The push to bring the Olympics back to Calgary

Some Calgarians are supportive of the city bidding on another Olympic Games, as Mayor Jeromy Farkas renews his support for the move.

About 56 per cent of Calgarians in a 2018 plebiscite voted against bringing the 2026 Olympic Winter Games to Calgary.

As some people CityNews spoke with say the city should explore hosting the winter games once again, Premier Danielle Smith and Farkas expressed their openness to bringing the games to the city.

The mayor did so again on Monday, leaving the door open for another chance at hosting the games since the last time in 1988.

“It makes sense for us to be having a conversation around a future Olympic bid. When I look at the idea timing, it may make sense for it to be a 50th anniversary bid,” Farkas said.

Erin Waite was among those who led the charge back in 2018 against bringing the Olympics to Calgary and says her opinion hasn’t changed.

“What my issues were was the downside risk of working with the IOC in particular and signing a contract with the IOC where all of the risk is borne by the city of Calgary. And so as long as those are the terms of the contract, then Calgary shouldn’t be signing it,” she said.

But the Calgary Chamber of Commerce says costs associated with bringing the games once again to the city will end up producing dividends for Calgary.

Ruhee Ismail-Teja, Vice President, Policy and External Affairs, Calgary Chamber of Commerce:

“Olympics are associated with significant benefit to the local economy, things like hotels, restaurants and the tourism sector, see a huge bump of both before and during the Olympics,” said Ruhee Ismail-Teja, the vice president of policy and external affairs with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

“We also are in need of considerable infrastructure investments as a city, and so hosting the Olympics would provide an opportunity for us to refresh a lot of the infrastructure that Calgary relies on.”