Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: September 2005

Friday, September 30, 2005

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Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1205
RONA STARTS DISCUSSIONS WITH VANOC ON HOW COMPANY WILL PROVIDE AID TO 2010

Rona, the renovations sponsor, and officials of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) have started meeting about the pragmatic shape the company's C$68-million sponsorship will take.

The company's sponsorship was announced last spring.

Russ Jones, the Vancouver-area manager in charge of Olympic arrangements for Rona, says the discussions involved a preliminary look at the company's support of part of the 2010 Whistler complex. "We have dedicated out of our [sponsorship] funds C$16 million specifically for the Athletes Centre. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is the developer of the Centre, and my understanding is that they are working on their plans. Rona will be a major sponsor of one of the buildings." The municipal government has set up the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, with its own board of directors and staff, to deliver the Village, which is the core part of a much bigger, longer-term housing development.

Robert Dutton, Rona's president, who took part in a part of the discussions, says "One of the reasons why we're there is because it is for the athletes. That's our priority."

Jones says it was his understanding, going into the talks, that "we should be in construction in 2007."

Jones says that part of the meetings in the last two weeks have involved getting VANOC set up so that it can begin drawing down on the portion of the sponsorship devoted to providing renovation materials from Rona stores.

Jones says VANOC will be set up on the accounting side as normal, though large, customer. "Yes, we'll have them set up in our systems just like a big construction company, and we'll deal with them out of our Commercial Accounts division."

Jones says there are different funds allocated out of the sponsorship umbrella for various VANOC projects, "and I believe the large share of the [drawdown] will be between 2007 and 2010, right up to the final, temporary structures that are being built as part of the Olympics overlay. We'll be very involved in the overlay."

Jones says there are some interesting aspects to Rona's side of the project that is being discussed right from the start. "One of the unique components of the overlay is the sustainability factor. We're really driving for some of those materials to use them in a way that we'll be able to reuse them in some kind of a legacy project. We'll take care of them right from the time the materials are procured, to the assembly. For example, we might use screws [during assembly] so that they can be taken out afterward, and we're not dealing with a lot of nails and dangerous materials; that sort of thing. It will make it easier to recycle them, knowing that we or VANOC will use them in some sort of legacy project."

Going into the discussions, Jones wasn't sure about whether Rona would be involved in the decommissioning part of the Olympic overlay and temporary structures, which would take part in March, April and May of 2010. "That's yet to be determined at this point. We'll be working with VANOC; I just don't know how far they want us to go, yet, but certainly we'll assist VANOC with a lot of the logistics of the overlay."

Dutton says he's impressed with the VANOC team. "The people there are very, very nice, and very efficient. I'm very confident."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 30, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1204

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

NORTHERN TRUST FUNDS 2010-RELATED FIRST PROJECT

The board of directors of the Northern Development Initiative Trust in Prince George have approved the first project to receive funding, and it will help support 2010. The Village of Valemount, in the BC Rockies southeast of Prince George, will receive C$345,300 as a repayable grant to help it build the Valemount Gateway Visitors Information Centre. The facility will include an Interpretive Centre to promote the themes of Spirit of 2010, and host a permanent multimedia show about the 2010 Olympics. The C$135-million Trust was set up by the BC Liberal government in 2004 from part of the funds received for disposing of BC Rail. The full mandate of the Trust is to "strategic investments" in forestry, transportation, tourism, mining, energy, 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games opportunities, small business and sustainable economic development."

CHILLIWACK NIXES MINI-STORAGE IN FIGHT TO DRAW 2010 TOURISM
The City government in Chilliwack, just off the Trans-Canada Highway in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, has blocked development of a mini-storage facility on an odd-shaped piece of property at the main exit from the highway to the city. It did so because city councillors were convinced that property should be used as gateway to draw 2010 tourists into the city, and a mini-storage would isn't the kind of thing they think would do the trick. City councillor Mark Andersen is working with a committee to create something in the area that will draw tourists off the freeway and into the community; one of the ideas is a "15-foot replica of Mount Cheam," a local mountain. Andersen suggests every Fraser Valley community by 2010 will be "battling to get those tourists" to help local businesses.

10-33
Psst! Yeah, you. I've just infiltrated your earpiece, so just listen; I've got a 10-14 for you. You have a Top Secret Security Clearance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. You have a background in critical-incident command. You have expertise in figuring out "vulnerabilities" in issues that might "challenge" security forces during a major event. After that messy business back east, you are wondering what to do with your time for the next few years. Just say "10-4" if I'm right so far. OK. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has just the job for you: Director of Security Liaison. You'll be responsible for co-ordinating and communicating security issues between VANOC and the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU), which looks after all the security planning across police and military agencies. Of course, you'll also have to be able to decode VANOC bureau-speak, such as the part of your job description that says: "Utilize creative and innovative thinking in applying principles, theories and concepts to a wide range of problems to contribute to long-term strategies between VANOC FA’s and VISU. Develop or engage others in developing conceptual solutions to complex, non-routine problems and issues that may impact the entire project or a significant portion." FAs? Functional Areas. You have until Wednesday to send VANOC your resume and salary expectations, but you already know the background of the person who'll receive it, right? That's a big 10-15. And, hey, let's do a 10-98 after you get the job, OK? Over.

RESOURCES
RCMP 10 code list
http://www.securityprofessionalssite.com/rcmp10codes.asp

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 30, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1203

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR TO SUPERVISE WIDE RANGE OF VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT AND PROCUREMENT

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) expects to have in place in the next two or three weeks a Managing Director in charge of the two Athlete Villages and a range of related accommodation. The new Manager of Villages and Accommodation will be responsible for supervising all the planning, as well as the delivery of operations and services of the Village. This involves the capital developments, but also the temporary portions that will be used only for the delivery of the Olympics, such as security and accreditation. The City of Vancouver's process for building its Athletes Village is in the early but intense planning stages now, and the Whistler Village is at roughly the same stage, but not quite as far along. There is a third, unheralded 'village' that the new manager will supervise. They'll work with the 2010 Accommodations Department to ensure the development of the so-called "media village." The media villages portion of the job involves finding, contracting and managing accommodation and related services in the Sea to Sky corridor between Vancouver and Whistler. VANOC has promised the International Olympic Committee that it would find 1,500 temporary media beds. VANOC has to manage the allocation, collection, payment and disposition of these rooms "in a manner that meets hosting obligations and objectives, limits VANOC's financial exposure, and promotes Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler as desirable destinations for repeat visitations." The job also involves procuring and managing contracts for operations and services "to ensure delivery of agreed athlete and media experiences in the Villages."

NBC COLOURS MARKETING PROGRAM FOR US PROMOTION OF 2006 WINTER GAMES
NBC, the American television network that will be broadcasting the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics and, later, the 2010 Winter Games is part of a deal to promote this coming February's Games and the US teams that will be a part of it. The key is distribution throughout America of a colouring book with pictures of all the winter sports that will be at the Games. In the case of the US Olympic Ski Team, for instance, the back page of the book is a pre-addressed fan letter to the athletes of the US Ski Team and US Snowboarding Team. In addition, the US National Ski Areas Association, an industry group, will ask each of its 326 member resorts to create a banner supporting the US teams or individual athletes. The banners will be sent to Torino and presented to American athletes. Photos will be taken of various parts of the promotion and e-mailed to resorts for distribution to local media, staff, and guests in time for display during the NBC Olympic broadcast. The promotion also includes a US Ski Team Day on Saturday, Feb. 11, in which participating resorts nationwide can show their support of the U.S. Ski Team through various activities. The Torino Games will be held February 10-26.

