Games projected to cost $76.8 M
Committee report suggests city capable of hosting 2023 Canada Winter Games
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, January 29, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A newly released report says the city could host the 2023 Canada Winter Games but the cost has grown to more than $76 million when construction of athlete housing is included.
Doug Rentmeister, left, Leanne Tait and John Stephenson – members of the Canada Winter Games Working Committee studying the feasibility of the 2023 Games give an overview of their report Wednesday. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
As well, major hurdles remain to be cleared regarding having enough volunteers and hotel rooms.
This week was the first time the public had a look at the draft report by a committee of city staff, GNWT officials, business representatives and community members created a year ago to examine feasibility of hosting the event.
"Yeah, we can do it," said committee member Leanne Tait during a breakfast meeting at the Explorer Hotel on Thursday where several dozen people heard the results of the research. "The question now becomes should we do it?"
Early next month the final report, with feedback from meetings this week, will be given to the city.
Council will decide on whether to move ahead with the Games. Yellowknife is the only community being considered for the event in 2023 and saying no would mean the city couldn't host again for decades because hosting rotates through provinces and territories.
The estimated cost of hosting the Games has grown from $35.8 million a year ago to $50.3 million in the report. That balloons to roughly $76.8 million if the GNWT contribution for an athletes village - necessary to the Games - is included.
The latest figure also doesn't include the cost of renovating or building a new pool, which is a requirement for one of the aquatic events but something the city was already planning to do in the coming years. Pool replacement, pushed up two years to 2021, has been pegged at $25 million in the city budget.
The committee report estimated the federal and territorial governments would contribute $12.42 million each while the city would contribute $15.96 million, though that could change based on sponsorship.
The city's contribution breaks down to $2.63 million from a pool of money the city receives from the GNWT for infrastructure, $3.99 million from a proposed hotel tax (legislation would have to be approved by the GNWT to implement the tax applied to hotel room bills) and $9.34 million from the use of existing city facilities and staff time. The budget does not consider a property tax increase to pay for the Games.
The budget was created by examining the 2015 Games budget and the planned budget for the 2019 Games and adding an inflation factor of roughly 10 per cent said Jeff Dalley, the city's director of corporate services.
The cost doesn't include the GNWT spending $26.5 for the athlete village that would become social housing or seniors housing after the event.
The GNWT would pay about 70 per cent of the housing cost, while the city would pay 30 per cent - or $11.3 million. The city's contribution to the village is included in the $50.3 million budget.
The GNWT spending required for the village wasn't included in the budget because "it's not a Games cost," Tait said. The Games are contingent on that spending, she said.
The report states the former NWT Housing Corporation Minister Robert C. McLeod gave verbal assurance to the city the GNWT agency would "look at their capital plan to ensure a housing project would be developed in time for the Games and then turned into public housing after, but there has been no written confirmation or memorandum of understanding."
On Thursday, Dalley said the housing complex for athletes "will be built."
Revi Lau-a, the housing corp. manager of strategic planning, policy and communications, cautioned in an interview Dalley's statement is getting ahead of things.
"Because it's all hypothetical, we're waiting until the city has a decision on whether to bid," he said. Then, a detailed plan would be established and brought to the legislative assembly for approval.
Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green, who attended the meeting and commended the report authors for their work, said social housing is needed now. She also pointed to tight territorial government finances as an issue.
"I think it's going to be really difficult for the government to make that kind of commitment at this point given the state of the books," she said, adding the government has stated before that capital spending priorities are around infrastructure to aid resource extraction, like roads.
The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce board of directors reaffirmed Thursday its opposition to a Games bid citing lingering concerns about the impact of the event, according to a news release.
The Games would involve about 3,000 athletes, 4,500 volunteers and countless visitors. Those coming from outside the city would need to be accommodated.
The report shows, based on existing hotels and those in development, there are expected to be 1,091 rooms in the city in 2023. The Games requires about 1,162.
However, the report assumes only 35 to 45 per cent of hotel rooms would be available for Games-related visitors. The rest would be booked for aurora tourism, for the diamond mine winter road season as well as regular customers.
The report concludes there will be a gap of 500 to 600 rooms between what's available and what's needed.
The report states an "aggressive" home-stay program will be needed, which would see visitors staying in city-resident homes.
Using bed and breakfasts, Airbnb rentals and potentially using schools as temporary hostels are among other ideas that could fill the gap.
"There are a lot of creative ways to do it," said Joey Cruz, a member of the committee and president of the Yellowknife Hotel Association. "We feel that this challenge can be overcome."
Another gap identified relates to having enough volunteers.
The report states 4,500 are likely required. Around 3,000 are expected from the city, while the remainder would have to come from elsewhere.
The report assumes that GNWT, school board and private sector employees will be given time to volunteer for the event.
"It's our belief that Yellowknifers will show up like they have for so many other things," John Stephenson, a committee member, said referring to large sports events held previously.
The Thursday morning meeting saw questions raised about how the hotel issue will be handled, inquiries when sponsorship opportunities open up as well as those advocating for council to move ahead with the Games.
"This is a tremendous opportunity to aspire to inspire our youth," said Spider Jones, president of Squash NWT. He advocated for a 'yes' to the Games campaign to sway city councillors.
Only Coun. Rommel Silverio attended the morning meeting.
The report's authors also state the Games would result in long-lasting benefits to the development of local athletes, coaching and officiating.
As well, it suggests national attention brought by coverage of the Games would aid tourism and the awareness of the city and territory among people in the south.
"The legacy is that we're more prominent, more involved at a national scale," said committee member and executive director of NWT Tourism Cathie Bolstad.
Another meeting was set for Thursday evening and a final public event hosted by the committee will happen Saturday at the Multiplex from 9 to 11 a.m.
