School of Public Policy outlines some trends with the Olympic plebiscite
Posted Jan 7, 2019 8:00 am.
Last Updated Jan 7, 2019 8:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – It is another look at some of the reasons why Calgary’s Olympic plebiscite failed.
A report from the University of Calgary’s (U of C) School of Public Policy is diving into the reasons why 56 per cent of Calgarians chose ‘no’ to hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Jack Lucas is a professor at the U of C and one of the people behind this survey.
He noted the opposition to the idea of hosting the games may have been driven more by your political affiliations, rather than other demographics like age, gender or income.
“Your provincial partisanship did have an effect on support or opposition. People who were NDP partisans were more inclined to support the Olympics, more inclined than non-partisans, and also more inclined than UCP partisans.”
At the municipal levels, the people who voted for Naheed Nenshi in the 2017 mayoral race were also more likely to vote ‘yes’ in the plebiscite.
The survey showed the people who identify as fiscal conservatives were more likely to say ‘no’ while people who had a strong sense of civic pride were likely supporting the games.
“The people who were concerned about municipal spending in a lot of different areas of municipal policy and felt the City should be spending less in general, were very inclined to oppose the Olympic bid,” said Lucas.
Italy and Sweden remain in the race to host the 2026 Games. This report targeted the cost of the games as one of the biggest factors for people voting to exit the bid process.
“The most striking factors, however, are the attitudes. Those who strongly identify as Calgarians were substantially more likely to support the Olympic bid. Strong fiscal conservatives, on the other hand, those who felt the city should be spending less money on a wide variety of city services, were powerfully inclined to vote against the bid. For these fiscal conservatives, of whom there were many, the Olympics carried a price tag that was simply not worth paying,” noted the report.
With files from Kayla Bruch