LOGAN LAKE EYES CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING SUPPORT FOR 2010
The announcement this week of a five-year extension to the life of Cominco's Highland Valley Copper mine at Logan Lake, near Kamloops, could have a 2010 ripple effect. The additional lifespan means five more years of the mine generating healthy taxes and economic activity, and Logan Lake expects to be debt-free early next year. That means, according to mayor Ella Brown, may allow investment into cross-country ski-training facilities for Olympic teams, for example. "I'd like to raise the level of the projects we're doing to another level," she's quoted as saying, "Let's look at the 2010 Olympics as an example."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 30, 2005

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1202

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

WHISTLER WASTEWATER UPGRADE PROJECT PROMPTED BY 2010

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) wants to beef up its sewage treatment plant by 2008 -- a project that is expected to cost more than C$26 million -- because of increased housing pressure due to the 2010 Olympics, and to eliminate, um, smells. Community planning in Whistler is performed using “bed units.” For various reasons, the RMOW had a bed-unit cap of 55,000, but when it and Vancouver won the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the bed cap was seen as being more restrictive than it should be, so it's currently being reviewed, and, according to a planner, "will likely increase by approximately 6,500 bed units over a fifteen-year period." As well, the treatment plant is not far from the intersection where the Whistler Nordic Centre access road meets Highway 99. As the planner puts it, "Odours from a number of process areas continue to be a problem. With encroaching development and the forthcoming 2010 Olympics, the RMOW has committed to a program of reducing odour to an acceptable limit." In addition, the quality of the plant's discharge water into the nearby Chekamus River, has "exceeded" its cleanliness criteria "from time to time," a situation not in keeping with VANOC's environmental-quality promises to the International Olympic Committee. Whistler only has about C$20 million set aside for the capital cost of the project, and it knows that the C$26 million cost, estimated in 2003, doesn't reflect the recent price surge in rebar/cement construction projects in western Canada. It still wants to own the facility, but it thinks it might be able to do business with a company that is willing to finance the balance of the capital cost, and accept cash-flow payments during the upgraded plant's operation.

MORE DEMOGRAPHICS OF TORINO WINTER OLYMPIC VOLUNTEERS RELEASED
Here's some more data, released today, on the volunteers that the Torino Organizing Committee chose for interviews and training to take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics, which start in February. The formal application process began in January 2004 and ended last July 31; the Torino Organizing Committee, TOROC says it will need about 25,000 volunteers to stage the Games. A little more than 41,000 filled out applications to take part. Of these, 27,000 have been given their first interview and have been involved in the training courses. 20,000 will be working to stage the Games, which include the Olympics and Paralympics, and 5,500 will be helping to put on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Those 41,000 applicants are 55% men, 63% of the total applicants are between the ages of 18 and 35. About 75% are well educated; 55% have diplomas from senior schools and 25% are university graduates. About 18% of the applicants are between 36 and 54 years old, and 19% are over 55. Among the young people, there is a high level of foreign-language fluency: 85% know at least one language beyond their own, and 51% know two or more. More than 22,000 of them, 57%, live in Torino and its neighbouring valleys; 27% come from the rest of Italy and 16% from abroad, mostly from the alpine countries, including Canada. The volunteers who are chosen will be working mostly in transportation (22%), in sports (14%) and in spectator services (13%). About 56% of the volunteers chosen will be assigned to jobs in the city of Torino, and about 44% in the mountains. They'll be given a uniform that won't be for sale to the general public, designed in the colours of the Italian Games: a red, grey and yellow anorak (a waterproof jacket with a hood), a red and yellow sweater, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a pair of padded trousers, a woollen cap, a pair of snow gloves and a rucksack. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has said it will need about 25,000 volunteers as well.

ALPINE CANADA SIGNS UP SEVERAL CORPORATE SPONSORS
Alpine Canada has been signing up a batch of new corporate sponsors in the last little while. The latest is Inniskillen, the wine-maker from Niagara Falls, Ontario, which says it will support Canada’s governing body for ski racing through cash and "in-kind contributions" aimed at enhancing, among other things, nationwide “Towards the Podium” fundraising dinners. Yesterday it signed Mt. Kirby Skis and Boards, of Oshawa, Whitby, and Peterborough Ontario. It's a two-year deal, as is Inniskillen's. Also a new sponsor: Oberson, which sells specialized sporting goods in Montreal, Québec through two large stores. Oberson, for its part, gets to sell goods with Alpine Canada's logo on them, and it will be given access to the technical knowledge of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in ski-boots adjustments and skis maintenance. Alpine Canada official retail sponsors already include Tommy & Lefebvre, Sporting Life, Snowcovers, Wild Willies, Monod Sports and Ski Cellar Snowboard. In total, they contribute more than C$100,000 to Canada’s ski racing professional and development levels.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 29, 2005

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1201
DEADLINES FOR 2010 LIVE SITES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM APPLICATIONS EXTENDED

The BC government has reset the deadline to give B.C. communities more time to apply to its 2010 Olympic Paralympic Lives Sites program.

BC's Economic Development minister, Colin Hansen, who is now the BC minister responsible for BC's aspects of the 2010 Winter Games, made the announcement at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention that is underway this week in Vancouver.

“Communities have told us they recognize the important economic impact the Games will have on the province and expressed an interest in having a larger window of opportunity to apply for legacy funding,” said Hansen. “Today we are giving more communities the chance to establish a legacy from the 2010 Games.”

The deadline for applications to the C$20-million program has been extended to March 31, 2007 and the deadline for completing projects has been extended to March 31, 2008.

The Live Sites program, which got underway last November, provides up to C$330,000 in funding for projects in communities outside of Greater Vancouver and beyond the Whistler-Squamish corridor. So far, 50 projects in the province have received a total of C$7.96 million in funding from the B.C. government. Much of that was announced during the run-up to last spring's provincial election and was conditional on legislation approving the funding be passed by BC Legislature during this fall's sitting, which is now underway.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 28, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC
VANOC| #1200
2010 CHIEF TELLS 2014 PROPONENTS THAT LEARNING AND LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS KEY TO SUCCESSFUL BID

2010's CEO, who was also the former president and chief operating officer of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, has told representatives of the seven applicant cities for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games that their organizing committee’s structure and its partnership with public authorities is important.

John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), made the comments earlier today during a briefing seminar for the 2014 proponents in the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Furlong said that he was speaking from experience, saying, “We came here [to meet the IOC] thinking we knew everything, but we didn’t know anything at all.” And, he told the proponents, it was this realization that was one of the factors that contributed to Vancouver 2010 becoming what he called 'a learning organization right from the outset."

He also emphasized the importance of learning from the Olympic movement because, he said, "if you learn and you create a strong legacy from the bid, then, even if you don’t win, you will at least have created a strong project that will help your country in years to come." And he added, “Only one city will go home a champion, but everyone wants to go home a winner.”

He also spoke about the importance of the relationship between the organizing committee and the public authorities of a host country. Furlong used the example of the Multi Party Agreement (MPA) that Vancouver 2010 set up with all of their local public authority partners -- including the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Furlong told the group this "critical document" was a key success factor for the organizing committee in bringing the Games to Vancouver, because it guaranteed the unity and partnership between all the principal stakeholder groups in Canada, and laid the ground for a smooth transition from bid committee to organizing committee.

The close cooperation, he said, “created an environment where every partner was respectful for the legacies of the other.” The concept of legacy is an important element of every Olympic Games, as the IOC has emphasized with its Olympic Games Study Commission report, he said.

