03:21.220 So Bidco released the proposed bid saying that the Olympics would cost roughly $5.2 to $5.3 billion with $3 billion of that coming from other orders of government.

00:03:36.440 So the federal, provincial and the city of Calgary when it happens.

00:03:41.500 And they are trying to reuse as many of the previous venues as possible.

00:03:48.080 They're only planning to do upgrades for the most part with limited construction.

00:03:53.740 And they seem to think that hosting an Olympics is all about affordable housing.

00:04:00.580 That's a huge part of their document focuses on the fact that holding an Olympics means we will build affordable housing units here in Calgary.

00:04:11.500 For what?

00:04:13.280 And I also saw some other numbers that they think that it will bring in $2 billion in GDP growth.

00:04:22.620 Well, it would seem to me that there's a bit of a shortfall then, right?

00:04:26.120 Oh, you know, it's amazing.

00:04:28.080 Well, first of all, on the affordable housing standpoint, I guess what they think is they have to build an athlete's village and multiple athlete's villages because, of course, they're predicting the Olympics will take place across a whole series of venues.

00:04:40.420 And that affordable housing will then, or that Olympic village will then become affordable housing.

00:04:47.400 Now, for anybody paying attention to Vancouver, that was the same plan that Vancouver had.

00:04:54.280 Of course, the problem is, like almost every other Olympics, they came in over budget.

00:04:58.820 And so the affordable housing promised through the athlete's village turned into million-dollar condos in order to balance the books and come out at a break-even cost in Vancouver.

00:05:10.240 So it looks like, yeah, sure, affordable housing is great from a laudable goal, but it's usually the first thing that goes when the Olympics run over budget.

00:05:20.400 And they will go over budget.

00:05:23.300 I would put money on that.

00:05:24.620 Yes, they will.

00:05:25.420 This $5.2 billion, I would estimate that that's probably closer to $8 or $9 or $10 billion by the time we're done.

00:05:36.720 And I was looking actually today at some of the demands that the IOC makes of the Olympic cities.

00:05:44.060 And, like, my chest tightens at the thought of what exactly Calgary is willing to throw at the IOC to get their hands on the Olympics.

00:05:53.320 Like, it's such expensive things, but it's petty things.

00:05:56.840 It's, like, the IOC must be put up in five-star hotels or better.

00:06:00.980 They need special lanes for them to drive in.

00:06:04.480 They need hot breakfast.

00:06:05.800 Like, it's just, it's so crazy.

00:06:08.320 They're treating this like aristocracy when they're just a bunch of, well, I guess.

00:06:14.120 I mean, it is a government unto itself, and we're supposed to treat them like dignitaries instead of the corruptocrats that I think they are.

00:06:22.420 Well, it's certainly true that the IOC does not like to travel basic economy when they go on an Olympic trip.

00:06:31.200 Your comment about aristocracy is very true.

00:06:33.520 A lot of members of the IOC actually are aristocrats.

00:06:37.320 There are crown princes and dukes and barons and sheiks.

00:06:42.320 And this is not a group of people who understand the struggle of paying your taxes and trying to make ends meet, who worry about how they're going to scrape together their property tax at the end of the year, mostly because they own whole countries and don't have to pay property tax on their palaces.

00:06:59.520 So, you know, you make some points about the outrageous IOC demands, and it's one of the reasons why so many cities have dropped out of bidding for not just this Olympics, but every Olympics.

00:07:14.320 Oslo pulled out, Oslo, Norway, because of the ridiculous IOC demands that got made of them.

00:07:21.220 Sapporo, Japan, just dropped out of bidding from the 2026 Olympics precisely because of the overinflated economic benefits promised by Olympic proponents and the outrageous costs that come within Olympics, including staying in five-star hotels.

00:07:40.320 Now, in the case of the IOC, they've gone slumming and said they're prepared to stay in a four-star hotel, but I think that's only if there's no five-star hotel available.

00:07:51.560 I don't think they're willingly accepting that if there's a five-star hotel down the street.

00:07:56.580 They want a drink for free for the entire games.

00:07:59.860 They want a well-stocked minibar in their hotel room.

00:08:04.180 They want a lounge on site that is stocked with beer and wine.

00:08:08.740 And at Norway, one of the demands I love is they demanded to meet the king upon their arrival, and that the king would then host a free cocktail reception for them.

00:08:20.160 So this is not a group of people who really understand the hardworking, everyday people who actually have to pay the bills when it comes to these Olympics.

