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Posts Tagged ‘Vancouver 2010’

The CBC has a story up indicating that later today, Clara Hughes will be named as Canada’s flag bearer in the Opening Ceremonies of the upcoming Winter Games. There could not be a more appropriate representative for Canada. Many congratulations to Clara as well as her friends and family. Clara is an outstanding athlete and person. More to follow.

Update: True to the earlier reports, Clara Hughes was introduced this afternoon at Richmond City Hall as the Team Canada flag bearer for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, which are set to happen two weeks from today. Regardless of ones feelings of the games themselves, I think it’s fair to say that they try and bend towards an ideal. Reasonable people can disagree about how successful the games are at fulfilling that ideal, but Clara Hughes is an embodiment of it. Not all athletes should be thought of as role models, but Clara Hughes can’t help but be one, and Canada could not hope for a better sports ambassador on the world stage. Hughes accomplishments in sport are many, and at 37 years of age, she is still a medal threat; at a race in Norway last November she just missed the podium, finishing 4th. Clara is the only Canadian, and one of only four athletes in the world, to have won a medal in both the summer and the winter Olympics. Across four previous Olympics, she has won 5 medals, including a gold in the 5000m at the Torino Games in 2006. After winning that medal, inspired by American speed skater Joey Cheek, Hughes donated $10,000 of her own money to the organization Right to Play and has been an advocate for that group ever since. As a member of Canada’s cycling team in 1996, Clara won the first Canadian medal of those games with a third place finish in the road race. I remember having a crush on her then, and it’s safe to say that I still do. I am very much looking forward to Clara and the entire speed skating team putting on an amazing display in a few short weeks.

PHOTO BY: JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

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This afternoon will see announcements on two big news stories that are only mildly related. On the political front, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to appoint five new Conservative senators later today. In sporting news (and since it’s the Olympics there is some political aspect built in) Canada’s flag bearer for the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

While the reasons for the PM’s prorogation of parliament are myriad, and to a certain extent only known to himself and his inner circle of tactical geniuses, one reason that is clearly evident is the fact that parliament not being in session gives him the perfect opportunity to make some appointments to the senate. While not gaining an outright majority in the upper chamber, the conservatives will have a plurality of members, shifting the balance on key committees as well as their ability to affect the agenda.

The naming of the flag bearer is one that always tends to receive a lot of press. The fact that much attention is heeded the flag bearer itself becomes a story, as in the past many athletes have declined the honour as they thought it would serve as a distraction. As the media loves ‘curses’ there is even a supposed one that descends upon the chosen flag bearer. Of course reality shows that flag bearers have gone on to career performances in the games, suffered great disappointment and everything in between. All the athletes deserve plaudits for their life of dedication to sport, and I’m sure whoever is named as our representative to march in the opening ceremonies they will do an excellent job.

Tune to your regular news sources for updates on both these stories.

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US Speed Skating - Powered by The Colbert Nation

Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation’s  sponsorship of the US speed skating team was a story I wrote about when it first came about, but I foolishly haven’t been posting on any of the latest developments. Back in November, City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend wrote to Stephen inviting him to come to the games as an official ombudsman to ensure no funny business would happen (at the time Colbert was hammering Canada about not letting the US get enough practice time at the Richmond Olympic Oval.) Stephen stated he would be coming to the games, but only if it were as a member of the US Olympic Team (I guess he couldn’t stand to wear a pink toque the whole time.) So began Stephen Colbert’s Skate Expectations: Kicking Ice and Taking Donations On The Slippery Slope Down The Icy Path To The Frozen Road Up To Vancouver ’010 and his bid to join the US Olympic Team.

First came his attempts to join the skeleton and bobsleigh teams. These efforts failed despite Cobert’s “God given talent for lying down and surrendering to the effects of gravity”. He was further hindered by the fact that most members of the bobsleigh squad do not enjoy “a little vomit on their Lycra.” Next, Colbert tried to “HURRY HARD!” his way into the Olympics as part of the curling team. Once again his efforts were to no avail. Not giving up though, Colbert dug deep, remembered that his first love is speed skating and orchestrated a hilarious race with World Champion Shani Davis. All of Stephens well developed cheating instincts failed him, as Shani went on to decimate him, despite a head start of over 10 minutes. However, Colbert’s wily ways did catch the notice of the coaching staff, and he will be joining the team as an assistant sports psychologist. This is a fantastic development and I look forward to some great pieces of journalism from Stephen during the games. I’ve often wrote that I strongly believe in using the Olympic platform to shine a light on the fair city of Vancouver, both the good and the bad. The Colbert Report has and continues to be an excellent force for peering into some of the darker cracks in society and I fully expect to him to highlight some of the social issues that are present in this city. Previously I suggested that Colbert and Rick Mercer pair up for some international comedy dueling, but after thinking on the viability of this, I remembered that CTV is this years host broadcaster in Canada, and as Mercer is a CBC employee this would not work. Perhaps John Dore is up for challenging Colbert.

