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DAVID SHOEMAKER (CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE): The importance of hosting the Olympic Games in Canada is not lost on us. It's something that we very much want to do.

MAYOR JEROMY FARKAS: Calgary has to stay forward-looking. We can't be stuck in "no" territory. And I think it's very healthy for us to be considering these kinds of big ideas.

COUNCILLOR ANDREW YULE: The ’88 Olympics helped us get LRT moving in our city. It really changes the landscape of a city.

COUNCILLOR MIKE JAMIESON: I think it’s a bad conversation to have right now, given our infrastructure deficit and our core services that need our attention.

COUNCILLOR ROB WARD: Sometimes you have to put needs before wants. I just think we have bigger issues to take care of right now.

JEREMY KLASZUS (HOST): In 2018, when Calgary was considering a bid for the 2026 Olympics, Jeromy Farkas called the Games “the ultimate politician vanity project.” This was when he was the city councillor for Ward 11. You can hear more about that in the previous Sprawlcast: Why Calgary Said No To The 2026 Olympics.

Eight years later, Farkas is mayor of Calgary. And today he speaks more eagerly about the prospect of the Olympics returning to town—with some caveats, which we'll get into.

KLASZUS: Could Calgary have a second Winter Games after first hosting them in 1988? Olympians are ever hopeful. Here are Olympic speed skaters Gilmore Junio and Catriona Le May Doan. I spoke with them at the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary as skaters raced on the ice nearby.

GILMORE JUNIO: For sure it’s a little bittersweet that we could have had Calgary 2026. But obviously there’s still a lot of excitement. I have a lot of friends that are on the team this year—excited to see them compete for Canada. The Olympics are always a special time, no matter where they are.

I'm always hopeful and always optimistic that the Olympics are going to come back to Calgary. I don't think there's many places in the world that not only have the facilities to host it, but like you said, it's a place that a lot of nations come to celebrate their own. And I think for the Olympics to come here brings a lot of people not only to the city, but it brings a lot of pockets of Calgary together. I think for Calgary, another Olympics would be pretty incredible.

CATRIONA LE MAY DOAN: It would boost everything. Let's talk about infrastructure. Let's talk about employment. Let's talk about volunteers. Because we don't put enough emphasis on what the economic impact of the volunteers we have are. And a lot of the volunteers, if you go down to this speed skating event that's happening—a lot of them are either just about to retire or have retired. They were ’88 volunteers. We need to build that next generation also of volunteers.

We have very high unemployment for youth. I mean, my kids are that 18 to 21 age, and when you look at employment, we want to continue to capture the youth. We want them to stay here, and we want them to lead in 10, 20 years. So it would do so much.

LE MAY DOAN: I feel sometimes like, “Okay, I have to phone my therapist”—because we're we're not there for what we missed out on. But we have a lot of people saying, “Oh, that was short sighted,” but it's the reality. So now what? And let's look to building—let's build the infrastructure so that we can invite Games. We don't want Games so we can build infrastructure. We have to do it the reverse.

KLASZUS: We’re going to hear from Mayor Jeromy Farkas on this. We’re going to hear from city councillors about what they think of the prospect of a future Calgary Olympics. And we’ll hear from an opponent of the Calgary 2026 bid who says the problems with the Olympics remain unresolved.

Let’s get into it.

The last time Calgary pursued an Olympic bid, for the 2026 Games, the provincial government offered late and lukewarm support. That was when the Alberta NDP was in power. And in November 2018, in a plebiscite, 56% of Calgary voters were opposed to hosting the Games.

USMAN TAHIR JUTT: I think ultimately, whether in that plebiscite you voted yes or no, I think you knew that your decision was based on building a better Calgary, regardless of where you fell.

KLASZUS: This is Usman Tahir Jutt, co-owner of the Calgary Surge pro basketball team and the CEO of Chirp Foods. And he’s been collecting torches from different Olympics over the years—and recently donated them for a torch display at the Olympic Oval.