00:08:29.900 Yeah, that's crazy.

00:08:30.940 I mean, when you can't get your garbage picked up, but then you're paying for a private lounge for a literal aristocrat to get drunk in for, you know, 10 days or two weeks.

00:08:42.080 It's appalling, really.

00:08:43.920 Now, you talked about the cities that have pulled out, and I'm very scared about this.

00:08:48.240 And I'm scared because the crowd is starting to thin.

00:08:53.620 Stockholm, Sweden is still in the running.

00:08:56.080 Erzurum, Turkey, I don't know if I'm saying that right.

00:08:59.300 And there's still a three-way bid from three cities in Italy.

00:09:04.780 I'm worried that we're going to actually get this Olympics.

00:09:08.040 I'm very scared.

00:09:09.800 Yes, the Olympics that no one wants could end up in Calgary if every other bid city drops out because of the incredible cost of hosting, you know, cost and extravagance of hosting these Olympics.

00:09:19.000 The IOC, in their response to, you know, every bid city dropping out, offers this condescending, well, it's so sad for you, host city, host country, that you'll be missing out on these great things.

00:09:34.420 And it's a shame that your athletes won't be able to win gold in their home country.

00:09:39.320 And it comes across as, like, if you don't get the Olympics, somehow life just can't go on for you and your city and your country.

00:09:47.440 Now, the reality is the IOC themselves are quite worried about this.

00:09:50.440 They've actually asked Salt Lake City to stand by for an alternate venue in 2026 if they can't get a host city for this Olympics.

00:10:01.740 So, I mean, obviously, some city is going to take the Olympics when, if and when a bid happens.

00:10:07.400 It could be one of the bid cities for 2026, but the IOC is going to make sure it goes on.

00:10:12.700 Certainly, they're not prepared to give up their two-year, you know, every two-year luxury vacation on our tax dollars.

00:10:20.040 So, they're already talking to Salt Lake City to see if they can take up the slack if nobody actually ends up bidding for the 2026 Olympics.

00:10:27.500 Poor Salt Lake City drawing the short straw on the Olympics.

00:10:32.360 I was reading today, and I didn't realize this, and I suppose I should have because government is sneaky.

00:10:38.380 That's how they are.

00:10:39.480 I was reading that the plebiscite to be held in November or on November 13th, it's non-binding.

00:10:46.840 So, even at the end of the day, even if City of Calgary taxpayers decide that, no, we don't want this Olympics,

00:10:54.880 and they voted down this Nenshi Legacy Project, this city could go ahead without them.

00:11:00.520 The city could.

00:11:02.460 Now, I think what the good news on the plebiscite is the province has made it very clear that, remember, the city didn't want to hold a plebiscite.

00:11:10.340 The city was perfectly happy to just go ahead with these Olympics without ever asking Calgarians if they, you know, actually wanted to host them or not.

00:11:17.740 It was only because the provincial government, you know, and I don't say nice things about our NDP provincial government very often,

00:11:25.800 but I will give them credit for the fact that the province said we're not putting in our share of the money,

00:11:32.020 which could be a billion dollars if there is no plebiscite happening in Calgary.

00:11:37.240 So, even if the city doesn't keep it as binding, I think the province has said that they're not putting in their huge chunk of money if there isn't a vote and the wishes of the voters aren't respected.

00:11:50.400 So, at least we have, I'm not saying, you know, city council won't still try and go ahead with it anyway,

00:11:54.740 but at least we have a piece of common sense coming from our NDP government, a sentence I never thought I'd say.

00:12:02.620 You know, it's rare. We should highlight it when they do it.

00:12:05.820 And actually, you and I should take the day off next year to celebrate. We'll just make it a holiday.

00:12:10.880 That's right. We'll mark the date and time.

00:12:12.940 Yeah.

00:12:13.700 The only other thing I think it's important to focus on, there's a couple more numbers in that report.

00:12:19.880 The first is the economic benefits. You mentioned $2 billion in GDP growth.

00:12:24.740 The document itself lists $7.4 billion in overall economic benefits for Calgary.

00:12:33.400 And that number is ridiculous. There's no other way to say it.

00:12:39.020 That is what we spend to run Calgary for more than two and a half years.

00:12:45.460 And, you know, economists across this country, people who have studied the Olympics,

00:12:49.820 have all come to the same conclusion that that is a pie-in-the-sky number.

00:12:54.420 Those benefits will never materialize.

00:12:57.140 But that's the Olympic game show. That's the Olympic magic show that they always say.