Apologies to those with Canadian IP addresses; you will need to click here to view the above clip, as the Comedy Network does not allow for embedded video clips.

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CBC and The New York Post both have stories up at their sites discussing the potential future of Intrawest, the company that owns the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort that will play host to the alpine events during the 2010 Olympics. The whole scenario is a somewhat confusing mix of creditors and debt holders, so you should just go and read either of the articles, but there seems to me to be two different elements to this story. The first angle is the leveraged buyout of Intrawest that occurred in 2006 by the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group. This purchase was highly leveraged, and wouldn’t you know it, the Lehman Brothers happen to be one of the creditors in that deal (you remember the Lehman Brothers, right?) Fortress recently missed a $524 million payment on the debt incurred during the purchase of Intrawest. As Lehman is currently restructuring under bankruptcy protection, they are looking for funds wherever they can find it to make good on the more $1ooo billion creditor claims against them. As such, they have indicated that they could foreclose against Intrawest as early as February 19th (right in the middle of the games) and begin to auction of it’s assets (including Whistler-Blackcomb.)

Further to Fortress’s tangling with Lehman Brothers, the hedge fund has also been sparring with VANOC/the Canadian Government. According to the New York Post,

VANOC guaranteed that it would make Intrawest whole for the time that its events take place at its resorts. But now, according to a source, Canadian officials are threatening to pull that roughly $50 million guarantee. That, the source said, has compelled [Fortress fund manager Wesley] Edens to privately say he has a legal right to keep the Games from taking place at Whistler.

There’s nothing like a sexy story about the possibility of Olympic events not taking place! I do think that it is important to give credence to what Bill Singer, a securities lawyer in New York had to say to the CBC:

I can’t imagine that it will ultimately mean much, because I would assume between [Canadian] government interest and the Olympic Committee there would be something that would be accomplished just to forestall [this.]

For their part, Intrawest had this to say:

We have a 2002 agreement with VANOC to host the Winter Olympics and have every confidence that VANOC will honour its financial commitments. Intrawest is looking forward to a successful Olympic Games.

The word ‘bankruptcy’ is a loaded one in the English language, and it carries even more weight these days in light of the past few years of economic turmoil. It is easy to forget that well established procedures are in place for navigating corporate entities through bankruptcy protection, and more often than not they emerge from protection as a viable company. And while this story is an interesting one that deserves to be followed, I too, in my extremely limited understanding of financial wizardry would not expect this current story to prevent a successful games from happening.

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The Sea-to-Sky Highway; An Olympic Waste?

This past Monday, the local 24 Hours newspaper featured an article entitled “Let the Bailout Games begin“. While the piece,  by 24 Hours staff writer Bob Mackin does contain many good pieces of factual information, I do

have to take issue with some of the analysis and accounting within. To start with, Mackin writes the following:

Amid the Great Recession a year ago, VANOC’s message was all about being the shining light to guide B.C. to recovery because it had a billion dollars to spend. Spring came and chief executive John Furlong admitted a profit was unlikely.

Both of these sentences are accurate enough, but I have no idea how one idea is related to the other. The way they are linked in the piece makes it seem like the author is concluding and implying that since the odds of VANOC generating a profit have diminished since a year ago, spending on games related endeavours does not aid in economic recovery. I am no economist and I don’t have any specific numbers to cite (partly because I am having a hell of time getting the relevant data from the Stats Can webpage) but I am quite confident in asserting that injecting a billion dollars (or more, depending on what number people are tossing around as the ‘cost’ of the Games at this time, more on that later) is, and has been, very beneficial to economic recovery.

