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Collins nervous Olympics won't pay off - Finance minister skeptical of $10-billion bonanza from Games
Craig McInnes
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
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VICTORIA -- Finance Minister Gary Collins doesn't share Premier Gordon Campbell's certainty that a successful bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics will result in a $10-billion bonanza for B.C.
Collins said Tuesday he is "very nervous" about the projection, which was made in January in a report by the capital projects branch of the competition, science and enterprise ministry.
"I think it would be very naive not to be nervous about that," Collins said on his way into a caucus meeting.
"There have been successes with the Olympics. There have been, you know, difficulties and disasters with the Olympics -- look at what happened in Montreal. So I think for sure I'm very nervous about that and will be watching it very carefully over the year ahead, no question about that."
Campbell, who has frequently referred to the $10 billion figure since the report was issued, played down Collins' concerns.
He said there is no way Vancouver could suffer the kind of losses faced by Montreal because the culture of the Games has changed and because of the difference between the nature of the summer and winter Olympics.
"The Olympics are a great project for the province," Campbell said.
"They will create thousands and thousands of new jobs. They are going to create an enormous amount of economic spin-off and for the long term British Columbia is going to be in incredibly good shape."
The 45-page report by the capital projects branch estimates that over 30 years the games will generate an additional $10 billion in economic growth for the province and 228,000 jobs.
But the report notes that its conclusions are based on fairly sparse data.
B.C. and Ottawa have committed to spend $620 million for facilities if the bid is successful, but the bid may also require the expenditure of another $1 billion for transportation upgrades, including the Sea-to-Sky Highway.
Meanwhile, B.C.'s auditor-general told the legislature's public accounts committee last week he will look for ways to examine the Olympic bid before the money is committed.
"I think what we would be looking for is: what did the organizing groups and government themselves do in their due diligence in terms of assessing the costs and the full nature of the costs, the revenue estimates," Wayne Strelioff said.
The B.C. bid is one of eight submitted to the International Olympic Committee last month. The IOC will announce its short list in August. The final decision on the host city will be made in July, 2003.
cmcinnes@direct.ca |
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