00:13:02.680 They always put something on the table and they say it's going to offer this much in terms of benefits to your city.

00:13:08.260 And then they never materialize.

00:13:10.080 Every Olympics that has been held recently has had an analysis done post-Olympics to see what the actual benefits were.

00:13:17.000 And in a lot of cases, the benefits that did happen were very temporary, only in the period immediately around the Games.

00:13:24.820 It displaces other economic activity, of course, because if someone's working on the Olympics, that means they're not working in the private sector, creating wealth and prosperity.

00:13:34.700 And ultimately, a lot of cities end up a lot worse for having hosted the Olympics.

00:13:40.380 My favorite one, Lillehammer, cost them so much money they had to dissolve the town for a period because they couldn't pay the bills.

00:13:49.480 And Norway itself just had to step in and fund the rest of the debt themselves.

00:13:54.680 So, to me, they're really overstating the economic benefits while understating the true costs of these Olympic Games.

00:14:04.440 Now, you had mentioned earlier that this could actually be spread out across a few venues.

00:14:10.060 Do you know which ones they're considering right now?

00:14:12.840 They're looking primarily at Canmore and Whistler.

00:14:17.880 Whistler, of course, one of the venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Canmore as well.

00:14:24.040 They haven't identified a venue for curling yet, and I think that's something they're looking at Edmonton for, possibly, to take on.

00:14:35.880 I think what's interesting is they've only pegged security costs at $600 million, which every person I've spoken to who has some idea about planning security for these sorts of things says is an incredibly low number for what we're seeing.

00:14:53.440 Especially if we're going to be hosting the Olympics across four or five different Olympic venues.

00:15:00.020 And Vancouver, for example, came in at just under a billion dollars.

00:15:04.820 That was in 2010.

00:15:06.520 And I think we'll all agree the world has only gotten more dangerous since 2010.

00:15:11.780 Since then, we've had terrorist attacks tragically on our own soil.

00:15:15.900 We've been listed as a country that ISIS and other terrorist groups are targeting.

00:15:22.720 So why are we now suggesting that we can cut the security budget by 40 percent over what we spent in 2010?

00:15:31.540 To me, this is just a way of trying to show a break-even Olympics when the reality is we're going to go deeply, deeply into debt when all of the bills come in and all of the revenue figures are counted.

00:15:44.120 You know, William, you probably haven't heard, but the more we say diversity is our strength, the more the terrorists leave us alone.

00:15:51.940 Right.

00:15:52.100 Haven't you heard that?

00:15:54.120 Now, what happens if one of these other venues basically tells us to stick it in our ear?

00:15:59.780 Do we have to create a venue from scratch within Calgary?

00:16:03.760 Because that's not in the budget.

00:16:04.980 No, I mean, I suspect what we would have to do is assume all of the costs associated with renting and constructing venues in other locations.

00:16:16.780 So if one of the, you know, say one of the Alpine venues said it didn't want to participate, we could probably still host those Olympic Games there.

00:16:27.440 But it would be at a hugely added cost for Calgary because we would have virtually no local on-the-ground support.

00:16:35.080 We have to bring everyone out from Calgary to do the work, to do the construction, to do the venue management.

00:16:41.200 We have to pay rent.

00:16:42.260 We have to pay security.

00:16:43.400 We have to pay, you know, traffic.

00:16:46.780 We may have to build pieces of infrastructure to support, you know, huge traffic flows and pedestrian flows and things like that in those other locations.

00:16:55.180 So I don't necessarily know if it would be a complete deal breaker, but what it would do is start to add a lot more zeros onto the ends of the bills that we're already paying.

00:17:05.860 Now, we've actually seen some pretty prominent people, people who've been involved in municipal government in Calgary, come out on the no side, including a former alderman.

00:17:18.600 Do you think that's going to have any bearing on sort of the momentum that the no side is picking up?

00:17:27.820 You know, we really hope so.

00:17:30.140 I can say that so far, I mean, look, the yes side is filled with people who have been political allies and supporters of Mayor Nangchi.

00:17:40.580 They're hosting they're hosting pretty glitzy events with lots of audiovisual and fancy venues to show off the thing.

00:17:51.440 And, you know, Calgary 2026, the big corporation, has already said they're going to be promoting their plan for the 2026 Olympics, which, in other words, means they're going to be campaigning for a yes vote in this plebiscite.

00:18:06.700 Something, by the way, the city said it would not do, which was put taxpayer dollars into campaigning for either side.

