With Bronze service, the most recent items will normally be at least two weeks old. For speedier service choose Gold or Silver service at http://www.Morgan-News.com/2010/ . See copyright note on the right.
Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
Tourism BC website expects OCOG transition to be completed as early as November
=========================================================
Article Number: 1 * Published on 8/21/2003
=========================================================
Tourism British Columbia says it expects the transition to the 20-person Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) in Vancouver will be complete by December, and that the OCOG formation will be finalized in either November or December. However, the earlier date is more likely, because the International Olympic Committee will be holding an orientation seminar for the OCOG in mid-November.
So far, the only appointees not automatically appointed to the OCOG and made public are the two representing Whistler, where many of the venues of the games will be located. They include Whistler Municipal administrator Jim Godfrey and Tourism Whistler president Barrett Fisher.
The automatic appointees are Michael Chambers, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, his secretary-general, Chris Rudge and the three International Olympic Committee members Paul Henderson, Dick Pound and Charmaine Crooks.
Still to be chosen are representatives for the federal, British Columbian and City of Vancouver governments, plus an active athlete who was either at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, or at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, who will be chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee and one more member to round out the seven slots allotted to the COC.
The OCOG Board itself will also be able to pick one person.
Tourism BC says in a note posted on its website, "The organization [will be] a small entity for the first few years, however, when it reaches its fully operational stage in 2009, OCOG [will be] an organization of more than 1,000 employees. In its early stages however, the OCOG is primarily a planning entity and may also include a construction arm."
Tourism British Columbia is a provincial Crown corporation, which operates under the direction of an industry-led board of directors and is responsible for marketing British Columbia internationally.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2394
(7 Years, 7 Months and 22 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government| Togyi named as Legacies Now Committee chair in Fort St. James, B.C.
=========================================================
Article Number: 4 * Published on 9/4/2003
=========================================================
Jim Togyi, the mayor of Fort St. James in British Columbia, has been named Chair of his community's 2010 Legacies Now Community Committee. Fort St. James
The local committees work with the province's Olympic Bid Secretariat which will be the central point for programs and services, and provide it with local contacts. 2010 LegaciesNow is the sport development arm of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2352
(7 Years, 6 Months and 10 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2380
(7 Years, 7 Months and 8 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Paralympic| Canadian Paralympic Committee to hold annual meeting on Oct 31 weekend in Vancouver
=========================================================
Article Number: 6 * Published on 9/9/2003
=========================================================
The members organizations of the Canadian Paralympic Committee are scheduled to meet for two days in Vancouver, B.C., starting Friday, October 31st, in conjunction with the Coaching Association of Canada Sport Leadership Conference.
The session is scheduled to culminate in CPC's 2003 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, November 1, 2003 from 7:30am - 9:00am . All of the CPC meetings will be held at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard Street, Vancouver.
Any member who wants business placed on the agenda of the meeting or an information session added to the schedule has to have the information delivered to CPC headquarters in Ottawa by September 17, 2003. The CPC says that a package with the meeting agenda, detailed budget, reports and weekend schedule will be mailed to attendees in mid-October.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2347
(7 Years, 6 Months and 5 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2375
(7 Years, 7 Months and 3 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
Vancouver Sun speculates on federal, provincial members of OCOG
=========================================================
Article Number: 3 * Published on 9/11/2003
=========================================================
The Vancouver Sun newspaper reporter Daphne Bramham speculates in today's issue that federal Heritage minister Sheila Copps is "rumoured to be eyeing the job as chairman for herself." The reporter adds that she "might be happy even with a [OCOG] Board appointment, since her political career is likely to wane after [Canadian Prime Minster Jean] Chretien goes."
The federal government's appointments, if they're made this year, are expected to be put in place by the office of Prime Minister Chretien, who has said that he will retire early next year. Liberal Member of Parliament Paul Martin and Sheila Copps are both in the running to replace him during this November's Liberal Party leadership contest.
And, Bramham adds, former Canadian National Railways Board chairman David McLean "may also be wanting a spot" among the seats set aside on the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG).
