Calgary is fighting an impending Olympic bid for the 2026 Winter Games. If you recall, the 2026 Olympics were skipped over when the IOC decided it needed to award both the 2024 and 2028 Olympics in 2017, subverting their own “rules” and again manifesting that the IOC will do whatever it wants whenever it wants. The IOC was afraid no one was going to bid for 2028, so now they have to go backwards and award 2026. It’s all very messy, as per Olympic mandate.
Since then, we’ve gotten to know Daniel Gauld – the founder of No Calgary Olympics and one of the loudest voices in the fight to question and truly scrutinize the IOC’s pernicious tactics. While we may face different issues in Los Angeles relative to Calgary, and our resistance movements represent different areas of concern and various tactical approaches, there’s common ground in our shared struggles against the IOC and our local bid committees.
Even though Gauld and his group haven’t been around that long, they’ve already successfully fought to get a vote on the local ballot this November, and they’ve had plenty of polling done so far which has shown again and again that the more information you arm people with, the more they reject the premise of the Olympics.
Neither a vote nor any real polling has happened in Los Angeles for whatever reason. Must be part of that LA exceptionalism we keep hearing so much about.
Polling was released earlier this week with the support of the bid hovering around 50%. It appears as if the No Calgary Olympics group are very close to defeating the Olympic bid, even though there is plenty of boosterism in Calgary and fond memories of their ’88 Winter Olympics. We spoke with Gauld over email over the past month as things have rapidly developed with the campaign. The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I guess the best way to kick it off would be to explain how you got into this Olympic in the first place.
I’ve never really been very interested in politics. Never enough to actually do anything. I’m not sure why or what it says about me that the prospect of Calgary engaging in the bid process motivated me this way? Perhaps it goes back to 2015 when I lost my job? It was devastating, and while I was lucky to find a job soon after, I was forced to confront the changing economic reality my city was facing. That same year that the provincial conservative party was unseated and we had a new party in power for the first time in over 40 years. We were confronted with a few realities. A party that had been in power that long had never bothered to think about strengthening our economy through diversity. This was a bust in a boom town like no other. Even as oil has rebounded, companies are running leaner and looking for greater efficiencies. The downtown area has millions of square feet of empty office space. There doesn’t seem to be any plan to address that?
So in Sept 2015 when our mayor hinted that there was “a group of community leaders had been meeting for several months, talking about possibly making a Calgary Olympic bid.” A group that was not commenting publicly. I was curious? Who were these people? They had access to the mayor. Did they have any special interest in this? Maybe something to gain? Was this a prudent time for an Olympic bid? WE still have the highest unemployment in the country, with now plans on how to address that? How will a two week party create sustained growth? So I built a website. I modeled it after the No Boston 2024 site. Staked out some social media claims and became an activist. Is that what I am?
Yeah, probably. So what did you learn as far as the interests behind the bid? And what was your next move after getting the website up?
Well we should keep in mind that Calgary did host the games in ’88. A non profit called WinSport was established to manage some of the Olympic Legacy facilities. They have been vocal proponents of a bid, even without knowing all the numbers or understanding what the cost will be to taxpayers. Early on they were staging press conferences with local athletes who had participated in past games. Recently they donated some space to a Yes group that has formed and there may be connections there, but I’m speculating. We also know that others who were involved in the ’88 games had been involved in these conversations. Which brings us to our primary concern? Why are we indulging in this old idea? This isn’t new, its not innovative and it will be detrimental to our city. Distracting our politicians for years. Diverting money our order of governments already don’t have? For what? We already have the Olympic legacy established. We acknowledge ’88 was great and the remaining facilities enrich our city. We don’t need it again. Not now, given where we are economically and not with the IOC who they are now.
After building the website, I really didn’t do much. I didn’t know what to do? The issue was still distant enough that it wasn’t real yet to the city. Honestly, my plan was to wait, let people who were smarter and better organized come to me. Then I would let them take over and walk away. Well, only part of that happened. People did find me and did start asking to be involved. We, loosely defined some structure on what we needed to do and how we would operate and just started to try to get our message out there. We now have a team of really great people from diverse backgrounds. I have no idea what their politics are because we never talk about that. We only talk about this issue. Some people have come and gone. Its been a learning experience.We have a lot of people who reach out and want to provide ideas, but are slim on actually doing something? I guess that must be pretty common when engaging in this type of thing.
I can tell you we spent a lot of time feeling like we weren’t doing enough? We had a meeting with Chris Dempsey from No Boston. He was really instructive on what we needed to do to kill this and those plans are happening. He shared some things with us that are not in his book that we need to keep close to the vest. He also assured us that being reactive is OK?
The biggest mistake the Yes side made here in Calgary was formally establishing a Yes side. We had already been around for nearly a year. The media knew we were here, but with the Yes side coming, well that made the story? Right? They announced themselves and were very cagey about who they actually were. What were their names?
That weekend, Erin and I did just the opposite. We changed our front page on the website, and put ourselves front and center and people responded resoundingly positive to us. They knew we were normal everyday people. We weren’t radicals looking to catch a tear gas canister in the head or political insiders. We know a little bit more about the yes side now. Jason, their spokesperson is a really nice guy. For sure has a great career ahead of him. I won’t be surprised if I’m voting for him someday. I’m convinced Erin and I are the only ones actively engaged in this issue that have nothing to gain from this? When this is done, it’s not going on my resume and I go back to mowing my lawn. That reminds me…
So where does that find you now? Calgarians will get a vote? If so, when? And what are the ramifications if the vote passes or not?