Mackin’s article then goes on to mention the Olympic Village in Vancouver. While the term ‘bailout’ is more than appropriate to apply to the measures the city was forced to take a year ago to ensure financing for the village, the article, along with many others when discussing the athletes village look at the $1 billion dollar price tag on the project as if it is money that is gone down the tubes, never to be seen again. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once the games are finished most (if not all) of the units will be sold on the open market, and in case you haven’t noticed, Vancouver’s insane real estate market has more than recovered since last year. While a profit is no longer expected from these sales, the city does expect to break even, and with the recovery of the housing market, turning a profit is not out of the realm of possibilities. What is most distressing about the village is the potential for there to be no lasting affordable housing legacy. This would be shameful, and ideally will not come to pass with the healthy rebound in prices Vancouver has seen this past year. Further to serving as the Athletes Village during the games, new housing and hopefully affordable housing post-games, the facilities at the site are also state of the art ones that feature some of the latest technologies in energy efficiency; this further adds to the value of this investment.

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Congratulations go out to the US Under 20 Hockey Team, as they defeated Canada 6-5 in overtime to win the IIHF World Junior Championships in a game for the ages. Some records are meant to be broken and others aren’t. Canada’s Jordan Eberle became the top all-time scorer for Canada with his two goals late in the the third period to tie the game at 5-5, but the record of 6 consecutive titles was not to be for the Canadian side. The Americans played a fast paced game and blocked as many shots in the game as I’ve ever seen. Kudos to them. I hope the young ones enjoy it as the upcoming Olympic tournament is going to be sheer madness. We (Canada as a country) cannot wait.

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I’m in the middle of getting ready to fly home so I don’t have much time to read and write, but this article’s headline “Top court spurns Olympic ski jumpers”, caught my eye for two reasons. First for it’s inaccuracy; as the article is discussing the possibility of the supreme court hearing a case about allowing female ski jumpers into the upcoming 2010 games, there are currently no female Olympic jumpers to spurn. My second qualm is with the use of  the word ‘spurn’ itself. That term has connotations of contempt built into it. The court is dealing with a legal matter not choosing a lover. I cannot speak to the courts decision with any real authority, but it seems like a rather simple matter; in neglecting to take the case up the court is affirming the lower courts decision that they do not have standing to enforce the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the International Olympic Committee. Personally, I would love to see female ski jumpers in the Olympics and see no coherent reason for the IOC not to include them; the current field of competitive female ski jumpers is much more robust than other sports with female participation at the time of their introduction into the Olympics. My own personal feelings that the IOC have erred in their decision have no bearing on whether the Supreme Court of Canada has the authority to intervene in this matter. From my next to nothing understanding of our charter, I do not believe this is a matter where the court has any standing here. In this particular instance it seems the courts own view seems to have aligned with my own limited one. In no way is this a controversial ruling, nor does it say anything about gender equality in Canada. The real troubling issue is the largely legal vacuum that the IOC exists in, in any country in which it runs operations.

None of this is to say that I think this story should dissappear. On the contrary, one of the biggest themes I’ve hit upon in my short time writing in this here weblog is my belief that the world stage that hosting the Olympics will provide should be co-opted wherever possible, and this is just one more example of this; an opportunity for, as they say, a ‘teachable moment.’T

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A short while back on the CBC Radio3 blog, host Tariq Hussein linked to a blog post by Carey Mercer, the lead singer of the band Frog Eyes. In this post he was lamenting the fact that artists performing at events organized by VANOC during the Olympics have been required to sign a contract with the following clause contained within:

The artist shall at all times refrain from making any negative or derogatory remarks respecting VANOC (the organizing committee), the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic movement generally, Bell and/or other sponsors associated with VANOC.”

Putting on my contrarian hat, (not for arguments sake, but because I truly had a differing opinion) I commented that I did not see anything controversial with this contract, as it seems like a very standard business transaction to require that someone you are hiring in a promotional context actually does promotional work. If keeping an anti-Olympic platform is more important to any artist then they do not have to sign the contract. If you’ve read any of my other posts you might already know that I am not oblivious to problems and issues that the Olympics bring/heighten/highlight (extra emphasis on highlight…our cities problems would be extant even if we were not hosting the Olympics.) My reading of the clause in question still leaves plenty of room open for artists to advocate for whatever cause they would like. One can refrain from making “negative or derogatory” comments about the games and their organizers and still promote organizations that work on a given cause ie. homelessness. Something I have argued for previously is for concerned citizens to co-opt the platform the games provide, rather than just maligning them. This is a perfect example of this. If any one has any ideas on how to get in touch with any of the artists slated to perform during Olympic events I would be very interested in seeing if any would want to champion one cause or another that is pertinent to Vancouver/BC (Canadian Indie artists seem to be a pretty caring and compassionate group on the whole.)