Furlong described how legacy and sustainability are at VANOC’s foundation, not simply in terms of construction and venues but also in terms of the social impacts that the Games will have on people. Staff working for VANOC, for example, work under the fundamental principal that they are “contributing to nation-building, and contributing to something important to their country.”

The seven cities are still in the early preparations of their bid, and the meeting, called by the IOC to last four days, is designed to provide background and experience to the process, and they'll hear from other Games organizers as well. A decision on which city will be awarded the Games, which are the ones that follow 2010's, will be made in 2007.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 28, 2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1199
RONA CEO SAYS SPONSORSHIP OF 2010 GAMES DONE FOR ITS VALUE AS A ROLE MODEL TO YOUNG EMPLOYEES

The president and CEO of 2010 Olympic Games sponsor Robert Dutton says the business rationale for supporting the Games wasn't his prime motivator for being a sponsor: it was just something he really wanted to do for his employees.

Dutton, who works at the company's headquarters in Quebec, says that over the years, he's had the chance to talk to a lot of young people about his job, their careers and their work at Rona stores. Now, Dutton, for the first time, explains why he ensured his company became involved in the Games with a C$68-million sponsorship deal reached last spring; a deal which includes about C$38 million that will go towards development of an "Athletes' Centre" in Whistler. In his own words:

"I realized that lots of young people don't have a chance to have a dream. They don't have a chance to say, 'What can I do in my life?' They don't have a [role] model. I was upset with myself, and I asked myself, 'What can I do?' Well, I can create jobs in Canada, and I want young people to have interesting jobs in Canada. And we have to give young people a model.

"When my marketing people came to me with the possibility of working with the 2010 Olympics, I was excited about the fact that we could put it in our stores as a model. Athletes are role models. For two, three, five, 10 years, they train themselves for one or two minutes of specific competition. They can win, they can lose, but they have strong values. They are models of courage and determination, and that's why, for me, [the 2010 Winter Games are] a huge opportunity to give to my 22,000 employees in our stores a model than can inspire them and help them to have a dream.

"When they told me that I was going to meet John Furlong [CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC)] in Vancouver, I thought his ego was going to be huge. But the guy is fantastic. I was impressed with the values of this guy, the dream he has, the fact they don't want them to be BC's Games or Vancouver's Games, he wants them to be Canada's Games. He wants to be sure that all parts of Canada are going to be involved in the success of the Winter Games in 2010.

"It was those two factors that encouraged me to participate in [the sponsorship arrangement with VANOC]. It was not only a question of business. I'm sure that if you are a good company, with social participation, you are going to have success, but that's the reason why we are with the Olympics."

The home-renovations supplier has about C$4 billion in annual revenues, and operates a network of 530 franchised, affiliated or corporate stores of various sizes and formats throughout the country. In addition to the Athlete Centre funding, Rona will contribute C$22 million towards VANOC's own logistical and materials-support as the 2010 group begins its renovations of several venues in the Greater Vancouver area, and C$8 million will go toward support and sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic teams that will be going to the next four Olympic Games: 2006 in Torino, Italy next February, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, and the 2012 Summer Games in London, England.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1198

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

USER SATISFACTION REPORTED AVERAGE FOR LEED BUILDINGS, SAYS NEW STUDY

The 2010 Winter Olympics construction policy is to build the Vancouver and Whistler Athlete Villages and some venues to LEED Silver standards, but a new California study shows user satisfaction with LEED buildings is no better than average, particularly in light and sound factors. The first consistently performed study of satisfaction, "Occupant Satisfaction with LEED Buildings--A First Glimpse", was done by the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment (CBE), and its first, admittedly preliminary, results show that in the 13 LEED-built projects of 180 buildings in the CBE's database, "Occupants rate the air quality and thermal comfort of their LEED buildings quite highly, but feel mixed about the lighting and are generally dissatisfied with the acoustics. Interestingly, occupants gave their 'overall building' a higher rating than they gave their 'overall workspace.' But even that's not much. Five of the 13 buildings got good overall reviews, while the others were deemed average at best. In the workspace category, seven of the LEED buildings were rated as average. For lighting, seven of the 13 rated poor to average, while all 13 projects rated poor to average in acoustics -- and users across the board are not all that happy with building acoustics at the best of times. The CBE said the acoustic issues had to do with sound, usually people talking, carrying across the open spaces that such buildings tend to have. The CBE concedes that "occupant satisfaction isn’t easy to measure, and good data is hard to come by." The 180 projects, the study notes, are weighted toward US government office buildings for various reasons, but there are a range of complexes included. Further details of the study are to be released in November.

VANOC BRIEFS 2014 GAMES DELEGATES
VANOC CEO John Furlong is on the agenda of a four-day series of briefing meetings at the headquarters for the International Olympics Committee in Lausanne, Swizterland, which got underway today. The seminar is for prospective cities vying for the 2014 Winter Olympics: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Borjomi, Georgia; Jaca, Spain; PyeongChang, South Korea; Salzburg, Austria; Sochi, Russia and Sofia, Bulgaria. Furlong and his 2010 group will be discussing lessons learned during the 2010 bidding process, as part of the IOC's formal Transfer of Knowledge program. IOC president Jacque Rogge, who opened the meeting today told the proponents' representatives to develop a strict focus as they prepare their bids, such as "managing the cost and complexity of the games; putting athletes and sport at the heart of your bid; and on focusing on technical excellence, not on things which are not essential." The cities have until February to reply to a formal IOC questionnaire. The IOC executive board will meet next June to decide whether to accept all the bids or create a short list. The host city will be selected by the full IOC delegates in Guatemala in July 2007.

CANADIAN WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM MEMBERS FUNDED TO 2010
There's been some additional funding provided to the Canadian Women's Hockey team in the time leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Hockey Canada reports that Dan O'Neill, who stepped down from the presidency of the huge brewing firm, Molson, has donated C$500,000 to the Canadian Hockey Foundation. The Foundation, in turn, will use it to provide C$5,000 to each woman hockey player named to Canada's final roster of major international tournaments, starting with those named to the 2006 Winter Olympics, which is to be held in Torino, Italy, in February. About 27 women, training in Calgary, are eligible at the moment. Further donations will be made to those named in future championships between then and the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Molson, as a corporation, has donated to the Canadian Women's Hockey team in the past.

RESOURCES

Here is the CBE's distribution chart showing how 13 LEED buildings, which are circled, fared in user satisfaction against 180 non-LEED buildings. (The designation "CBF" stands for a particular project highlighted in another CBE study):
http://www.buildinggreen.com/articleimages/1406/LEED_chart.jpg

More detailed information is available in a PDF (870kb) of a presentation done by the CBE:
http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/research/pdf_files/ULI_June2005.pdf

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 27, 2005

Monday, September 26, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1197
2010 LEGACIES NOW LAUNCHES WEBSITE TO RECRUIT A MILLION CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS BY 2012

2010 Legacies Now, a non-profit society, has launched an Internet-based registration system on a website for volunteers, and it says it has a target of registering one million Canadians on VolWeb.ca by 2012.

The website will initially connect volunteers across British Columbia with organizers planning sporting and community events such as the Grey Cup Canadian football championship, the World Junior Hockey Championships in Vancouver this December, and the annual Hyack Community Festival in New Westminster. Part of the concept is to help develop a volunteer base experienced in hosting large sporting events prior to volunteers being recruited for the 2010 Games. About 25,000 volunteers are expected to be needed for the Games themselves.