But, she adds, neither may be Martin's choice, so if he wins the leadership race, as he is expected to do, the occupant of the federal seat on the OCOG Board may not be there long.
Bramham suggests the Chairman of Vancouver's Olympic Bid Committee, Jack Poole "will get one of [the provincial government seats on the OCOG] if he wants it, as it seems he does."
Bramham also suggests the possibility that a seat assigned to represent the two aboriginal bands most affected by the Games, the Lil'wat and the Squamish, may alternate because, she says, "the two neighbouring bands have a long history of keeping out of either other's business."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2345
(7 Years, 6 Months and 3 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2373
(7 Years, 7 Months and 1 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
Vancouver contemplates"comprehensive housing and
homelessness action plan" during Olympics run-up
=========================================================
Article Number: 10 * Published on 9/16/2003
=========================================================
One of the mainstays of the Committee of Progressive Electors, the leftist party that controls Vancouver City Council, councillor Jim Green, has served notice of a policy motion that provides a wide-ranging course of action for Council to follow over the next seven years as it prepares to host the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
His motion, tabled in Council today, asks City staff to report to Council on "the development of a comprehensive housing and homelessness action plan" for Vancouver that includes:
* "Urgent measures to ensure a minimum level of shelter" for the homeless within the city, including a cold, wet weather strategy, and recommendations to manage "the growing number of transient homeless" in the city, and the "needs of the shelterless;"
* "Measures to address" how single-room accommodation should be replaced, and to "protect single-room accommodation residents" from displacement;
* Measures to legalize and regulate secondary suites;
* Measures to encourage the private sector to deliver affordable rental housing;
* Measures to work with private sector involvement "in the expansion of social housing through density bonuses and similar instruments;"
* Initiatives to reduce or limit the time housing units remain vacant pending redevelopment;
* Initiatives to aid and support non-profit rental and co-operative housing developments in Vancouver; and He wants to see how city staff can be designated to start working with the National Housing Policy Options Team (NHPOT) to "secure appropriate federal housing policies and programs across Canada" to house people in their own communities.
Green also urges that others get involved in the program. He claims that issues of affordable housing and homelessness can only be addressed by the "co-ordinated action and commitment of all levels of government", so he thinks the City of Vancouver should call upon Ottawa and Victoria to finance 2,000 units of non-profit rental and co-operative housing annually in British Columbia t"o serve low and modest income persons and families who cannot afford market rental housing". And, he says, the Greater Vancouver Regional Distraction should develop an equivalent plan "that addresses the need to sustain social diversity and inclusion throughout Greater Vancouver."
Green also wants Vancouver to ask the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to revive its national campaign to raise awareness of homelessness, its causes and solutions, and the need for public investment to address homelessness.
And, he claims, that because "affordable housing alone is insufficient to ensure the social inclusion of those who face challenges in addition to lack of income, which include most of the homeless," the multi-government plan be developed in partnership with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, the Vancouver Agreement, the Olympic Committee Organizing the Games, and the provincial government.
Green says the overall plan should create education and training opportunities for people excluded from social and economic participation, including measures to generate employment opportunities to the unskilled and inexperienced."
Green's shopping list of how low-income social programs should be reordered includes what he calls, "the co-ordinated provision of social and health services, including income and employment assistance so that all those in need of the services receive them; and "the development of capacity of unemployed and underemployed people."
Green wants staff to report back in November on how the City can work to "facilitate, coordinate and monitor the training and employment needs and opportunities for low and modest income persons and families, with an initial focus on the homeless and those at risk of homelessness, including residents of the city's single-room accommodation."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2340
(7 Years, 5 Months and 29 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2368
(7 Years, 6 Months and 26 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
BC Auditor General suggests his staff watch over Olympic Game expenditures
=========================================================
Article Number: 12 * Published on 9/16/2003
=========================================================
B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff has suggested that the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee appoint his office as auditor of record for the 2010 Winter Games on behalf of the provincial government. He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the estimated $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Strelioff told the Committee, "The government has underwritten the over-all initiative. If there are revenue shortfalls or cost overruns, and they don't match and if there is additional fiancial exposure, it rests on the province." The federal Auditor General and some private auditors will also be involved in monitoring the expenditures of various organizations leading up to the games, but, Strelioff said, referring to the experiences of Australia's Auditor-General, "It would be far more efficient if there was one auditor to make sure that you're getting the assurances that I think you will likely want to receive over the next seven years."
