Opponents of the 2010 Olympics are threatening an international boycott to force organizers to cut costs and lessen the games’ impact on the environment.
The group, 2010 Watch, says the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee broke its earlier vows for transparent financing, ensuring that poor residents wouldn’t be displaced and protection of the environment during construction. The group also wants a province-wide referendum, claiming that a 2003 vote wasn’t broad enough and that most residents would now reject the games.
A B.C. auditor’s report found that taxpayers would be left with a C$1.5 billion bill for the games. Upgrading the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler is hurting environmentally sensitive areas, 2010 Watch says, and growth of hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside threatens poor residents there.
The organizing committee responds that construction plans will be modified as the projects progress but that other complaints eventually will fade away.
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3 responses to “Olympics foes threaten boycott”
Hmm, a goverment olympic construction project with cost overruns. Shocking.
So what’s your point? Should BC residents just accept it? Or should they insist the projects be scaled back?
I don’t have a point. I’m just cynical. Cost overruns for Olympic projects are the norm, not the exception. “Les Quebecois” just payed the balance on the 1976 Summer Olympic bill. At least BC is building roads with the money while Quebec just got an ugly stadium. BC people should just buck up.