“The Sea-to-Sky Highway problem is now in the past”, Vancouver 2010 Bid CEO Jack Poole told GamesBids.com in Toronto this week. He was referring to the B.C. government’s pledge to fund and complete the $580 million upgrade project by 2009, in time for the Games. “The province will be fixing the highway anyways; it is not linked to the bid”.
Members of Vancouver’s Olympic Bid were visiting Canada’s largest city and commercial capital this week for fund-raising, and to increase awareness within the Toronto media. Last month bid-promoting transit-shelter ads began appearing in the Toronto area which will be mixed with inspiring television and radio commercials.
“We’re Canada’s bid for the Olympics”, Poole stressed shortly after admiring a two-page promotional spread in Canada’s National Post newspaper. “We want the IOC to have the comfort that Canada is behind the Games.”
Even though they are three time-zones away, the Toronto media may be an important factor in Vancouver’s campaign. In a city still recovering from a demoralizing 2008 bid failure last year, where the media regularly refers to a Toronto 2012 Olympic bid that the Canadian Olympic Committee won’t even recognize yet – it will be difficult to get the masses to understand that there is another Canadian bid out there to consider. In the IOC commissioned public opinion polls to be taken before the next evaluation report and released in May the national support segment could be heavily influenced by the large population in the Toronto area. And the national exposure of Toronto media may create a much broader impact.
Will the 2012 Summer Games bid race influence the 2010 election? Poole strongly believes it will be a major factor, and to Vancouver’s benefit. He explained that European IOC members would prefer a Summer Games in Europe so they might take a pass on Salzburg, while U.S. members could select Vancouver to remove a potential Toronto bid from the equation in 2012, and make way for their bid.
Poole’s extreme confidence in his bid is undeniable. When asked whether Vancouver would try again for 2014 if 2010 failed, he grinned from ear-to-ear.
“If we don’t win the 2010 bid, we don’t deserve to bid for 2014.” Poole said.
