Taxpayers pay while the world's elite play
As I sat and watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin on the CBC, I listened to the commentators gush over how in 2010 this event will be taking place in my hometown of Vancouver, BC. The fireworks explode. The skaters skate. It is an extravaganza designed to dazzle the eyes of the world. A fitting spectacle for the enjoyment of the world’s elite.
While the backstage parties and luxury boxes are used solely by the corporate and governmental elites, the cost of the Olympic party is paid for by the ordinary taxpayers of the host nations and cities. Turin is experiencing a $96 million budget shortfall on overall spending of $3.6 billion. Here in Vancouver, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) has just announced that construction costs for Olympic venues has risen by 23%. This is even before a shovelful of earth has been moved. The Games are now estimated to cost $508 million.
The interesting thing about that announcement was that it came on the same day that the city of Montreal announced that after 30 years they had finally paid off the debt from the 1976 Summer Games they hosted. This was the Olympics that then Mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau boasted had as much chance of running a deficit as he had of getting pregnant. It was unknown whether he birthed a boy or a girl.
This cost overrun announced by VANOC is independent of the cost overrun announced on the new convention centre that is being built (at a time when the number of large scale conventions is declining). It also doesn’t factor in the cost of new transportation projects such as the improvements to the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler, the site for the alpine events or the new Canada Line rapid transit project.
The Canada Line has an interesting history. This is public-private partnership between Translink the local transit authority and SNC Lavalin, who also manufacture bullets for the U.S. Army to use in Iraq. Twice the local politicians voted down this project before it was forced through on the third vote by the neo-conservative provincial government fronting for the corporate elite.
To see the amount of money that the local tax payers are spending to prepare this party for the world’s elite to enjoy one would think that everyone in Vancouver were well taken care of. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Vancouver is situated in a stunningly beautiful setting. Located on the Pacific Ocean the nearby mountains provide an incredible backdrop. Stanley Park, located near the downtown core is a preserve of the original old growth forest with towering Red Cedar and Douglas fir trees. One can ski on the nearby mountains all day and then walk along the beach and watch the sunset. It is consistently voted one of the top cities in the world in which to live.
It is also the city with highest housing costs in Canada. Thousands of homeless people seek shelter in alleyways and under bridges and in any bit of waste ground they might find. The average price of a detached home is over $650,000 CDN and the average condominium will set you back over $300,000 CDN. Part of the original Olympic bid included that a large part of the athlete’s village that is to be constructed would be converted to low cost and affordable housing. However the newly elected city council has decided that the vast majority of the project will be sold at market prices.
So as I view the Olympics I realize they are just part of the culture of capitalism where the winner takes all. Where average people subsidize the already wealthy. Where precious resources are diverted from building a better world for all to live into the pockets of already bloated corporations. The Olympics have become just another circus to divert our attention away from the issues that really matter. Just hope and pray that the Olympics never come to your town.
An article by Jill M. of the Nogames 2010 Committee which details the debts of past Olympics, can be found
here.
It fails to mention that the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, originally budgeted at $4.6 billion they ended up costing the people of Greece over $8 billion.