00:18:13.240 Well, there's now a full time big corporation campaigning for a yes in these Olympic Games.

00:18:18.560 So to me, I think it's people are starting to wonder how much is this really going to cost everybody?

00:18:26.140 They're saying three billion.

00:18:28.260 Some people put that figure closer to five billion.

00:18:31.220 People have looked at how Olympic cost overruns go.

00:18:33.980 And if, you know, Canada puts in half and the city puts in a quarter and the province puts in a quarter, whatever the financial breakdown is, we're still talking about billions and billions of dollars.

00:18:47.320 And as we joked about earlier on, we can't even get our garbage picked up correctly.

00:18:53.040 We can't even get potholes filled in in a timely manner.

00:18:57.580 And yet, somehow, we think we have the kind of money to invest in something which could leave us deeply in debt when it's done.

00:19:06.280 The mayor himself, for whom possibly the only reason we're even having this Olympic discussion is because of our mayor,

00:19:13.020 has said that money is so tight at City Hall that we're either going to have to raise taxes or cut the mediocre services we're already getting.

00:19:20.120 And so, what is it?

00:19:22.540 Do we have enough money to be able to host a lavish, multi-billion dollar party?

00:19:27.760 Or is money so tight that we can't even get our garbage picked up efficiently in Calgary without raising taxes?

00:19:33.460 So those are the questions that I think Calgarians are starting to really ask themselves.

00:19:36.660 And given the performance so far of our city government on this Olympic file,

00:19:42.800 I think a lot of people have questions if we can even execute games in any way approaching something efficiently and effectively.

00:19:51.960 Well, and I think there's a lot of obfuscation with where exactly this money is coming from.

00:19:58.760 You know, they'll say, oh, a quarter's coming from the city of Calgary and a quarter's coming from the province.

00:20:03.540 And then the feds are going to make up the rest.

00:20:07.200 But, yeah, there's only one taxpayer.

00:20:09.840 Like, there's only one taxpayer.

00:20:11.920 I don't care what money they're taking it from.

00:20:14.580 The money came from my pocket and your pocket.

00:20:17.340 And I just think at a time when, you know, we can't get a pipeline built.

00:20:22.560 We've seen 8,000 jobs nuked right off the top.

00:20:25.520 Many of those in Calgary.

00:20:26.660 It just seems like there should be other things that will generate real economic growth that everybody along the way should be focusing on instead of, you know, a two-week party and a legacy project for Nenshi and, quite frankly, Rachel Notley.

00:20:43.780 And I think that it's, we were talking off camera about how this is starting to gobble up the agenda down at City Hall.

00:20:53.440 There was supposed to be a debate on lowering the municipal speed limit down to 30 kilometers per hour.

00:21:02.400 And, you know, there's a lot of controversy swirling around that.

00:21:05.100 Some people think it'll reduce traffic fatalities.

00:21:08.540 And some people, maybe people like me, think it's a bit of a money grab.

00:21:12.120 But that is sort of being put over because the Olympics are sucking all the air out of the room.

00:21:18.480 You're absolutely right.

00:21:19.620 I mean, I doubt that until this plebiscite happens, we're going to talk about a lot of issues other than the Olympics.

00:21:28.860 And certainly, I think that if you talk about there only being one taxpayer, you're absolutely right.

00:21:34.180 We saw a major energy project, the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, put on ice for goodness knows how long while we wait for the federal government, you know, Mr. Trudeau playing the role of Hamlet, dithering to decide what to do.

00:21:49.300 About this energy decision.

00:21:51.560 Is he going to appeal?

00:21:52.540 Is he going to pass legislation?

00:21:53.900 Well, so far, he's done nothing.

00:21:55.800 You've got NAFTA, you know, a major trade agreement upon which a lot of Canada's economic prosperity is based in jeopardy.

00:22:04.860 You've seen our federal government mismanage the negotiations with the Americans on the NAFTA file.

00:22:11.080 And now it doesn't look like certainly a deal is likely and possibly a deal won't happen at all.

00:22:16.840 And if so, what's the economic impact on Calgary, on Alberta and on Canada?

00:22:21.440 Certainly, we're going to have a lot of things we need to focus on to spend money on, to invest in.

00:22:26.900 And this Olympics, it's just not the right time to host a, you know, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten billion dollar party because the mayor decided he wanted a legacy.

00:22:37.700 I don't think there's ever a right time, but that's just me.