JUTT: I would love to see Calgary play a role in hosting a major global event. I think the nature of these events are changing, but there's still a place—Calgary is a city of figuring things out. I think we could figure it out. But underpinning that, and I think what's really critical today, is that we are a week out from Games that we potentially had a serious chance at getting. We are still at the Oval. We are still here as a community today. People were here today to celebrate the 40-year history of what Calgary ’88 has meant.

The Surge play at Winsport. We're reminded every day of what the ’88 Games did. I travel quite a bit. So when I'm internationally and you talk about Calgary, you hear people talking about those Games, whether it's the Jamaican bobsled team or Eddie the Eagle.

Calgary has put a fingerprint on the world. And our story is not done at all.

KLASZUS: So what’s changed for Mayor Jeromy Farkas, that he’s become more amenable to a future Olympics? Here’s our conversation. 

KLASZUS: In 2018 on council, there were different perspectives, and some council members were torn on whether Calgary should do this or not, go for 2026 or not. You were not torn. You were unambiguous in your position back then. What's changed for you?

FARKAS: Well, I still hold the same position. The financial plan wasn’t there for the 2026 bid. There was a lot of outstanding questions around the funding, the financial transparency, and particularly the investment from the provincial and federal governments. So I think based on the plan that we had and the facts that we knew at the time, I think Calgarians made the right decision in their decision to reject that bid.

But what I would say is I wouldn't rule it out in the future if there's a credible, fiscally responsible plan—and that's not that we're launching a bid tomorrow, because right now, Calgarians are really rightly focused on core priorities like water infrastructure, transit, roads, affordability. But I do think that we learned some very real lessons from the 2026 bid process.

We showed the importance of public consultation, of transparency, clear cost-benefit analysis before advancing big proposals. But that said Calgary has to stay competitive and forward looking, and not just stuck in no territory. So I think it is very healthy for a city to consider big ideas but that doesn't mean jumping in without a clear plan, a solid funding model and public support.

KLASZUS: And when you look back at 1988 and those Games, and how Calgary did it—what led to those Games—and then the experience of looking at 2026, what are the big differences in your mind? Why did 1988 work and 2026 never got off the ground?

FARKAS: So the fundamentals were different. Back in ’88 the cost had not exploded to the extent that we've seen in recent Games. We also did not see to the same extent the allegations of sexual abuse in sporting federations. When it comes to the Olympic Games, allegations of corruption. It was a different time and the Games were different.

But that said, a lot of the fundamentals that we leaned in in ’88 really have led to Calgary’s sustained success. We think about Calgary being a centre of excellence for attracting major events, for sports, for athletes training here. I think that that's an incredible legacy. And there are a lot of questions we’re having right now around the future of McMahon Stadium, the Olympic Oval, whether we choose to reinvest and revitalize those assets—things that we have to do anyway. Things like an airport connection to the LRT system.

If we got those things in place, things that the city needs regardless, we would be incredibly well positioned for a future bid.

So again, I wouldn't rule it out in the future, and it's not that we're launching a bid tomorrow—but the central premise here is if this is the vehicle by which we can get a fair deal out of the provincial government and the federal government, we'd be stupid to at least not be thinking about it.

KLASZUS: And how do you get those other levels of government on board? Because that was one of the big issues in 2018 when looking at 2026. The federal government was somewhat interested and the provincial government was really uninterested.

FARKAS: Well, I think any future conversation about the Olympics has to be grounded in listening to the people and ensuring that they support us in it. The 2026 bid didn't really have the kind of community leadership that ’88 had, when you think of Frank King, the incredible business community, the volunteerism of that moment. 2026 was an opportunity, but it was seen to be an end in itself. Whereas I'm a practical person. I think about the Olympics perhaps as a means to an end, supporting the longer-term priorities that we have as a city.

