Re: “Are we better off five years after the games?” Feb. 18.
There is little doubt that the Olympics were a wonderful 17-day spectacle for those wanting to wrap themselves in the maple leaf and cheer on Canada’s elite athletes. However, is our city better off five years after the Games as suggested by columnist Michael Geller?
The provincial Liberal government, VANOC and the mainstream media did a masterful job in selling the Games to Vancouverites. Premier Gordon Campbell, clad in his red mittens, boasted that there would be $10 billion in economic spin-offs for our economy. Former VANOC chair John Furlong declared the Winter Olympics came in on budget. Both claims proved false as many of the cost overruns were cleverly off loaded on various levels of government and the promised economic benefits never materialized.
What we do know is that the Olympics and all the related infrastructure projects cost in the neighbourhood of $7 billion. The cost overruns were startling.
For example, security was originally budgeted for $175 million but mushroomed to $900 million by the time the cauldron was lit. The ill-conceived Trade and Convention Centre was a $900-million boondoggle. It was a whopping $400 million over budget and was built despite the fact that there has been a long-term decline in the number of convention delegates coming to Vancouver. The City of Vancouver is out $130 million dollars on the sale of publicly owned land to Millennium Developments for the Athletes Village. The promise of 252 subsidized units was slashed by 50 per cent after the torch left town.
It is telling that the provincial government never undertook a transparent and comprehensive cost analysis of the Games. The publicly funded VANOC has sealed its records until 2025. A PricewaterhouseCooper study revealed that the Olympics generated only a fraction of the GDP growth touted by Mr. Campbell. Of the $7 billion taxpayers shelled out, the Vancouver Games generated a paltry $2.5 billion in real economic growth; a lousy return that is ignored by boosters like Mr. Geller.
Therefore, we are not better off five years after the games. We are the second most expensive city in the world for housing and have done little to address the issue of affordability. We have thousands of homeless in the metro area and 20 per cent of our kids live below the poverty line. We have a public transit system struggling to meet a growing demand. The Olympics diverted vast sums of public funds that could have otherwise been used to enhance the quality of life for ordinary residents.
I liken the Olympics to that demanding out of town guest who expects to be wined and dined and then packs up and leaves you with a pounding head ache and maxed out credit card.
Jodie Johnson, Vancouver