The new program was unveiled at the launch of Volunteers Now, part of a plan by 2010 Legacies Now to develop Canada's volunteer sector for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, but also to expand it into a legacy program following the Games.

As part of the registration process, volunteers must agree to a 4,411-word legal agreement that, among other things, absolves 2010 Legacies Now of any problems or issues associated with using the site to volunteer, including a discussion of how personal information is handled and the fact that the organization isn't necessarily responsible for vetting an organization seeking volunteers. Besides providing the information to those seeking volunteers, the agreement says LegaciesNow might also provide it, with some protections, to "to its affiliates, agents, suppliers and service providers."

The program, called “Everyone has a Gift to Give”, was publicized this morning at Richmond City Hall and included the Linda Reid, BC's minister of state for Early Childhood Development, Marion Lay, the president and CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, the member of the BC legislature for Richmond-Steveston John Yap, and a director the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), Charmaine Crooks.

Lay says the website, "will help capture the enthusiasm and excitement people have about the numerous events coming to British Columbia and Canada over the next few years.”

The launch promotion previewed the web site, which was developed by Volunteers Now in partnership with Volunteer BC, Sport Web Canada, and other volunteer organizations, to attract and place volunteers.

Olga Ilich, who is BC's minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts as well as an MLA for Richmond Centre, says, “Volunteering is such an important part of B.C.’s high quality of life, both as it benefits the community and as it benefits the volunteers themselves. With major events like Grey Cup and the World Junior Hockey Championships fast approaching, there are more opportunities than ever for British Columbians to share their time and talent." She added that the website would "make the process of matching organizers and interested volunteers so much easier.”

Crooks, a five-time Olympic athlete who is also titled "Honourary Ambassador" for the Volunteers Now program, says that, “As an Olympic athlete, I fully understand the important role volunteers play in helping to make community and sporting events a great success. With the overall rate of volunteerism on the decline throughout Canada, VolWeb.ca will play a crucial role in helping to reverse that trend over the long-term.”

RESOURCES

The 2010 Volunteers website:
http://www.volweb.ca

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 26, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1196
BC ADDS ANOTHER C$3 MILLION TO 2010-RELATED ABORIGINAL CENTRE IN WHISTLER

The BC government has decided to double to C$6 million its support for the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, partly the outcome of an arrangement to gain support of the Squamish and Lil'wat aboriginal groups for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

That appears to bring the amount of financial support for the complex, budgeted at C$19 million, to at least C$13.7 million (we are still checking this, due to the wording of funding documents as it may be up to C$16.7 million). It also makes the BC government the single largest contributor to the project. In 2003 the Squamish and Lil’wat aboriginal bands received C$3 million in provincial "economic measures" funding and C$4.7 million from the federal government for the development of the centre. And, as part of its sponsorship arrangement with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), Bell Canada said last spring that it would contribute C$3 million to the funding. VANOC itself is not funding any aspect of the project, and it's not part of VANOC's list of venues.

Three of VANOC's major venues are to be built on land claimed by the two aboriginal groups. The announcement today stems from a Mutual Letter of Understanding written by VANOC on February 2 and co-signed by the bands, in which VANOC makes a list of promises. One of those was that it would continue advocating for "more support" for the Squamish-Lil'wat Cultural Centre. The promises were in exchange for the Squamish and Lil'wat giving their approval on a required environmental certificate, for the start of construction, then imminent, of the Whistler Nordic Centre and the Whistler Sliding Centre, and for agreeing to set up separate negotiations about the extended trail system of the Nordic Centre.

The centre is scheduled to open in the summer of 2007 and, so far, is being built solely by aboriginal companies, including New Haven Construction, a firm 51% owned by the Squamish band. Lumber is being provided, and the foundation work is being done by aboriginal firms as well.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell announced the decision alongside Jack Poole, chairman of the VANOC Board of Directors, Squamish chief Gibby Jacob, who is also a director of VANOC, Lil’wat chief Leonard Andrew, and representatives from Bell Canada and the acting mayor of Whistler at a ceremony marking the start of the facility's construction. The participants signed a scroll about the project, and placed it in a tube in the building's cornerstone.

Campbell says, "This project, which is already bringing jobs to this area, will be a permanent Olympic legacy. This centre will be a first-of-its-kind cultural tourism attraction, promoting understanding across cultures and across generations." Poole says the centre is the outgrowth of "a new respect and appreciation for the contributions" of aboriginal groups in BC, adding, "We are proud to have played our role to create this legacy," which he called "a great addition to 2010, and for many years to come." Linda Oglov, Bell Canada's vice-president of Olympic Planning for Bell Canada, says the centre, "is going to be about connecting people, which is something that Bell does every day."

Located on 1.6 hectares of leased provincial Crown land in Whistler’s Upper Village, the Centre will promote aboriginal cultures in British Columbia, Canada and internationally.

A permanent display area will contain Squamish and Lil’wat cultural and heritage materials; another display area will offer visiting collections. The entire project will be a main building of about 2,600 square metres (28,000 square feet) and a so-called "eco-tour" building about 220 square metres (2,400 square feet). The building will act as a ‘doorway to the forest’ and is being constructed to qualify for certification under the Canada Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

The project will provide approximately 45 full-time jobs over the construction period, an estimated 20 permanent jobs once it's in operation, and 20 part-time jobs during the peak tourism months, according to planners.

Recognizing the 2010 Winter Games will take place in the shared territories of the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations, the provincial government, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, and the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations signed a Shared Legacies agreement in November 2002. The agreement includes land for economic development, a skills and training project and a naming and recognition project.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 26, 2005

Friday, September 23, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government, VANOC| #1195
2010 WHISTLER ATHLETE VILLAGE'S INITIAL PLANS SHOW DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION TIMING TO BE TIGHT

The resort municipality of Whistler and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) have released their first outline of how the 2010 Whistler Athlete Village is to be developed.

The development, in a general sense, is be built in a similar way to how VANOC is dealing with the Vancouver Athlete Village: VANOC and Whistler Council have agreed that Council will look after the planning and development of the Village according to some general and specific guidelines provided by VANOC, along with some specific timelines and the promised funding of the construction of the Village and related areas.

The funding of C$46 million is made up of C$26 million that will be provided to Whistler for the project, while an additional C$13.5 million is allocated for a proposed Athlete Centre, which is to accommodate up to 500 athletes in Whistler for training or competition, is also proposed as a permanent structure. The remainder is C$6.5 million for aboriginal housing.

The 2010 Village is to be constructed, as best possible, so that it can be used for resident housing after the 2010 Games are finished. Whistler is responsible for the overall integration of the Village into its short- and long-term requirements for the wider area, and much of the draft plan is focused on that entire location, not just the Village.

And, just as it's done with Vancouver, VANOC will take possession of the constructed Whistler Athlete Village by August 31, 2009, install VANOC's overlay requirements -- security, medical and commercial services, primarily -- use it for the duration of the Games, and then, once it removes its overlay by May 31, 2010, the village will be turned over to Whistler for continuation of the residential area.

There are some differences. Vancouver has decided to set up a neighbourhood development office as part of the city bureaucracy that will develop the southeast False Creek 2010 village as part of a much larger urban renewal project. That bureaucracy will hire consultants, architects, engineers and a developer as needed to deal with the aspects of that project. That's the same model Vancouver used for development of other parts of the False Creek area over the past three decades.