Yesterday the city announced a date for the plebiscite. This was a requirement by the Provincial Gov. and it was mandated that any additional funding for the games would be contingent on a yes winning by a wide margin. The vote is non-binding, but it would be political suicide for gov to do anything contrary. These referendums don’t end well for boosters or the IOC.
So what do you do between now and the vote?
We will just keep getting our message out there. We are finding ways to be effective, but also efficient with limited resources. We have an opportunity with the provincial election coming up to make this an issue. How can we spend this money, we already don’t have on a two week party when the province is hitting record debt levels? The sitting government has come under fire for not making enough efforts to cut and save money and not having a plan to get out of debt. Its most likely that the UCP party will be elected and are looking for ideas to save, not spend. We need to speak with those candidates, and drive the conversation up to where the UCP has to take a stance on this issue.
Has there been any polling or surveying done for Calgary 2026?
We have had a mix of polling with support for the games decreasing. There had been polling by the feasibility committee that was by all reports a push poll. There have been other media polls completed with the last being a dead heat. We and the boosters both say, that the tides will shift when more information is available. We know that more data does not benefit the boosters, so they can only hope that the process continues to be muddled while we drive for increased clarity.
What’s the media landscape like Calgary? Is there a robust public and independent outlet scene?
As I’m sure you have experienced, ownership of media outlets has been consolidating over the years. Our major network is the CBC, a taxpayer funded entity. Typically they are described as left-leaning. They also have the broadcast rights to the games in Canada. I don’t feel they have given the No side enough coverage, but we are speaking with them more and I’m optimistic we will get a larger microphone in the future. We don’t have an NPR, but there are some small local web based guys doing some interesting things.
What do you think is leading to changing opinions and the downward movement on polling?
Well, I would like to take some credit for that. Although, we didn’t start getting traction until the YesCalgary2026 group came forward. I guess I should thank them? We are now the opposition the media has to come to for comment. So just, having our voice heard in many pieces anytime this hits the news cycle has been valuable.
I think the single biggest impact that is changing opinions is just how flawed the process has been. Calgary City council rejected a motion to let Calgarians vote on the issue in a plebiscite that would have been part of our municipal election. Only to have the province later, mandate a plebiscite would be required for any additional funding from the province in the event of a successful bid. So whereas it would have only cost $390k to have it with the election, now they have to spend $2 million as a standalone plebiscite. They can’t even agree who will pay for it.
There were the prolonged negotiations with the federal and provincial governments for the funding of the bidco, that might signal disinterest from those orders of Government. Then the city posted a report erroneously reporting that they had confirmation of support from those orders of government a week before that agreement was actually in place. Then the City tried to correct the course by forming an oversight committee that lacked some notable members of council who have been asking some tough questions. Really, the ineptitude has been stunning.
Also, our Mayor is polarizing and has many detractors. Some of those people feel this is a vanity project for him and although he has made efforts to appear impartial, those individuals don’t buy it. Admittedly this is anecdote based on what I see online.
Have you encountered messaging along the lines of “this won’t be another Rio”? If so, what has been your response to that?
Yes, and we actually have shifted course on this also. As more information becomes available. It appears like the bidco and boosters will promote this as the discount no build winter Olympics. That very well be the case, there was a leak last week indicating it will be a quad city bid (Whistler, Calgary, Edmonton and Canmore) Still, upgrades will be required. Whistler is being proposed to reuse their ski jump. Only 8 years after building it will require $5 million for upgrades and another $30 million to cover operational and other costs. So it sounds pretty good? Getting other orders of government to reinvest in the Olympic legacy for Vancouver and Calgary? Until you throw in the $1 Billion dollar security cost, that is only going to go up, especially due to now spreading out the games over two Provinces. So the white whale argument becomes less of an issue and that’s a good thing. Instead, we focus on promoting instances where large projects were approved with funding from other levels of government to demonstrate we can get things done if there is political will.
We don’t need the Olympics or the IOC. Calgary has the ’88 legacy. If Calgary values it, invest in it. The thing is, the non-profit that runs the legacy facilities here in Calgary knows that won’t happen. The only way they can get a significant influx of dollars to refresh their sliding track is the Olympics. If that’s the case, maybe Calgarians should ask themselves is the sliding track our white whale? How much time do our own Olympic athletes spend training there? Or are they using Vancouver’s more modern track? And really, what is the Olympic legacy worth in upkeep and maintenance? Hell, they are tearing down the ski jumps?
Can you expand a bit on what has changed between 1988 and now that makes you think the Olympics is no longer good for Calgary?
It’s really the cost. We have always acknowledged ’88 was great and we want to support our athletes. Spending $X Billion dollars to get $X millions of dollars in infrastructure just doesn’t make sense. We don’t deny the sea to sky highway and Canada line Vancouver got are no doubt valuable, but so far we are not hearing a value proposition as to why we should invest in 2026 outside of nostalgia and warm fuzzy memories.