The motion to appoint Strelioff as Games auditor was made by Joy McPhail, the current leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, but the Liberal Members of the Legislature, who control the Committee, voted against the motion. They included Bill Bennett, Ida Chong,Arnie Hamilton, Lorne Mayencourt and Patrick Wong . A second motion by McPhail, to extend Strelioff's authority to include Olympic Game-related projects, such as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line, and the proposed Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, was also defeated.
Last January, Strelioff's department issued a report on the estimates of the games, saying that "keeping costs in line will need first-class management from the start. Contingency amounts will need to be watched carefully. And, the predicted revenues and economic impacts will only come about through well-funded and well-managed marketing of both the Games and the rest of BC." The report is available here:
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2340
(7 Years, 5 Months and 29 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2368
(7 Years, 6 Months and 26 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Business|
DVBIA to give annual award to Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation
=========================================================
Article Number: 8 * Published on 9/18/2003
=========================================================
The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association will give an appreciation award Thursday, September 25, to the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, in recognition of what it calls "the landmark achievement" of landing the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The presentation will take place at a luncheon following the association's Annual General Meeting just before noon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 655 Burrard Street. In addition, John Furlong, the president and chief operating officer of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, is slated to be the guest speaker for the meeting's luncheon. The DVBIA says that Mayor Larry Campbell, "most" members of City Council and Vancouver-area members of the B.C. legislature have indicated that they will also be attending.
The DVBIA, funded by the City of Vancouver, was an active supporter of the Olympic bid. DVBIA president Kathi Thompson and executive director Charles Gauthier were in the crowd for a televised presentation at Vancouver's stadium, General Motors Place on July 2 when Vancouver's selection was announced in Prague, Czech Republic last July 2.
"I can think of few moments to rival the thrill that went through this city with the announcement in Prague that we would host the 2010 Winter Games," Thompson said, as she announced the award ceremony. "We worked hard as an organization to research our members' views and to then support this bid, but what impressed me most about the Bid Corporation was how they involved the entire community in the effort. We can learn and build from that experience."
The DVBIA estimates that 8,000 businesses, which own or lease property within the 90-block central business district of Vancouver are, by default, members of the DVBIA.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2338
(7 Years, 5 Months and 27 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |International|
Vancouver 2010 bid marketer joins London, England bid team for 2012 summer games
=========================================================
Article Number: 9 * Published on 9/18/2003
=========================================================
Andrew Craig, a marketing executive who worked on Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and helped set up the International Olympic Committee's successful TOP corporate sponsorship program has joined London, England's bid for the 2012 summer games, according to the city's Evening Standard newspaper.
He is being touted as a possible chief executive for the bid, says the newspaper, but will start work as a consultant on the international side of the campaign for the Olympics bid. Craig, 54, who's home base is Detroit but who was born in England, helped set up the TOP program during his time at marketing agency ISL in the 1980s and 1990s.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2338
(7 Years, 5 Months and 27 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
B.C. Minister of 2010 Games says OCOG to pick auditor, not government
=========================================================
Article Number: 11 * Published on 9/19/2003
=========================================================
Ted Nebbeling, the British Columbian minister of state for the 2010 Olympic Games, says, "The decision to appoint an auditor for the 2010 Olympic Games will be made by the organizing committee for the games, and [it] will be determined on a fair, competitive basis."
Nebbeling was commenting on the appearance of B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff, before the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee a week earlier, during which he suggested that his office be appointed auditor of record for the Games on behalf of the provincial government." He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Nebbeling notes the Auditor General is automatically the auditor of the financial statements of the provincial government, and legislation allows him to ensure the spending of provincial funds remains accountable. "We look forward," he adds, "to the Auditor General's continued interest in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The provincial government is committed to being fiscally accountable to British Columbians. The... games are no exception."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2337
(7 Years, 5 Months and 26 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2365
(7 Years, 6 Months and 23 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
BC Government advises companies interested
in working with OCOG to wait until "late 2004"
=========================================================
Article Number: 13 * Published on 9/20/2003
=========================================================
The Provincial Government's 2010 Secretariat, a part of the Ministry of Community, says the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee (OCOG) will start planning its marketing program in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) shortly after the OCOG is formed.