Whistler, on the other hand, has set up a stand-alone development company under the Business Corporations Act of BC, the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, with a board of directors that's heavy on business people with real estate experience but with municipal and VANOC staff as well, to oversee its project. It's job is to do the planning, figure out the financing and then develop the Village and deal with it after the Games are gone. To help it do that, it's hired a firm from Vancouver, Ekistics, which is working with the Whistler firm of Brent Harley Associates, as the primary consultants responsible for preparing the master plan and getting the necessary municipal approvals. A company called Squirell & Associates has been hired to oversee the financial aspects.

The Village is to be located on the south side of the municipality and, if you're coming to Whistler from Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky highway, you'll encounter it a few minutes after you pass the turnoff to VANOC's Whistler Nordic Centre and a few minutes before you arrive at Whistler. It'll be located across from the Function Junction neighborhood, and has the Whistler Interpretive Forest -- a joint project of the municipality, the BC government's Ministry of Forests and Western Forest Products, a forest company -- and the Cheakamus River adjacent to it. It is 10 kilometers from Whistler Village and 12 kms from the Nordic Centre in Callaghan Valley.

The Village is planned to be about 30 hectares (75 acres) on the 300-acre parcel of land that's been donated to Whistler by the BC government, with about one million square feet of development, half of that allocated to 478 units of Olympic housing. It is to house about 2,800 athletes, including support staff. Since the 2010 Paralympics will take place entirely at Whistler -- assuming the controversial sledge-hockey arena is built there -- so the entire area is to be designed to be accessible for these athletes.

There are five main components and these are the same as the Vancouver Athlete Village: a residential zone, an international zone that will have a security fence between it and the residential area during the Games, a transport mall, a main catering facility, and an operations-support area. There will also be facilities for teams, a "multi-faith religious centre," medical clinics, recreation facilities, some retail space -- Internet cafes, dry-cleaning and that sort of thing -- a 24-hour catering operation, some areas set aside for VANOC's warehousing requirements to support the Village, a drivers' lounge for the busses that will be used to take athletes between the Village and the Games venues in the Whistler area, plus some office space, support space and the Village media centre, which will be used for interviews and anchor desks.

The Village will be in use by VANOC for only two months. The media centre is expected to open for business on January 15, 2010 as an estimated 5,000 reporters and technical people arrive to set up their equipment and begin their commentaries on the area for an audience estimated to be just over two billion people around the world.

The Village itself will open on February 5, 2010, for about 3,000 Olympic athletes and their supporting staff from about 80 countries. The opening ceremony for the 2010 Games is set for February 12, and the closing ceremony on February 28 and the Village will be temporarily closed on March 3 while workers prepare it for the Paralympic athletes. The 1,700 Paralympic athletes and their supporting officials from 40 countries will start to arrive at the Village on March 6. The opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games is scheduled for March 12, 2010, and the closing ceremony on March 21. The village will close permanently on March 24, and the Olympic overlay will be removed over the next two months.

Site servicing and architectural design will begin shortly, as adoption of the planning and the required zoning aspects for the whole area, along with an official Canadian environmental assessment review that began earlier this year, will occur by March. Construction, which can't start until the environmental review certificate is issued, is expected to start next spring, and it's expected to take two years to be completed. The village, like the one in Vancouver, is to be built to at least a LEED Silver environmental standard and it's proposed that it focus on other environmentally desirable aspects, such as alternate ways of using or recovering energy. The location is near the site of a Whistler garbage land fill that is due to be closed in November, and the soils in some of the areas are quite contaminated, according to studies done by the Cascade Environmental Resource Group, but there are significant contamination issues at the site of the Vancouver Village as well.

Engineering consultant and the principal of Keen Concepts, Jennifer Sanguinetti, says the Village will need 4.3 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year, with a peak demand of 2.6 million kilowatts in the dead of winter. She's whittled the energy-use options to seven for the Village, ranging from expensive bio-mass plants -- the ones that are likely to be touted as providing environmental "leadership"-- to much less expensive, but ordinary electrical baseboard heating using the local BC Hydro power grid. Option 5, which involves using landfill-generated methane with natural gas from a Terasen pipeline, seems the most likely compromise between price and "leadership."

It looks like Function Junction will be the access to the Village from Highway 99, but for security and servicing purposes, there will also be a secondary road, which appears to involve a second bridge over the nearby Cheakamus River, built to the Village and it's not yet decided whether that road will be made permanent. Traffic will loop through the Village and then back out to the highway again, with quite a bit of pedestrian orientation within the Village itself.

There's still lots of fact-finding work to do.Consultants are currently working on a housing-needs assessment, a separate commercial-needs assessment, a business plan for the Village to ensure it is financially self-sustaining after the Games, and a financial pro-forma analysis.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 23, 2005

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1194

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

WHISTLER DEADLINE FOR SLEDGE-HOCKEY ARENA RESET TO OCT 31 AND MAYBE LONGER

Whistler Municipal Council has accepted an offer by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to extend the sledge hockey arena decision for one month. A decision on the location of the arena is now due October 31. VANOC has also offered a further extension if a referendum is necessary. It's also told council that it has reduced the required number of seats at the arena to 2700 from 3000. Council has also scheduled an open house for the public with what it calls "new information" has been scheduled for October 6, from 3 pm to 7 pm at Whistler's Spruce Grove Field House. The open house will discuss in detail the different options for the development proposed by Whistler's design consultant, Eldon Beck, and by Norbert Doeblin, a local business executive, for one of the key properties in the Village suggested for the arena, Lot 1/9, as well as new information on programming and sponsorship potential, plus comparative costs of arenas in BC.

WHISTLER ATHLETE VILLAGE PLAN MADE PUBLIC
Whistler got a good first look at the proposed development of the 2010 Athlete Village this week. We'll have a detailed report on Friday, including timelines, environmental issues and concerns, and how 2010 sponsor Rona is to be involved.

NORDIC GROOMING MACHINE FUNDED BY BC GOVERNMENT
The Wells Gray Outdoors Club, located north of Kamloops in BC's central interior, will be able to purchase a new Nordic grooming machine thanks to $106,000 in funding from the province's Olympic/Paralympic Live Sites program. Funding for the project comes from the province's $20 million commitment to the Live Sites program, which ensures that a share of the benefits of hosting the 2010 Winter Games are made available to residents of the province, beyond the immediate Olympic-venue towns and cities.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 22, 2005

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1193

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

COMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE ON OVAL LANDS

The silty Fraser River delta lands on which the City of Richmond is building the C$60-million speedskating oval for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) requires preparation measures that are unusual in most other locales. The local construction industry has a lot of expertise with it, however. Construction on the oval, which has been underway for two months now, involves compression -- densification is the word that is used -- of ground on the large Richmond Oval site. Vibration compactors, which begin the compression sequence, will be working on the site for the next few months, with preloading of the site to begin shortly. About 100,000 cubic metres of sand will be placed on the building site; the weight of the sand helps ensure the ground on which the Oval is to be built will be stable. The sand pile is to be about six metres high and about 200 metres square. To give you a sense of how big that is, picture an international-sized hockey rink and now make a square with six of them. The pre-load will be in place until construction of the 33,000-square metre Richmond Oval sports complex will begin in May. Total cost of the Oval and its related projects, including the waterfront park, plaza and parkade, is C$178 million. Richmond is responsible for funding the complex above the amount provided by VANOC for the oval. Dominion Fairmile Construction is acting as the City's construction management team; Cannon Design is working on the complex itself; foundation contracts were dealt with during the summer -- Agra Foundations Ltd had the low bid of C$2.87 million, but scope of work was reduced and the Agra's final arrangement was for C$2.79 million. The preload contract was won by Delta Aggregates on a tender of C$326,885.