So if Calgary pursues any major bid, Olympics or otherwise, it should really align with our strategic goals: sustainable growth, Indigenous reconciliation, infrastructure renewal, economic opportunity, climate action, enhancing quality of life. So if it is a bridge to the broader priorities like affordable housing and building a city for everyone, fixing aging infrastructure, attracting federal and provincial investment, making Calgary a destination for major events, promoting Canada on the world stage in a way that we need right now, versus, say, even last year or the year before—there could be a path to this making sense.

But it's not just the Olympics for the sake of the Olympics. It's the Olympics because it may get us faster to where we need to go as a city.

KLASZUS: Another interesting and valuable aspect of the Olympics is kind of the civic pride and civic identity aspect, the celebratory aspect. That everyone can participate in it, and everyone can kind of riff on it in their own way. Whether you're a business, you're a school, you're a citizen, whatever it may be. And one thing I've been thinking about is last year we had the 150th anniversary of Fort Calgary, and in the past, that was a big deal, a big civic celebration—

FARKAS: We let our birthday go with a bit of a womp womp womp, right? It could have been an opportunity for us to rally for a new, renewed civic mission, right? That birthday of Calgary was somewhat of a missed opportunity.

KLASZUS: Yeah, and that's what I was going to ask you. Because we were told, basically—civic leaders were like, this isn't one to celebrate. It's not a time for celebration. And I think the intent behind that was to reflect some of the darker parts of Calgary's history, or to get people to reflect on that. But I think what ended up happening was it just didn't enter the public consciousness. People weren't like, “Oh, it's our 150th birthday, let’s think about this in a more comprehensive or more nuanced way.” It was just—we didn't think about it as a city.

FARKAS: Yeah, a couple things there. For the 2026 bid, I was a hard no, but it was literally a hard [difficult] no for me—because I love supporting my fellow Calgarians. I'm glued to the Olympics during the summer and the winter Games. Just now, the same now as I was then. It was a hard no because at its ideal, it represents something great. It represents Calgarians on the world stage. It's neighbours supporting neighbours from coast to coast to coast. It's our Team Canada in the lights. For me, it was a very difficult no, despite the fact that I felt it was necessary—and I still believe that the 2026 bid was not nearly cooked enough to be able to deliver.

But here in Calgary, we're searching for meaning in many different ways. What other cities across North America will try to reinvent their brand every 10 or 15 years? The Olympic legacy is solid, right? It represents a lot of things. It represents Canada on the world stage. It was the one of the first major opportunities for us as a nation to be able to showcase Western Canada. And I think right now as Calgarians, we need to be leaning in at the centre of a strong and united Team Canada. So I can hardly think of a better way to be able to do that.

FARKAS: But again, the devil is very much in the details. We can’t go into this with pure nostalgia as the strategy. There needs to be a strong business case and fiscal discipline around it. And I do think it is possible to be able to get to a point where we have leverage over the IOC rather than vice versa.

And when I look to the future—and again, I'm not soft launching or hard launching a bid here—but I do think a bid about 2038. I think what that date represents as being the exact 50th anniversary of us hosting the world in 1988. That's a bit of a drop deadline as well when we think of all of the infrastructure that we need to renew. I think about all the things that Calgary needs anyway as we're becoming a city of two million people. We need that LRT connection to the airport. We need an answer to the McMahon Stadium question. We need to renew the Olympic Oval. We need all of these assets regardless, as a city of two million people.

So then, in my mind, the question becomes: What is it that we need anyway, and what is it that the Olympics demand of us? And what's the difference between those two things?

There's two key things. Firstly, it's probably the security costs. And if we can have the feds pay for that, we're in good position there. And then I also think about the housing element—if, for example, it's just the housing component, the athletes village that we're short, perhaps we could lean in through that and have that converted to non-market housing afterwards, something that we need regardless.

So again, there is a world where a bid makes sense, but it needs to be driven by the community and certainly it needs to be endorsed by a referendum.