However, it says that planning activities are expected to take about a year. "Organizations interested in a sponsorship relationship with the OCOG should monitor the activities of the OCOG and make contact late in 2004. Active marketing of sponsorships will begin in 2005."
A Secretariat representative says that except for a limited number of product categories, the licensed product program of the OCOG isn't likely to start for at "least a few years." It expects the licensed merchandise program will be set up using a public tendering process. "Companies interested in participating in the program are encouraged to monitor the Web site of the OCOG once it is formed."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2336
(7 Years, 5 Months and 25 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2364
(7 Years, 6 Months and 22 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
B.C. Minister of 2010 Games says OCOG to pick auditor, not government
=========================================================
Article Number: 11 * Published on 9/19/2003
=========================================================
Ted Nebbeling, the British Columbian minister of state for the 2010 Olympic Games, says, "The decision to appoint an auditor for the 2010 Olympic Games will be made by the organizing committee for the games, and [it] will be determined on a fair, competitive basis."
Nebbeling was commenting on the appearance of B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff, before the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee a week earlier, during which he suggested that his office be appointed auditor of record for the Games on behalf of the provincial government." He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Nebbeling notes the Auditor General is automatically the auditor of the financial statements of the provincial government, and legislation allows him to ensure the spending of provincial funds remains accountable. "We look forward," he adds, "to the Auditor General's continued interest in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The provincial government is committed to being fiscally accountable to British Columbians. The... games are no exception."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2337
(7 Years, 5 Months and 26 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2365
(7 Years, 6 Months and 23 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
Tourism BC website expects OCOG transition to be completed as early as November
=========================================================
Article Number: 1 * Published on 8/21/2003
=========================================================
Tourism British Columbia says it expects the transition to the 20-person Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) in Vancouver will be complete by December, and that the OCOG formation will be finalized in either November or December. However, the earlier date is more likely, because the International Olympic Committee will be holding an orientation seminar for the OCOG in mid-November.
So far, the only appointees not automatically appointed to the OCOG and made public are the two representing Whistler, where many of the venues of the games will be located. They include Whistler Municipal administrator Jim Godfrey and Tourism Whistler president Barrett Fisher.
The automatic appointees are Michael Chambers, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, his secretary-general, Chris Rudge and the three International Olympic Committee members Paul Henderson, Dick Pound and Charmaine Crooks.
Still to be chosen are representatives for the federal, British Columbian and City of Vancouver governments, plus an active athlete who was either at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, or at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, who will be chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee and one more member to round out the seven slots allotted to the COC.
The OCOG Board itself will also be able to pick one person.
Tourism BC says in a note posted on its
Tourism British Columbia is a provincial Crown corporation, which operates under the direction of an industry-led board of directors and is responsible for marketing British Columbia internationally.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2394
(7 Years, 7 Months and 22 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government| Togyi named as Legacies Now Committee chair in Fort St. James, B.C.
=========================================================
Article Number: 4 * Published on 9/4/2003
=========================================================
Jim Togyi, the mayor of Fort St. James in British Columbia, has been named Chair of his community's 2010 Legacies Now Community Committee. Fort St. James
The local committees work with the province's Olympic Bid Secretariat which will be the central point for programs and services, and provide it with local contacts. 2010 LegaciesNow is the sport development arm of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2352
(7 Years, 6 Months and 10 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2380
(7 Years, 7 Months and 8 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Paralympic| Canadian Paralympic Committee to hold annual meeting on Oct 31 weekend in Vancouver
=========================================================
Article Number: 6 * Published on 9/9/2003
=========================================================
The members organizations of the Canadian Paralympic Committee are scheduled to meet for two days in Vancouver, B.C., starting Friday, October 31st, in conjunction with the Coaching Association of Canada Sport Leadership Conference.