VISA CANADA LAUNCHES KIDS' ART PROMOTION AS 2006 TIE-IN...
Visa Canada, the Canadian branch of the credit-card company, which is also an international sponsor of the Olympics and the 2010 Winter Games, is using VANOC's help this year to promote its regular national Canadian kid's art contest that uses the Olympics as a theme. The idea, now in it's 11th year, is to market Visa's Olympic connections as the Torino Winter Olympics, set for February, approaches; VANOC goes along with it because it has agreements with the Canadian Olympic Committee to pitch the Torino Games in Canada, but it also shows how VANOC sees itself working with sponsors. The marketing includes a media event at a local school for each of the major cities in Canada that interests Visa Canada; the Mount Pleasant elementary school, for instance, was used in Vancouver today. Running until November 25, the 2006 Visa Olympics of the Imagination Art Challenge (VOI) encourages Canadian children between the ages of nine and 13 to draw a flag they've created. The flag is supposed to represent the Olympic Winter Sport in which the child would most like to compete. From the entries -- Visa Canada expects thousands -- it will select one artist each in December from four of what it considers to be the main regions in Canada - Western Canada, Central Canada, Quebec and the Maritimes. The choice, says Visa Canada, is to be based on "artistic merit, originality and ability to communicate the theme in their art." These four are to compete with other winners of similar contests from around the world for "Best of Show" at the Torino Games in Italy, with the prize at trip for two to the 2008 Beijing Summer Games in China. You can expect something similar from Visa for the Beijing Games when they roll around, and, in turn, the 2010 Games as well. Andrea Shaw, the vice president of Sponsorship Sales and Marketing for VANOC is being quoted in the marketing as saying, "The VOI program is so unique because it gives Canadian children the opportunity to use their artistic talent to learn about the most celebrated sporting event in the world, while at the same time giving them the chance to be a part of the Olympic Games. As we gear up for Vancouver 2010, we're looking forward to seeing some of the amazing artwork submitted by Canadian kids in this year's competition, and will be cheering them on as they vie for a chance to attend the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games."

...AND SO DOES MCDONALD'S
Speaking of international Olympic sponsors, the Torino Games and marketing, McDonald's Restaurants, also another 2010 sponsor via its Canadian section, has launched its "Go Active! Fitness Challenge" program in Canada. The Challenge, it hopes, will become an annual program in which Canadian elementary schools can take with the goal of "helping keep students active." Elementary schools in the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador have chosen to not take part. Participating teachers are to test their students on a series of six exercises, consisting of sit-ups, push-ups, the 50-metre dash, a shuttle run, a standing long-jump and an endurance run. The test happens once in the fall and again in the spring, and they kids are told to aim for their own improvement. Schools can earn up to C$500 in credits towards new gym equipment for themselves if they complete the program. You're right; we've reported on this before. Last year, it was a pilot program. McDonald's reports that during that session, 141 schools and 16,333 students completed the Challenge. It says they were able to improve on all of the six exercises involved by an average of 7%. McDonald's has had an active community-relations department, which includes things like this, for more than a decade, and the company is good at it.

RESOURCES

An earlier story we wrote that puts McDonald's marketing in perspective:

'McDonald's ties 2010 Olympic branding to 'Lifestyles' marketing program until new plans are finalized with VANOC'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:914; Published on Friday, April 1, 2005]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 20, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1192
RICHMOND SEEKS OUT ART CONSULTANT TO DEVELOP PUBLIC ART PLAN FOR 2010 OLYMPIC OVAL

The City of Richmond is looking for an art consultant to help it prepare a public art plan as well as a strategy to implement it for the 2010 Olympic speedskating oval.

The idea, according to Richmond planners, is to identify "specific integrated public-art opportunities as part of the facility and [its] surrounding open spaces, and project opportunities before and after 2010." A budget of C$70,000 is offered for the planning.

The City wants the consultant to deal with public art themes and concepts, look for ways to integrate public art into the design of the oval complex's building systems and elements, flag public-art project locations within the oval and on its surrounding public areas, consider possible future public art opportunities, figure out a budget for each project, and recommend priorities for various projects -- for instance, should they be implemented before or after 2010.

The City is asking for proposals by prospective consultants, saying that drafts of the plan will have to be cleared by a committee comprising City staff, the oval's architectural team -- headed by Cannon Design -- as well as the Public Art Commission, Richmond's Oval Community Committees and, of course, City Council.

There's a bit of a rush on it. Right now, the architectural design team is nearing completion of the schematic design and planners expect the design development phase for the complex will be completed by January. In order to incorporate art into the building design, its fabric and systems, most of the work on the public art plan has to be completed before construction drawings are started in January. Construction itself is due to start next May.

Those interested in the concept have to get their proposal into Richmond city hall by October 3. That document, besides outlining the proponent's philosophy of art, experience and references, is also to include a "detailed proposal of what will be delivered, including the expected outcome and benefits to the City of Richmond."

Staff will draw up a short list and give it to the senior management group about a week later. A report on the short list will go to Richmond City Council's General Purposes Committee for its October 17th meeting. It is to make a recommendation on who to hire to city council at its October 24 meeting, and the consultant is expected to start work with the architects the next day.

The first draft of the art plan is expected by November 18, with presentations to be made from November 23 to 27. The plan is to be considered by city council December 12. The implementation phase runs from there until 2010.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 20, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government
VANOC| #1191
WHISTLER 2010 OLYMPIC ATHLETE VILLAGE MASTER PLAN TO BE UNVEILED TOMORROW

The public will get its first look tomorrow at the draft master plan for the Whistler athlete village and its use after the Games as a new resident-restricted neighbourhood.

The Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, formed by the municipality to develop the village and neighbourhood, will present the draft master plan and the Spruce Grove Field House, followed by a question-and-answer.

VANOC is following essentially the same course in Whistler as it is in Vancouver: it has turned the development process over to the city so the city can plan for legacy uses of the buildings required by VANOC, which contributes a specific amount of funding and expertise to the project for its portion of the development, and imposes a timeline for what it needs. The community, in turn, hires the consultants and developers and decides what it will do with the area beyond Olympic requirements according to its own community needs and planning.

The planning process began nine months ago, after the site was chosen during a lengthy public process, with surveys of the site, located in the Cheakamus valley across from Function Junction.

Surveys, geotechnical assessments, site analysis, natural hazards assessments, environmental screening, sun orientations, views lines and heritage studies were all ordered for use during the design and construction phase. The prime consultant, Ekistics/Brent Harley Associates, was selected and a 30-person design exercise -- which they called a "charrette" -- was held to come up with the what the Village would look like as far as its environment, natural spaces, and affordability in 2020.

As that was established, the group worked with VANOC to figure out how the Games would use it, including how the VANOC overlay, which is to be set up in the village in the summer of 2009, would work.

VANOC needs 325 dwelling units in a mix of housing types, along with other services, such as transportation, catering, and operations. The area can accommodate significantly more than what is required by the Games.

The master planning process also involved incorporating the Comprehensive Transportation Strategy developed by the municipality's transportation advisory group, the Whistler Housing Authority data and design philosophy by Eldon Beck, the designer of Whistler Village.

After the public meeting, plans for the village will be finalized and the rezoning process is expected to begin in December. Site preparation is slated for 2006 with construction beginning in 2007. The Olympic village will be completed and turned over to VANOC for overlay and its exclusive use by August 31, 2009.