KLASZUS: So going into these Games, is it bittersweet for you, or are you pretty clear on this wasn't the one and the one for Calgary is still to come?

FARKAS: It's only going to be bittersweet if some of our fellow Calgarians don't get the medals. But no, we dodged a bullet. I want to emphasize that we dodged a bullet by not hosting the 2026 Games. Can you imagine right now, with the water main situation, the infrastructure situation, and having Calgarian taxpayers being the ones backstopping many of these infrastructure projects in an incredibly inflationary environment post-COVID? No, we full and clear dodged a bullet by not hosting the 2026 Games.

But that said, I think the silver lining from the process is that we learned some serious lessons.

KLASZUS: So here’s where things sit now. Switzerland is pursuing a bid for 2038, the next Winter Games that’s up for grabs. But if the Swiss effort falls through, Canada is interested. Here’s David Shoemaker, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, speaking at a press conference February 5 before the Milano Cortina Games kicked off.

DAVID SHOEMAKER: The IOC announced some time ago they’re in what they call privileged dialogue with Switzerland. And the Swiss government and the Swiss Olympic committee recently announced an injection of investment into those Games—but they’re by no means confirmed. And so we'll wait for further updates and wait earnestly, because the importance of hosting the Olympic Games in Canada is not lost on us. It's something that we very much want to do.

KLASZUS: So what does the rest of Calgary city council think about this?

We’re going to hear from several council members. Farkas is the only current council member who was on council in 2018, when Calgary pursued that 2026 bid but then backed out. And a bunch of councillors basically gave me a variation of what Farkas said—they’re open to it, but the devil’s in the details.

COUNCILLOR RAJ DHALIWAL: Always a great idea to put our city on the world map and highlight the strengths, and hopefully we get more infrastructure with it. But we’ve also got to be aware that we do a cost-benefit analysis and see what actually economic stimulus these Olympics bring, how successful they are, those kind of things. So it shouldn't be just because we want to do something that we pursue it.

Before we make any decision even to start engaging Calgarians, we've got to understand the numbers behind it. 

COUNCILLOR ANDREW YULE: I grew up in the shadow of the ’88 Olympics, and so there were definitely venues and amenities here in Calgary that we had for youth trying to get into sports that other cities didn't have. It is a topic that always comes up and I know the original Olympics, the ’88 Olympics, helped us get LRT moving in our city. It really changes the landscape of a city.

And I know there's topics that some people bring up, that those facilities don't get maintained. Some cities have had these issues with some of these facilities, but Calgary has really done well in maintaining the facilities and using the facilities and becoming kind of a global hub for for winter sports.

And so I'm open to hearing arguments for a future Olympics and the opportunity that comes with it. I think we are a winter nation and and so having having that Olympics is definitely a notch in the belt buckle, for sure.

COUNCILLOR DJ KELLY: It can work if you have the right plan. And so am I open to it? Yeah, absolutely. I'd be open to having the having the discussion about it. But the only way for me that it makes any sense is if it is specifically used as a tool in order to be able to build much needed infrastructure in Calgary. We know, for example, as it stands right now, Winsport needs additional funding. The Olympic Oval needs to be rebuilt. We need more housing. An Olympic village can help with those kinds of things.

There are opportunities within it, but it's not the kind of thing that you would want to run blindly into. You would need to have a solid plan for how hosting the Olympics can actually help achieve the goals of the host city itself that already exist in that place.

COUNCILLOR MYKE ATKINSON: I think when you look back at that last BidCo and our last potential bid towards that didn't actually come together, we didn't have a provincial government, largely, but the provincial and federal governments didn't step up in the ways that I think you would actually need to have to actually make something like that be a benefit to the city.

So the change, I think, would be if we did have other levels of government that were sort of stepping up in a way we didn't see for that last bid that we didn't pursue—if those numbers changed, then maybe it actually makes sense. Because we do get investments in terms of non-market housing and these great outcomes that come out of something like that, if we can get the levels of investment that we need.