The session is scheduled to culminate in CPC's 2003 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, November 1, 2003 from 7:30am - 9:00am . All of the CPC meetings will be held at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard Street, Vancouver.
Any member who wants business placed on the agenda of the meeting or an information session added to the schedule has to have the information delivered to CPC headquarters in Ottawa by September 17, 2003. The CPC says that a package with the meeting agenda, detailed budget, reports and weekend schedule will be mailed to attendees in mid-October.
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2347
(7 Years, 6 Months and 5 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2375
(7 Years, 7 Months and 3 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
Vancouver Sun speculates on federal, provincial members of OCOG
=========================================================
Article Number: 3 * Published on 9/11/2003
=========================================================
The Vancouver Sun newspaper reporter Daphne Bramham speculates in today's issue that federal Heritage minister Sheila Copps is "rumoured to be eyeing the job as chairman for herself." The reporter adds that she "might be happy even with a [OCOG] Board appointment, since her political career is likely to wane after [Canadian Prime Minster Jean] Chretien goes."
The federal government's appointments, if they're made this year, are expected to be put in place by the office of Prime Minister Chretien, who has said that he will retire early next year. Liberal Member of Parliament Paul Martin and Sheila Copps are both in the running to replace him during this November's Liberal Party leadership contest.
And, Bramham adds, former Canadian National Railways Board chairman David McLean "may also be wanting a spot" among the seats set aside on the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG).
But, she adds, neither may be Martin's choice, so if he wins the leadership race, as he is expected to do, the occupant of the federal seat on the OCOG Board may not be there long.
Bramham suggests the Chairman of Vancouver's Olympic Bid Committee, Jack Poole "will get one of [the provincial government seats on the OCOG] if he wants it, as it seems he does."
Bramham also suggests the possibility that a seat assigned to represent the two aboriginal bands most affected by the Games, the Lil'wat and the Squamish, may alternate because, she says, "the two neighbouring bands have a long history of keeping out of either other's business."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2345
(7 Years, 6 Months and 3 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2373
(7 Years, 7 Months and 1 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
Vancouver contemplates"comprehensive housing and
homelessness action plan" during Olympics run-up
=========================================================
Article Number: 10 * Published on 9/16/2003
=========================================================
One of the mainstays of the Committee of Progressive Electors, the leftist party that controls Vancouver City Council, councillor Jim Green, has served notice of a policy motion that provides a wide-ranging course of action for Council to follow over the next seven years as it prepares to host the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
His motion, tabled in Council today, asks City staff to report to Council on "the development of a comprehensive housing and homelessness action plan" for Vancouver that includes:
* "Urgent measures to ensure a minimum level of shelter" for the homeless within the city, including a cold, wet weather strategy, and recommendations to manage "the growing number of transient homeless" in the city, and the "needs of the shelterless;"
* "Measures to address" how single-room accommodation should be replaced, and to "protect single-room accommodation residents" from displacement;
* Measures to legalize and regulate secondary suites;
* Measures to encourage the private sector to deliver affordable rental housing;
* Measures to work with private sector involvement "in the expansion of social housing through density bonuses and similar instruments;"
* Initiatives to reduce or limit the time housing units remain vacant pending redevelopment;
* Initiatives to aid and support non-profit rental and co-operative housing developments in Vancouver; and He wants to see how city staff can be designated to start working with the National Housing Policy Options Team (NHPOT) to "secure appropriate federal housing policies and programs across Canada" to house people in their own communities.
Green also urges that others get involved in the program. He claims that issues of affordable housing and homelessness can only be addressed by the "co-ordinated action and commitment of all levels of government", so he thinks the City of Vancouver should call upon Ottawa and Victoria to finance 2,000 units of non-profit rental and co-operative housing annually in British Columbia t"o serve low and modest income persons and families who cannot afford market rental housing". And, he says, the Greater Vancouver Regional Distraction should develop an equivalent plan "that addresses the need to sustain social diversity and inclusion throughout Greater Vancouver."
