SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
While the City of Yellowknife toys with the idea of submitting a bid for the 2023 Canada Winter Games, signs of the major multisport event in this year's host city are still evident.

"It put Prince George on the map and it put us on that national stage for more than the 18 days of the Games," said Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall.

"It was probably for a couple of months and even today, it's August and we're still talking about it."

Within the 80,000-person city, the Canada Winter Games plaza, a space outside the city's civic centre, is still decorated with memories of the Games and much of the infrastructure that was upgraded in order to host the national event is still used.

The Games, Hall said, were a real eye opener for him stepping in just a month earlier as mayor.

"The night of the election, my daughters came up and said, 'Dad, you realize you're going to be the mayor of Prince George during the Games? And it really hit home," said Hall.

"For 18 days it was non-stop opportunities for me as mayor to really promote our city. I was in the plaza every morning having coffee and meeting with people from all over Canada."

Hall said the buzz on the streets during the Games was constant. And Prince George-based reporter and producer for CBC Andrew Kurjata credits a partnership with Coldsnap music festival and nightly outdoor shows downtown as creating an environment not commonly seen in the city's often criticized downtown.

"All my life, downtown has been this thing - how do we revive downtown? And it's been fits and starts and fits and starts," said Kurjata.

"This part of downtown definitely had people walking around in much higher percents, much more than there is normally."

In Yellowknife, the bid has been largely controversial - some seeing the value in the major sporting event that has been tagged with an estimated price of $35 million, and others arguing that money (and any other inflated costs) could be otherwise spent.

In Prince George, Hall said the public was largely in support of the project and that support grew as the Games went on. Although he wasn't on council during the initial stages of the bid, Hall was the chair of the local school board which worked in partnership with the city and supported the bid - even changing its March break to align with the Games, allowing students and teachers to volunteer and participate. In Yellowknife, the bid committee has proposed hosting the Games later to coincide with the March break, not to encourage volunteerism, but to allow those travelling from the city over the break to open their houses to athletes and volunteers.

"I think that the opinion was always, for the most part, this is a great thing for the city and something the city should have done and we're glad it did," said Hall.

"As the Games got closer and as the hype grew, media attention grew, as venues started to be completed, people understood the magnitude of this event and if anything, the opinion became more positive."

Support was exemplified by the high participation of volunteers in the northern B.C. city. In total, approximately 4,800 volunteers suited up in signature green jackets, taking on various roles - the majority of these volunteers coming from Prince George, said Hall. He points out that this number is between five and seven per cent of the entire population of the city.

Whether a similar number of volunteers could be pulled from Yellowknife's significantly smaller population of approximately 20,000 has been a concern raised by the city's Canada Winter Games committee - its risk assessment subcommittee in particular. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs Robert C. McLeod said the department hopes to see volunteers come in from outside the territory, should the Games go ahead.

While budgeting was pretty well on the mark in Prince George, there were notably less variables than in Yellowknife. Going into the Games, the city required major renovations to one structure - upgrading its 3,000-seat Kin 1 arena to Olympic-sized ice, as well as the preparation of its outdoor speedskating oval which was actually undermined by the warm weather, causing the event to be sent five-hours west to Fort St. John, B.C. Hall pointed out the luck they found in a neighbouring city having a world-class speedskating facility.

While there were a number of smaller projects, the basic structures needed were already in place in Prince George, with the university, college and school facilities being incorporated.

The 2015 Games operated on a budget of $46.5 million, said Mike Davis, director of marketing and communications for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Of that budget, Davis said about $20 million covered capital costs and approximately $27.5 million went toward operating costs.

Despite times of doubt when the forecasted revenue and ticket sales were in question, Davis said the committee managed to come in under-budget, not needing to dip into the city's wallet any further.

"When we bid on the Games, the city had to backstop the Games," said Davis.

"They agreed that if there was a deficit, that they would back that up to $3 million, and they came in under."

In the early stages of planning, the then-city council also approved a tax levy of approximately $125 per year for four years leading up to the Games - supplying significant financial support alongside federal and provincial funding for the event.

Kurjata said the tax levy never got enough heat to become any sort of election issue, although there was some quiet dissent.

"It was a topic of conversation but were people in coffee shops yelling about it? No," Kurjata said.

"Were people on comment sites discussing it? Yes."

In Yellowknife, the significantly lower estimated cost to host the Games - $35 million - will have to stretch a long way in terms of developing infrastructure. Yellowknife's estimation does not include the estimated $26 million to build an athletes' village nor does it include an estimated $30 million to upgrade the pool, which is already part of the city's long-term plan.

"If you're not going into this with a CN Centre, which is a 6,500-seat arena, if you're not going into this with secondary ice facilities like we have - we have four predominant ice facilities - I think that would be difficult," said Hall, adding the use of a new school facility with a state-of-the-art dividable gymnasium and the college's Northern Sports Centre.

"Without those facilities ... it would have been impossible, I think. You just need to have the core there."

As well as event facilities, the athletes' village was comprised of various hotels already in place in the city - one new hotel was planned to open for the Games but was not ready in time. As well, food service for athletes and officials was operated out of the civic centre.

A recent meeting of members of Yellowknife's business community illustrated some of the concerns over taking on the major event - increased taxes, lack of volunteers and hospitality amenities and overrun costs among them.

Some members of the business community in Prince George also raised red flags during the 2015 Games, citing far less of an increase in business than was predicted. Initially, the City of Prince George had suggested $70 million in revenue would come into local businesses as a result of the Games.

"We did hear, after the Games, from some restaurants that they weren't happy about the limited amount of traffic they got. They had staffed up and bought food and products with anticipation that they would be going non-stop, 24/7 kind of thing," said Hall.

"What we found is restaurants located close to venues, restaurants located close to the athletes' village did better business."

While some businesses did cry foul following the games, Davis said in the end, the total economic impact of the Games far surpassed what was forecasted. Projected at $70 million to $90 million, he said in the end, the impact was closer to $120 million infused into the economy as a result of the Games.

Political science students at the University of British Columbia in Prince George conducted a week-long public poll to gauge opinions following the Games. Among the results, the poll suggested 44 per cent of respondents strongly agreed that the Games increased civic pride in the city.

In the end, Hall said the positive effects of the Game are still evident and there were no major crimps in the process.

"From my perspective, would we do it again? Absolutely. We're still feeling the ripple effects today," he said. "From a city perspective, our goal now and really our challenge is to try and continue that momentum."

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