In my personal opinion I don't think we need the Olympic games comming to calagry anytime soon . Our mayor has decided that it would really boost our economy, ha maybe for the month it's here . It will be 8 years of spending taxpayer money in order to get the games up and running and the economic returns will pale in comparison to the cost to the taxpayers .
The Olympics in 1988 here were a great idea to get calgary noticed on an international level . It was a city of 500 000 people back in 88 , but oil revenues were flowing faster than the pipelines could carry them . Calgary in recent years has seen economic downturn in many sectors . A 2026 Olympic bid will garentee that more money will have to be borrowed and paid back by the taxpayers .
Our mayor has suggested that this will be a great idea to boost our struggling economy . Where is the money going to come from dear mayor ? That's right from the already overwhelmed taxpayer. Is this Olympic bid all ego and no common sense. I definatly think it's more ego than brains but who am I to say anything .
The money needed to upgrade the existing infrastructure nessesary for the games will be astronomical in today's economy. We have a winter sports park with ski jumps that are almost condemned. We have a luge track that has not been serviced in 29 years , we have Olympic sized hockey rinks that have fell into disrepair. Oh where or where is the money for all these things gonna come from oh dear mayor .
As it has many times before , the Olympics has promised great profits and economic boosts to the cities making and winning these bids , however; when is the last time these piped reams have actually come to pass ? We would need more housing for athletes , more hotels for slack jawed gawkers, and an increased police force in order to keep all of the above save .
I truly believe that this is the wrong time to be thinking about an Olympic bid for our fair city . As a city we need to worry about many more important things first , such as , the homelessness problem in our downtown core , the lack of funding for schools in our once world renowned city , and more funding towards the stressed job market here . We need those things , however; our mayor thinks we need to sink billions into an Olympic ego trip .
Thanks for reading steemians, don't forget to leave a comment below , even if you disagree 😊
Hello Steve.
I read your article but I disagree.
Calgarians pay taxes whether or now the Olympics will be hosted. A slight increase in taxes can be supported by many of us, knowing we'll have infrastructures left after. The federal government will also support it.
Problems like homelessness will never be totally solved. On the other side, some of the homeless might be finding jobs firing this times.
We have to get our heads out of our assessment that the "good old oil days" will never come back. We have to diversify our economy and tourism must be one of it.
We have the mountains, the hills and prairies, the Alberta beef and our beautiful city with its people.
A good man once said the Olympic games are very important and everyone should follow it.
Let us show the world that Calgary is more than oil sands!
Cheers!