Green also wants Vancouver to ask the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to revive its national campaign to raise awareness of homelessness, its causes and solutions, and the need for public investment to address homelessness.
And, he claims, that because "affordable housing alone is insufficient to ensure the social inclusion of those who face challenges in addition to lack of income, which include most of the homeless," the multi-government plan be developed in partnership with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, the Vancouver Agreement, the Olympic Committee Organizing the Games, and the provincial government.
Green says the overall plan should create education and training opportunities for people excluded from social and economic participation, including measures to generate employment opportunities to the unskilled and inexperienced."
Green's shopping list of how low-income social programs should be reordered includes what he calls, "the co-ordinated provision of social and health services, including income and employment assistance so that all those in need of the services receive them; and "the development of capacity of unemployed and underemployed people."
Green wants staff to report back in November on how the City can work to "facilitate, coordinate and monitor the training and employment needs and opportunities for low and modest income persons and families, with an initial focus on the homeless and those at risk of homelessness, including residents of the city's single-room accommodation."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2340
(7 Years, 5 Months and 29 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2368
(7 Years, 6 Months and 26 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Government|
BC Auditor General suggests his staff watch over Olympic Game expenditures
=========================================================
Article Number: 12 * Published on 9/16/2003
=========================================================
B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff has suggested that the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee appoint his office as auditor of record for the 2010 Winter Games on behalf of the provincial government. He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the estimated $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Strelioff told the Committee, "The government has underwritten the over-all initiative. If there are revenue shortfalls or cost overruns, and they don't match and if there is additional fiancial exposure, it rests on the province." The federal Auditor General and some private auditors will also be involved in monitoring the expenditures of various organizations leading up to the games, but, Strelioff said, referring to the experiences of Australia's Auditor-General, "It would be far more efficient if there was one auditor to make sure that you're getting the assurances that I think you will likely want to receive over the next seven years."
The motion to appoint Strelioff as Games auditor was made by Joy McPhail, the current leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, but the Liberal Members of the Legislature, who control the Committee, voted against the motion. They included Bill Bennett, Ida Chong,Arnie Hamilton, Lorne Mayencourt and Patrick Wong . A second motion by McPhail, to extend Strelioff's authority to include Olympic Game-related projects, such as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line, and the proposed Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, was also defeated.
Last January, Strelioff's department issued a report on the estimates of the games, saying that "keeping costs in line will need first-class management from the start. Contingency amounts will need to be watched carefully. And, the predicted revenues and economic impacts will only come about through well-funded and well-managed marketing of both the Games and the rest of BC." The report is available here:
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2340
(7 Years, 5 Months and 29 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2368
(7 Years, 6 Months and 26 Days)
=========================================================
Morgan News:2010 |Business|
DVBIA to give annual award to Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation
=========================================================
Article Number: 8 * Published on 9/18/2003
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The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association will give an appreciation award Thursday, September 25, to the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, in recognition of what it calls "the landmark achievement" of landing the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The presentation will take place at a luncheon following the association's Annual General Meeting just before noon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 655 Burrard Street. In addition, John Furlong, the president and chief operating officer of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, is slated to be the guest speaker for the meeting's luncheon. The DVBIA says that Mayor Larry Campbell, "most" members of City Council and Vancouver-area members of the B.C. legislature have indicated that they will also be attending.
The DVBIA, funded by the City of Vancouver, was an active supporter of the Olympic bid. DVBIA president Kathi Thompson and executive director Charles Gauthier were in the crowd for a televised presentation at Vancouver's stadium, General Motors Place on July 2 when Vancouver's selection was announced in Prague, Czech Republic last July 2.
"I can think of few moments to rival the thrill that went through this city with the announcement in Prague that we would host the 2010 Winter Games," Thompson said, as she announced the award ceremony. "We worked hard as an organization to research our members' views and to then support this bid, but what impressed me most about the Bid Corporation was how they involved the entire community in the effort. We can learn and build from that experience."
The DVBIA estimates that 8,000 businesses, which own or lease property within the 90-block central business district of Vancouver are, by default, members of the DVBIA.