KLASZUS: Other councillors are more wary.

COUNCILLOR MIKE JAMIESON: I think it's a bad conversation to have right now, given our infrastructure deficit and our core services that need our attention. I think that this is a great idea, but what are the biggest priorities of Calgarians right now? And I think that our water mains, our core services... I think we have the ability and also the public support to do the boring stuff. The Olympics, that's the fun, sexy stuff. Everybody likes that kind of thing. But if we don't have reliable water, what else matters? So we really need to invest our money in the in in the important boring stuff and that's what I'm focusing on right now.

COUNCILLOR LANDON JOHNSTON: Me personally, growing up in Vancouver during the last Olympics in Canada—there are a lot of benefits, right? I mean, a lot of funding comes in, and it does reignite a little bit of the infrastructure. So there are pros and cons to everything, obviously. But for me, the priority right now is just going to be dealing with the infrastructure and maintenance we have—and if that includes Olympic bids, so be it. But I would say we got to focus on the basics right now. The foundation. And then once that foundation is set, maybe it's something we can apply for for the next Olympic time.

COUNCILLOR ROB WARD: Obviously it brought a lot of name recognition and brand identity to our city back in the '80s, but I think at this time we have a lot of other needs that we need to look at. We were just talking in council today about a massive infrastructure deficit. Sometimes you have to put needs before wants. So I just think we have bigger issues to take care of right now.

KLASZUS: City admin says $18 billion dollars worth of city assets are in poor to very poor condition. That's a whole other Sprawlcast. I'll get to that in the future. Anyway, here’s Councillor Andre Chabot.

COUNCILLOR ANDRE CHABOT: I think it's if it's done right, it can be extremely beneficial. But we ought to make sure that if we're going to pursue something like that, that we know what the city stands to gain from it, and how much the Olympic committee is willing to invest into infrastructure into our city. I'm all in favour of not looking a gift horse in the mouth if somebody wants to make some investments into a city that ends up with a long-term asset for our city. Absolutely, I'm supportive of it—but not if it ends up costing Calgary taxpayers a whole bunch of money to accomplish it.

KLASZUS: Outside of city hall, Erin Waite remains skeptical. Waite organized the No Calgary Olympics campaign eight years ago, and I talked to her after she was out curling.

ERIN WAITE: I love our athletes. I cheer on our athletes. I think on the Unconventional Panel [on CBC Radio's Calgary Eyeopener], it was that comment that the no side won't even watch sports, or don't like sports, or don't like athletes. That has nothing to do with it. I enjoy watching them, and I would love a big event, a big party in Calgary, like anybody else would.

But it's all the other stuff around it. You can't ignore all those other elements. My problem has always been the ethics and various issues that have always been there with the IOC organization. And so you're signing on to a contract, and the counterparty I have serious problems with. The track record there is appalling, and it continues to be. It's a real problem, and even Olympic athletes have a real problem with that aspect of the IOC.

So to knowingly sign a contract with an unethical organization, and then the contract itself is wildly unbalanced. All the risk is with the City of Calgary, not the country, not the province—with the City of Calgary.

KLASZUS: Waite says the problems with the Olympics have persisted since 2018, when Calgary went through this last time.

WAITE: It seemed to be, “Olympics was fun in 88.” There were a number of people and groups involved that could see an financial advantage personally or for their company, if we had it here. Or even security—there were people involved where that would be beneficial. But is that what we need as a city? Does that help us develop as a city? And I just felt that conversation was lacking.

And I saw your point, in your preview of your last Sprawlcast, to say that that process of articulating what we want our city to be and having everyone excited about that. That is a good, positive thing.

Could a bid do that? Maybe? But it's a very expensive way to have that process.

Jeremy Klaszus is founder and editor of The Sprawl.