BACKGROUND
==========

What's a charette?

According to Martin Aurand, the Architecture Librarian and Archivist at Carnegie Melon University, "the term “charette” evolved from a pre-1900 exercise at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. Architectural students were given a design problem to solve within an allotted time. When that time was up, the students would rush their drawings from the studio to the Ecole in a cart called a charrette. Students often jumped in the cart to finish drawings on the way. The term evolved to refer to the intense design exercise itself. Today it refers to a creative process akin to visual brainstorming that is used by design professionals to develop solutions to a design problem within a limited timeframe."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 20, 2005

Monday, September 19, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1190
COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS LINE-UP TO SUPPORT WHISTLER-BASED SLEDGE HOCKEY FOR 2010

Three major commercial organizations and a former member of the 2010 Bid corporation have all urged Whistler City Council to proceed with the controversial sledge-hockey rink proposed for the city by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

In letters sent to Council in the last few days leading up to a debate by alderman on whether to accept a VANOC proposal to extend its required deadline for an answer to October 31, the support arrived from Tourism Whistler and the Whistler-Blackcomb Mountain Resorts company, as well as from a founding director of BidCorp, Don Rosenbloom, a Vancouver lawyer with the firm of Rosenbloom and Aldridge.

Rosenbloom told council that, "In the early days of the bid, we had a vision of Whistler living the Olympic legacy for decades after the Games... I always envisioned an Olympic structure within the town centre that would stand for generations as a monument and a memory of our participation in this wonderful world celebration... The only proposed structure of any importance in the village centre that would offer Whistler that legacy was the Paralympic sledge hockey rink."

Rosenbloom adds that "It is critical than VANOC and the municipality appreciate that we are not talking here about a Paralympic sledge hockey rink. The proposed building must be seen as Whistler's Olympic Centre, the focal point of the main games and the Paralympics."

Tourism Whistler president Barrett Fisher says his organization supports, "building a new NHL-sized ice rink in Whistler for the benefit of the community, business and tourism" and it also supports "building an interactive tourism amenity... Before 2010 which would serve as an Olympic legacy for Whistler."

Meanwhile, Dave Brownlie, the chief operating officer of Whistler Blackcomb Resorts, says "we support development of the hockey arena" in either of the proposed locations, but, he adds, if there is a commitment to build the arena in the Meadowpark area, there "must also be a commitment to build an interactive tourism amenity" on the other location, "which would serve as an Olympic legacy for Whistler."

And the chair of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors, Greg Newton, says his group also endorses the NHL-sized rink and "interactive tourism amenity."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 19, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1189

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC EXTENSION FOR SLEDGE HOCKEY DECISION CONSIDERED

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has offered to extend the deadline for a decision from Whistler on the location of the sledge hockey ice facility to October 31. The extension would enable municipal staff to pursue in further detail the various options, including one put forward by a local business owner, and allow for more public input. Council is considering the extension at its meeting tonight.

ITALIAN GAMES PROMOTIONAL TOUR STARTS IN VANCOUVER THURSDAY
TOROC, the organizing committee for next February's Winter Olympics, has put together a promotional tour about those Games that's going to select cities in select countries, and Vancouver is one of them. The tour, which consists of 12 panels, eight screens and 12 banners, opens at the city's Harbour Centre on Thursday and will be open to the public until October 1. The marketing for the tour itself includes a preview of it for media on Thursday, hosted by TOROC vice-president, Bruno Rambaudi, the consul general for Italy in Vancouver, Uberto Vanni D’archirafi, and the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Vancouver, Antonio Cosenz. The Institute is a major contributor to the Italian Games. Other cities on the tour, which began a few months ago: Berlin, Paris, London -- where the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held -- Sarajevo, Aichi, Zurich, Beijing -- home of the 2008 Summer Olympics -- and New York, to name many of them. Why Sarajevo? In the Bosnian capital there will be an event connected with a project to clear the Sarajevo Olympic sites of mines laid during the Bosnian civil war, and the city will sign TOROC's official appeal from October 25 to the 27th for an Olympic truce during the Italian Games, which the United Nations is expected to accept with a vote on a resolution in New York on November 3.

SUN PEAKS TO VIE FOR 2010 SKIER TRAINING
The ski resort of Sun Peaks, near Kamloops, in BC's south-central area, is joining the list of locations that's after 2010 Olympic-bound nations with offers for practice. The first part of a three-phase project to revamp the resort, headed by former ski Olympian Nancy Green Raine, is designed to meet International Ski Federation specifications for both slalom and giant slalom, and cost about C$1 million, including snow-making equipment safety netting and wiring for electronic time-keeping has been installed. It's expected to open for the season in November. Resort manager Darcy Alexander says the development, part of a long-range plan, was accelerated once the 2010 Winter Olympics were awarded to Vancouver and Whistler. Invermere has a similar site.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 19, 2005

Friday, September 16, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1188
KARACTERS DESIGN GROUP AWARDED RFP FOR PARALYMPIC LOGO AND 2010 BRANDING

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has selected Karacters Design Group, an integrated design and branding division of DDB Canada, to design the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games emblem. The logo is expected to be introduced before the Torino 2006 Winter Games takes place next February.

Karacters has headquarters in Vancouver, with offices in Edmonton and Toronto, and specializes in branding.

Unlike the controversial contest that resulted in the development of the main 2010 Olympics logo, Karacters was chosen through a competitive Request for Proposals process that began June 20 and that VANOC says drew interest from design firms across Canada.

The RFP that Karacters won included development of the Vancouver 2010 image and brand-identity system that will form the creative platform for all Vancouver 2010 design applications and includes letterhead, colours, typefaces, posters, banners and the like.

There will be one more design aspect, which is the Games-time program - also called "Look of the Games".

As VANOC prepares to send a team to the Torino 2006 Winter Games, Karacters will work with the Organizing Committee staff to develop specific communications materials about the 2010 Games, and these materials are to be officially unveiled in Torino.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 16, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #1187
PARALYMPIC ORGANIZATION ON VENUE TOUR AS TRANSFER-OF-KNOWLEDGE WORKSHOP ENDS IN VANCOUVER

The International Paralympic Committee executive today wraps up a three-day, closed-door meeting with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) by touring Game venues in Vancouver and Whistler.

IPC CEO Xavier Gonzalez, whose headquarters is in Bonn, Germany, says, "The Paralympic Workshop has given the IPC an excellent opportunity to bring the Paralympic movement and what we are about closer to VANOC staff."

The Paralympic Games in 2010 are expected to be staged only in Whistler. It's expected there will be five Paralympic sports in 2010 -- alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. It's possible that list could change, but the expectation that it would do so at this stage is not high. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is debating whether it wants to host sledge hockey, which would involve construction of a rink that appears to be too expensive. Council is expected to debate the matter on Monday. VANOC has said it has discussed the possibility of hosting sledge hockey with the towns of Squamish and Pemberton, but won't make any decisions on the matter until it hears from Whistler.

VANOC staff characterized the meetings as a transfer of knowledge and experience from the IPC to VANOC. The first day, which, they said, was attended by almost all VANOC staff, included an overview of the IPC and the way it works, the Paralympic movement -- such as sponsors, coaches and athletes -- and the way it and the IPC see the Games, as well as lessons learned from previous Paralympic Summer and Winter Games.

On the second day of the workshop, the current state of VANOC's planning for how the 2010 Games are expected to be operated -- including sport, venues, accessibility, media operations, communications and marketing -- were discussed with staff from various VANOC departments, with the IPC staff commenting on their aspects of it.