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Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2338
(7 Years, 5 Months and 27 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
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Morgan News:2010 |International|
Vancouver 2010 bid marketer joins London, England bid team for 2012 summer games
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Article Number: 9 * Published on 9/18/2003
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Andrew Craig, a marketing executive who worked on Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and helped set up the International Olympic Committee's successful TOP corporate sponsorship program has joined London, England's bid for the 2012 summer games, according to the city's Evening Standard newspaper.
He is being touted as a possible chief executive for the bid, says the newspaper, but will start work as a consultant on the international side of the campaign for the Olympics bid. Craig, 54, who's home base is Detroit but who was born in England, helped set up the TOP program during his time at marketing agency ISL in the 1980s and 1990s.
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Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2338
(7 Years, 5 Months and 27 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2366
(7 Years, 6 Months and 24 Days)
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Morgan News:2010 |Government|
B.C. Minister of 2010 Games says OCOG to pick auditor, not government
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Article Number: 11 * Published on 9/19/2003
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Ted Nebbeling, the British Columbian minister of state for the 2010 Olympic Games, says, "The decision to appoint an auditor for the 2010 Olympic Games will be made by the organizing committee for the games, and [it] will be determined on a fair, competitive basis."
Nebbeling was commenting on the appearance of B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff, before the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee a week earlier, during which he suggested that his office be appointed auditor of record for the Games on behalf of the provincial government." He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Nebbeling notes the Auditor General is automatically the auditor of the financial statements of the provincial government, and legislation allows him to ensure the spending of provincial funds remains accountable. "We look forward," he adds, "to the Auditor General's continued interest in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The provincial government is committed to being fiscally accountable to British Columbians. The... games are no exception."
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Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2337
(7 Years, 5 Months and 26 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2365
(7 Years, 6 Months and 23 Days)
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Morgan News:2010 |OCOG|
BC Government advises companies interested
in working with OCOG to wait until "late 2004"
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Article Number: 13 * Published on 9/20/2003
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The Provincial Government's 2010 Secretariat, a part of the Ministry of Community, says the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee (OCOG) will start planning its marketing program in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) shortly after the OCOG is formed.
However, it says that planning activities are expected to take about a year. "Organizations interested in a sponsorship relationship with the OCOG should monitor the activities of the OCOG and make contact late in 2004. Active marketing of sponsorships will begin in 2005."
A Secretariat representative says that except for a limited number of product categories, the licensed product program of the OCOG isn't likely to start for at "least a few years." It expects the licensed merchandise program will be set up using a public tendering process. "Companies interested in participating in the program are encouraged to monitor the Web site of the OCOG once it is formed."
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Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2336
(7 Years, 5 Months and 25 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2364
(7 Years, 6 Months and 22 Days)
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Morgan News:2010 |Government|
B.C. Minister of 2010 Games says OCOG to pick auditor, not government
=========================================================
Article Number: 11 * Published on 9/19/2003
=========================================================
Ted Nebbeling, the British Columbian minister of state for the 2010 Olympic Games, says, "The decision to appoint an auditor for the 2010 Olympic Games will be made by the organizing committee for the games, and [it] will be determined on a fair, competitive basis."
Nebbeling was commenting on the appearance of B.C.'s Auditor General, Wayne Strelioff, before the provincial legislature Public Accounts Committee a week earlier, during which he suggested that his office be appointed auditor of record for the Games on behalf of the provincial government." He told the Committee that he and his staff would then be able to watch the expenditure of the $1.2 billion provincial portion of the $3 billion games.
Nebbeling notes the Auditor General is automatically the auditor of the financial statements of the provincial government, and legislation allows him to ensure the spending of provincial funds remains accountable. "We look forward," he adds, "to the Auditor General's continued interest in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The provincial government is committed to being fiscally accountable to British Columbians. The... games are no exception."
=========================================================
Copyright 2003 Morgan News: 2010 * Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Editorial tips, ideas, events:
Days until the 2010 Winter Olympics (Feb 12-28, 2010): 2337
(7 Years, 5 Months and 26 Days)
Days until the 2010 Winter Paralympics (March 12-21, 2010): 2365
(7 Years, 6 Months and 23 Days)
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