00:22:43.660 William, I think that's a great spot to leave the interview.

00:22:46.800 How do people find out what's on the radar of Save Calgary and what's, you know, happening down at City Hall that taxpayers need to be concerned about?

00:22:59.880 Sure.

00:23:00.540 The three things I really suggest is go to our website, savecalgary.com and sign up to our weekly e-newsletter.

00:23:08.200 They're great.

00:23:08.820 Your emails are fantastic.

00:23:10.340 Best written political emails in the world.

00:23:13.100 I love them.

00:23:13.540 Well, certainly, we put one out, you know, every week where we talk about sort of what's happening at City Hall, the latest things we've uncovered.

00:23:21.720 When we speak to councillors and to municipal stakeholders, we try and get at, like, what you do at The Rebel, the real story happening at City Hall.

00:23:30.920 You can go to our Facebook page where we post ongoing content, and that's just searching for Save Calgary there.

00:23:37.420 And you can follow us on Twitter at our at Save Calgary account.

00:23:40.880 And we try and push out a lot of information for people because, you know, with a handful of exceptions, really the only coverage of City Hall is just repeating the pretty positive talking points that come out of City Hall.

00:23:54.640 And, you know, I think we're all tired of hearing how great a job our city council is doing according to our city council.

00:24:01.520 I think a lot of people want to know the real story of what's happening behind closed doors at City Hall.

00:24:06.540 Well, you know what, William?

00:24:07.780 I think you're doing a great job.

00:24:09.420 You're a good friend to me.

00:24:10.560 You're a great friend to the show.

00:24:11.820 And more importantly, you're a great friend to the taxpayers of Calgary.

00:24:15.480 So I want to thank you for taking the time to come on today.

00:24:18.240 Thanks, Sheila.

00:24:18.760 It's always a pleasure.

00:24:19.680 Awesome.

00:24:20.060 Thank you.

00:24:20.420 Thank you.

00:24:20.460 Thank you.

00:24:20.500 Thank you.

00:24:20.580 Thank you.

00:24:22.580 Thank you.

00:24:24.580 Thank you.

00:24:26.580 Thank you.

00:24:28.580 Thank you.

00:24:29.580 Thank you.

00:24:30.580 Thank you.

00:24:31.520 About some of those IOC perks that William and I referenced in our interview.

00:24:39.600 Let me just tell you a little bit more about the perks the IOC demanded from Norway so that you can be outraged that the city of Calgary is even considering spending taxpayer dollars on making these aristocratic elites happy for two weeks.

00:24:54.960 According to a recent report in Business Insider, every IOC member demanded that they must be greeted by a smiling, positive, and welcoming staff at the airport.

00:25:04.860 All of the venues must be designed such that IOC members and guests are segregated from press and broadcast personnel.

00:25:14.660 Private cars must be provided to select IOC members at the expense of the Olympic Organizing Committee and about those cars.

00:25:22.840 Volunteer drivers for IOC members must speak fluent English or French and be available to work up to 10 hours per day for six days per week.

00:25:32.300 The IOC hotel must make available at no extra cost existing sports facilities such as fitness facilities, swimming pools, and sauna facilities to all IOC hotel guests and IOC staff members.

00:25:46.680 Oh and about those hotels, the hotels must have a member's lounge to be used exclusively by IOC members and if there isn't one, the hotel has to install one at their cost and there must be 100% security screening of passengers and their baggage for IOC hotels.

00:26:05.520 Now this is not a requirement for other hotels which means it's just about keeping those IOC officials safe and not the rest of us.

00:26:13.560 Anyway, these are some of the demands that became some of the reasons that Norway pulled out of the bid process for the 2026 Olympics.

00:26:23.660 Just imagine for a second what Calgary is willing to bend over and give to these corruptocrats to stay in the Olympic bid process. 0.99

00:26:33.580 Well everybody, that's the show for tonight.

00:26:35.980 Thanks again as always for tuning in.

00:26:38.240 I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.

00:26:41.640 And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:27:11.640 No.

00:27:12.020 No.

00:27:12.120 No.

00:27:20.460 No.

00:27:21.720 No.

00:27:22.020 No.

00:27:23.220 No.

00:27:24.260 No.

00:27:26.300 No.

00:27:27.240 No.

00:27:28.960 No.

00:27:29.320 No.

00:27:29.720 No.

Rebel News Podcast - September 21, 2018

Olympic bid： Can Calgary afford multi-billion dollar party for IOC aristocrats？

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