No Olympics, Expenses Remain

We at WebStamp were somewhat disappointed that the majority of voters participating in the 2026 Winter Olympic Bid voted no to hosting. There would have been many benefits for Calgary, and Canada, arising from hosting an Olympiad. Funds would have been available for upgrading several sports and leisure facilities along with a new fieldhouse for the Stampeders, future low-cost and senior housing, and employment for many all over Alberta. Now Calgarians have to find another way to pay for those much-needed projects and boosting the economy.  

Mayor Nenshi is now negotiating with the Federal and Provincial Governments to assign some of the funding offered for the Olympics for upgrading our existing sports facilities and some much-needed new ones. According to the Mayor, these funds are already allocated by the Federal Government for upgrading sports and leisure facilities all over the country. Council is also considering raises taxes to help cover the extra expenditures.

Perhaps City Council should look at becoming more involved with the Circular Economy and promote recycling into a profitable business model. Instead of shipping our recyclables we should be building local facilities to remanufacture glass and plastics encouraged to sell locally. This would help create jobs, promote local commerce, and preserve the environment. We could become a model where the Federal Government could use to develop a sustainable economy from.

Maybe for the 2030 Olympics Calgarians will have more insight into what hosting an Olympics is. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, wanted to create an international movement that combined sport and education and positioned sport as a model for peace and harmony. Today’s Olympics are about contributing to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practicing spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play without discrimination of any kind.

There are many options to raising capital to sustain and develop our sports and leisure facilities, not to mention community centres and infrastructure, but the fact is that we need to change the way things are done. All organizations and governments need to work in unison.  Everyone should Join the M.A.D. Movement and Make A Difference by promoting and developing a Sustainable Circular Economy for all to prosper from.