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This Monday’s Metro Vancouver featured a report on an anti-Olympic mural that has been repainted outside a Downtown Eastside art gallery.

SEAN KOLENKO/FOR METRO VANCOUVER

The original removal of this mural in November has been cited by civil rights activists as proof that freedom of expression will be curtailed during the games; City Councillor Greoff Meggs maintains the removal was a mistake made in good faith that is not “representative of  how we want to protect civil rights during the Games. And we’ve been adamant that we do.”

David Eby, the executive director for the BC Civil Liberties Association expressed hopes that the city would treat anti-Olympic messages the same as pro-Olympic ones. If Counc. Meggs assertions at the recent public forum on security and civil rights during the games prove to be true then this should be the case. I have previously said that these games should be judged on their actual implementation, not by supposition on possibilities. The November removal of the mural, or this article in the Globe and Mail certainly left the city and VANOC looking like their claims that freedom of expression would not be curtailed look questionable. Should this mural remain up going forward, it will provide some needed credibility to Counc. Meggs claims.

My own mural would look a little more like this:

however that’s just me. The artist’s point is well taken and most certainly should not be removed from view. Metro’s article points out this space has been used for display since 2003 without incident. Hopefully the temporary removal was just that, temporary.

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I strongly believe that judgement on the success of the upcoming Winter Games should be on based upon the actual execution of them, not based upon issues that have arisen at past games. Prior incidents, ie. the removal of homeless people to the suburbs that took place during the ’96 Atlanta Summer Games, should inform and educate the approaches to making the Vancouver games a success, but not be the basis for applying any number of labels to these games.

Two areas of concern (including those who are for, against or on the fence about the games) are how housing bylaws are enforced and the treatment of the homeless. The front page of today’s Metro Vancouver featured two articles side by side about this very issue.

In potential good news, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu announced on Monday how the department plans to move forward with enforcement of the Assitance to Shelter Act. Chu indicated that the farthest officers will go to bring a homeless citizen to a shelter would be to use “minimal non-forceful touching.”  This would only come if an office believed someone on the streets was at risk of imminent serious injury or death. Should one refuse assitance to a shelter, Chu says “we will withdraw the contact immediately [and] explore other tactics to ensure the person survives the extreme weather.” Should this enforcement scenario actually hold out I believe it may be sufficient until the Assistance to Shelter Act can be challenged in court. If this truly is all that the police will enforce it seems that there is no need for the additional legislation whatsoever. At the risk of appearing very naive, I will take the VPD at their word, for now. I can only hope that we don’t soon hear of  ”circumstances changing” and the need to “re-evaluate” their enforcement strategy.

Contrasting this is a story that is unambiguously disappointing.

The eight tenants of the home on East 11th Ave. and St. Catherines St. received notices two weeks ago that their tenancy was being terminated so the landlord’s family could use the house.

But Sue Brown, a Simon Fraser University student who rents a room for $580 a month, said the house is being advertised for rent during the Games at sporteventsrentmyhouse.com.

In the summer, the provincial minister of housing argued that no new legislation was needed to protect renters as the province did not want to impede on opportunities for owners to charge obscene rent to tourists during the games. I am someone who makes pro-Olympic arguments about the economic benefits that the city will experience, but I did not find the minister’s reasoning very compelling. To often renters are overlooked; despite not owning their residency, it is their home. After the province opted to not provide any protection to renters, the City stepped in with a bylaw that “forbids landlords from renting properties during the Games if they’ve had tenants living there since June 1, 2009.” When presented with the scenario that Ms. Brown is faced with, Celine Mauboules, a housing policy planner with the City had this to say:  ”Technically, (this landlord) wouldn’t be allowed a licence [...] If the tenants came to us and said, ‘Here’s the ad (online),’ we could seek an injunction or potentially fine the owner.” That ‘technically’ that she opened with does not engender much confidence. More importantly, the City is now aware of this, even it was not brought to their attention by the tenant. Is the city seeking an injunction? Will this landlord be denied a permit to rent their home during the games? Will there be follow up to see that they are not renting without a permit? These are questions that must be asked. One hopes the answers will be more encouraging than I fear they will be.

