Oh to be a fly on the wall of a meeting that was held yesterday between Vancouver’s Mayor-elect Larry Campbell, and Jack Poole, head of Vancouver’s 2010 Olympic bid. But we know the pair were discussing Campbell’s campaign promise to hold a referendum on Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, if he was elected.
According to bid spokesman Sam Corea, the pair had a “brief chat” after Campbell dropped in at the bid office.
“We offered and are waiting to hear back from Mr. Campbell and his new council to meet at his earlier convenience for a full briefing on the bid book and give him an update on the bid. We understand that Mayor Campbell is certainly supportive of the Olympic bid but needs more information”, said Corea.
Now the bid executives want to meet Campbell’s COPE caucus by the end of the month to brief it on the plans reports the Vancouver Sun.
John Furlong, chief executive officer of the bid said, “we need them (the COPE caucus) to have the information as soon as possible. We would like them to see the plan and all of the details so that they can see how Vancouver will really benefit from this”.
Furlong said Campbell indicated that the meeting with the caucus could take place within the next week to 10 days.
The Vancouver Sun writes that the timing of the meeting indicates the urgency the bid corporation executives feel in trying to figure out how to deal with a referendum in advance of the IOC’s evaluation visit on March 2. It also reflects their concern about what effect a referendum may have on Vancouver’s chance of being chosen in July as the 2010 host city.
Furlong said the bid staff is working flat out to try to finish the bid book by the Jan. 10 deadline, prepare for the evaluation committee’s visit and make plans for the international lobbying effort that will begin after the bid book is submitted to the IOC.
But if there were to be a referendum, it would certainly take time away from the bid corporation’s preparations.
Although Campbell has said he would like to hold a referendum as soon as possible, Deputy chief elections officer Marg Coulson told the Vancouver Sun it would take a minimum of three months’ work to prepare for a referendum since the Vancouver Charter requires that a new voters’ list be drawn up before every civic vote.
Coulson also noted that if the new council decides to hold the vote as soon as possible, the cost could be as high as $700,000 since most of the cost of elections is in staff time to prepare the list and to work on voting day.
