A report in The Province says that Vancouver’s lawyers have warned Vancouver council members that the city is “exposed to liabilities” by going ahead with the 2010 Olympic Plebiscite.
NPA Councilor Sam Sullivan said, “our legal people have told us their opinion and given us warning. Our council was fully briefed …they decided to carry on and it’s just tragic”.
Vancouver’s Mayor Larry Campbell refused to comment when asked if there is any legal fallout from the vote, reports the Province.
But Councilor Jim Green admitted, “yes, there are legal issues around that, but we feel very comfortable”.
Michael Schuen, a spokesman for Salzburg 2012, said he was surprised city council decided to hold the plebiscite only months before the International Olympic Committee is to choose a winner.
But he told the Vancouver Sun he believes voters will overwhelmingly pass the plebiscite, largely because there is already demonstrated support for the event.
Schuen declined to comment on whether the plebiscite boosts Salzburg’s chances of winning, saying it aren’t in Salzburg’s interest to be negative. But he said his group, along with others, was taken aback by how quickly a No campaign emerged during the recent Vancouver election.
Schuen added that a vote like Vancouver’s injects uncertainty into the bidding process and is being watched with considerable interest by the other bid cities, but will likely not affect the outcome if it is approved by voters.
Meanwhile, amid all the controversy, Vancouver’s 420-page bound bid book went to the printers this week.
The book covers 18 themes and answers 199 questions on everything from health care to venue construction.
According to a published report, the book is broken into three bound volumes and there are 150 bilingual pages describing the venues.
There are also 30 pages on the Olympic Villages, another 24 on transportation, 12 pages on the Paralympic Games, six pages for culture and the rest of the volumes will cover other explanations on topics such as health care and security.
The bid book will go to the IOC in January and once the IOC is satisfied with it, it will be released to the public.
