I have serious concerns about the security costs that are being low balled by Bidco, and what this means for the safety of Calgarians and those that will attend the Games. Take a look, and like me, you will have questions about what really the cost will be of the Games for security. Vancouver was budgeted for $170M, and it came out to $900M. The G7 this past year was a 2-day event and was over $400M. This is a month-long event, tens of thousands of ahtletes, officials, and media, then add every tourist that is coming. Does the budget Bidco presented seem correct for such an event – I do not agree.
2026 Olympic Bid
- At the 11th hour the Olympic bid was changed in order to meet current funding arrangements. A good portion of these lowered cost came from a reduction in security costs.
- As an ex police officer of 21 years, and after talking with various past colleagues, this downgraded security proposal gives me great cause for concern
- The first question that Calgarians should be asking of Bidco is: has there been a tiered set of security packages that have been considered? If so, what does this lower cost version represent? I really hope this is not some type of “security lite”. Because, in my opinion, that would be very disrespectful to Calgarians, visitors to Calgary, the Olympic Winter Games and even the athletes.
- The second question Calgarians should be asking is: Will this security package, at this lower cost, include security at all venues and at all events throughout the entire Olympic Games, or just at the athlete’s village? If not, are we really willing to take on that risk of not having complete security during these times of heightened risk?
- The third question that Calgarians should be asking is: what does this lower bid include for hosting these security forces? Exactly how are we planning on supporting over 1500 police officers from across Canada? Are each of them going to be getting a room? Because I highly doubt these professionals will be happy just “bunking” up with each other in a gym for 4 weeks.
- The fourth question Calgarians should be asking themselves is: whether or not security is an area that should be compromised, or even sacrificed, just in order to host the 2026 Winter Olympics?
