Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson isn't discounting the potential for a protest against Grey Cup corporate sponsors, although an Occupy Vancouver member denied any were planned.
"It's possible and with the Occupy movement they've been protesting in lots of different ways, that might be a factor," Robertson said Thursday after the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup arrived via Canadian Forces helicopter at HMCS Discovery on Deadman's Island.
"We're prepared to manage that and people are allowed to protest, but we don't want to see people be disrupting the events. People from across the country are coming here to enjoy this, this is a big event for Vancouver."
Occupy Vancouver's protest camp moved Monday from the Vancouver Art Gallery's north plaza to Robson Square. A B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the tents down Tuesday. Without a court order, the camp could have remained half-a-block from the Hornby and Smithe start of Saturday morning's Grey Cup parade.
Among the Grey Cup sponsors is Scotiabank, which was criticized by northern B.C. aboriginal tribes for financing Enbridge's controversial Alberta tarsands oil pipeline proposal. Since its establishment Oct. 15, Occupy Vancouver has held several protest marches in downtown Vancouver, targeting banks and energy companies.
"We were in touch with people at the Grey Cup and we were intending on having a Grey Cup celebration, people were calling it Occupy the Cup," Eric Hamilton-Smith of Occupy Vancouver communications committee said Monday. "We still may do that. I haven't heard any movement to protest the Grey Cup from anybody at Occupy. I can't speak for everyone."
Occupy Vancouver moved to Grandview Park Tuesday, but park board general manager Malcolm Bromley, accompanied by Vancouver Police officers, refused to allow tents. Several neighbours also expressed their disapproval. Most protesters sought refuge from the rain at the Centre for Socialist Education and regrouped Wednesday after the 39-day camping streak ended. They will instead hold general assemblies nightly at 7 p.m. at the VAG.
"The CFL is a blue-collar league, it's not about corporate America like the Super Bowl is about," said Grey Cup Festival general manager Scott Ackles. "We haven't made any preparations with regards to security planning around that, I don't see it as a real conflict. We've got a very community-based event here."
Robertson did not say how much the city is spending on the Grey Cup. City council voted Sept. 14 to earmark $250,000 from its contingency fund for traffic and parking operations, sanitation and policing of the parade.
Sunday's 3 p.m. kickoff of the 99th Grey Cup between the B.C. Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers is the biggest sporting event downtown since the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final and sparked a booze-fueled riot.