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Thursday evening saw a divided panel come together for a public forum on security and civil liberties during the 2010 Olympics at the SFU Harbour Centre.  The forum was organized by the Impact on Communities Coalition and consisted of Integrated Security Unit chief Bud Mercer, Vancouver Police Department deputy chief Steve Sweeney, BC Civil Liberties Association director David Eby, Vancouver City Councilor Geoff Meegs, Pivot Legal Society attorney Laura Track, Vancouver Organizing Committee director of corporate rights and management Bill Cooper and anti-Olympics activist Alissa Westergard-Thorpe.  There was another panelist speaking from an anti-Olympics stance, but this writer did not catch her name and has not been able to find a complete speakers list online.  My apologies to her.  The forum was moderated by IOCC director Am Johal.

The panel was clearly separated into two camps: organizing and security personnel on one side and those against the Olympics due to concerns about civil liberties infringements, both against those exercising political protest and the homeless on the other.

Civil rights advocates first highlighted the history of the IOC’s desire to present a ‘clean’ image of the games and the lack of communication from VANOC to the IOC that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the law of the land and must inevitably hold sway over efforts at image and brand control.  They further argued that the passing of the city’s 2010 Olympic and Paralympic bylaw, providing officials with the power to remove messaging throughout the city, along with the more recent provincial passage of the Assistance to Shelter Act not only flout the Charter rights but fly directly in the face of the bid committee’s Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement.

Panelists representing different organizational facets of the games highlighted upcoming changes to the city’s Olympic bylaw they say clarify their position that actions will only be taken against commercial messaging, not political messages.  Additionally they indicated these upcoming changes will limit the scope of both the time frame for these changes in enforcement as well as the physical areas that constitute Olympic Venues where enforcement will take place.  Outside of the venues, protest would be handled “business as usual” according to deputy chief Sweeney.  Aside from these messages, Mr. Mercer and Mr. Sweeney both underlined that they are in charge of difficult exercises in logistics.  The audience was not particularly sympathetic to this point.

Should organizers insistence that only commercial messaging will be targeted for removal prove to hold true then I will be satisfied that rights to speech are being protected sufficiently.  Nonetheless the fact that it has taken this long to present clarifying language from the city on the original bylaw that was so clearly an infringement on free speech liberties is disturbing.  Smarter minds than myself have not been mollified as easily.  Chris Shaw, a UBC professor who brought forward a lawsuit in response to the cities bylaw describes the proposed changes as “more superficial than substantive” and has indicated his suit “won’t end until the civil liberties playing field for all of us gets a lot more level.”

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Responding yesterday to Stephen Colbert in just the way that we’ve been looking for was Ted Townsend, the spokesperson for the City of Richmond. In an open letter to Colbert in response to the one on the right, Townsend said the following:

We have always welcomed our friends from south of the border with open arms (well, except for that period in 1812). In fact, we’ve always fondly considered you as our American “cousins” and politely tolerated you, even when you were in an imperialistic mood…

It takes a lot to upset us…after all, the combination of the languid smell of beaver musk and the freezing temperatures generally make us a docile people…

So as the Canadian Iceholes who also happen to be the proprietors of the Richmond Olympic Oval, we are inviting you to find yourself some sled dogs and venture forth to our great frozen wasteland to be our guest at the 2010 Olympic Games. 

Good on Ted for grabbing the media attention that is being served up on a platter. Should Stephen accept the offer he would become an official ombudsman for the games; provided he wears a pink toque his entire time here. That’s perfect! Via Margaret Sheridan’s sports blog at canoe.ca we learn that a CBC sports anchor has challenged Colbert to a race.  They’ve got the right idea, but lets get some star power behind this! Time to lace ‘em up Mercer.

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• Olympics and all that Thursday evening saw a divided panel come together for a public forum on security and civil liberties during the 2010 Olympics at the SFU Harbour Centre.  The forum was organized by the Impact on Communities...

• Seeking a Sports Memorabilia Appraisal When you are seeking out a sports memorabilia appraisal for an item that you own, there are two ways that you can do it: The...
• Sports Memorabilia Appraisal Perhaps you have found the perfect piece of sports memorabilia, signed by your favorite sports star, and you are just about to make the purchase....