This final day, a venue tour is taking place in Vancouver and Whistler.

VANOC CEO John Furlong has often said that he is committed to staging a Paralympic Winter Games that are essentially seamless. Today, he reiterated that, adding, "We will look at what has been done by others and we will raise the bar.”

Vancouver, though it chose to stage the Paralympic Games, will be the last city with that choice. Following an agreement signed between the IPC and the International Olympic Committee in 2001, the city chosen to host the Olympic Games will be obliged to also host the Paralympics, starting with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

The Paralympic Workshop is conducted by the IPC as part of the Olympic Games Knowledge Management, a process that was formalized by the IOC following the Australian Summer Olympics in 2000.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 16, 2005

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1186
FAIRMONT HOTELS TO SELL LAND NEAR 2010 MEDIA CENTRE FOR LUXURY HOTEL, CONDOS FOR C$68 MILLION

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc (TSX/NYSE: FHR) has agreed to sell some undeveloped land adjacent to the expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre to Westbank, a Vancouver-based developer in partnership with Peterson Investment Group for C$68 million. The sale is from a joint venture that's 75% owned by FHR.

Westbank plans to develop a hotel and residential condo project on the site, and has hired FHR on a long-term agreement to manage the hotel. The closing date for the land sale is anticipated to be no later than November 30, 2006.

The planned 415-room luxury hotel will be adjacent to 200 residential condos. The hotel is expected to open in mid-2009, shortly after the Convention centre expansion is complete and before the 2010 Olympics. The expansion will house the 2010 Media Centre in 2009 and 2010. The hotel will be branded a Fairmont hotel and will have prime views of Stanley Park, the Vancouver harbor skyline and the North Shore mountains.

"This real estate transaction completes the sale of the last significant block of undeveloped land in Vancouver, and furthers Fairmont's strategy of expanding our management portfolio," said William Fatt, FHR's CEO. "This latest hotel will build on Fairmont's strong existing presence throughout Vancouver while strengthening the top segment of the market in a key gateway city."

FHR expects to recognize a gain of approximately C$30 million to C$36 million on the land sale.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 15, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1185
SPEEDSKATING OVAL GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY TO TAKE PLACE MONDAY

The City of Richmond will hold its official groundbreaking ceremony on Monday to mark the start of construction of the Richmond Oval sports complex, home of the speed skating competition for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Construction began on the oval earlier this month with site densification and preloading, which is necessary on the delta lands of the Fraser River, where the huge project, destined to become the most noticeable venue of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) for tourists arriving by air, as it's not far from the Vancouver International Airport. Building construction is scheduled to begin next spring.

Scheduled to open in 2008, the Richmond Oval will be home of long-track speedskating events for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, with a 400-metre track and a venue capacity of about 8,000. As many as 12 medal events are planned for the complex in 2010, with a potential 36 medals to be awarded.

The event next Monday, is expected to show the future location of the speedskating track and the footprint of the 33,000-square metre Richmond Oval. There will also be a sport demonstration by speed skaters from the BC High Performance Team. The speeches will come from VANOC CEO John Furlong, Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie, the federal minister of State for Sport, the provincial minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, Olga Ilich, and chief Ernie Campbell of the Musqueam aboriginal band.

The federal and provincial governments have committed C$30 million each toward construction of the Oval. The City of Richmond is responsible for additional project funding. Total budget of the Oval and related projects, including the waterfront park and plaza and a parking structure, is C$178 million.

Also on hand will be Steve Matheson, VANOC's senior vice president of Venue Development as well as Cathy Priestner Allinger, an Olympic speed skating medallist and VANOC's senior vice president of Sport

The Richmond Oval site is located at 6080 River Road in Richmond.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 15, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1184
RONA TO START 2010 PROMOTION CAMPAIGN WITH C$250,000 FUNDRAISER FOR OLYMPIC-BOUND ATHLETES

The president and CEO of Rona, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) renovations sponsor, says the company will start implementing its marketing of the Games with a national promotion to raise $250,000 for athletes.

Robert Dutton says that since 85% of the people in Canada live less than 30 minutes from a Rona store, "this provides a tremendous platform for promoting Canadian athletes and the 2010 Winter Games."

Speaking in Vancouver shortly before meeting with VANOC officials, Dutton says Rona will launch next month a program in which each renovation purchase by customers of more than C$250 will mean Rona will donate C$10 to the "Own The Podium" fund co-sponsored by the Canadian Olympic Committee and VANOC. The program will end when a quarter million dollars has been donated "In addition," he says, "customers who take part in this promotion [will receive] a rebate on any total purchase of C$250 or more."

This will be just the first of a series of tie-in promotions that will connect Rona with the 2010 Olympics. "During the next few years," he says,"we will introduce other promotional and fundraising campaigns throughout the country. They will be similar in nature to this one, and complete our efforts to bring sports and the Olympics to the forefront of the national agenda."

Dutton says it's important to start such promotions now, because they will help support Canadian athletes heading for next February's Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. VANOC has taken over the Canadian marketing and Team Canada support aspects of the Italian games for the Canadian Olympic Committee as part of their overall agreement until the end of 2012.

Dutton, whose corporate headquarters is located in Quebec, not far from Montreal and whose current push is to increase its market share in western Canada, adds, "So, I guess you could say that thanks to this partnership with the 2010 games -- BC's Games -- and the growth of our store network in the province, Rona is becoming a little more British Columbian with each passing month -- without ceasing to be Quebecois or Albertan."

Dutton also says a program is underway to connect athletes to stores. As he puts it, the program is to "maximize the visibility of our athletes, we hope that every [Rona] store across the country will be represented by one Olympic hopeful." RONA operates a network of 530 franchised, affiliated and corporate stores of various sizes and formats. It has about 20,000 employees working under its family of corporate banners across Canada and about 12 million square feet of retail space. The network generates nearly C$4 billion in annual sales.

It's arrangement with VANOC, valued now by Dutton at "C$68 million plus", is to provide the 2010 organizers with materials and their logistics, construction, decoration and venue set-up expenses.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 15, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1183
BELL CANADA, 2010 LEGACIES NOW SET UP BC TOUR TO PROMOTE "SPIRIT" OF 2010 WINTER GAMES

2010 Legacies Now has joined with a major sponsor of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), Bell Canada, to mount a touring display that will travel to nine BC communities this fall "to share the spirit of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games with British Columbians across the province."

The Connecting Communities Tour will be presented by Bell, which is contributing $1 million to support it. The fall ramble is just the first phase. During the next four years, officials say there are plans to take the tour to "dozens of communities across British Columbia."

The Tour, a 2,400 square-foot display, features information panels and interactive activities, such as a hockey shoot, a ski simulator, and a children’s art centre. Visitors to the Tour can also send a good-luck message to Canada’s athletes who will be competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, next February, connect to business opportunities through the 2010 Commerce Centre web site, and sign-up for local volunteer opportunities. The displays will be open to the public from Wednesday through Sunday in each community.

It's first stop is in West Vancouver, which is the municipality that includes VANOC's Cypress Bowl venue, but it's the only place on this initial phase that is a venue community. The Tour will then travel to Prince George, Nelson, Cranbrook, Kelowna, Vernon, Victoria, and Burnaby between now and November 13.

Marion Lay, president and CEO, 2010 Legacies Now, says The Connecting Communities Tour will "inspire citizens from all over BC to learn more about how to develop legacies leading up to and beyond 2010." She says her organization's partnership with Bell Canada and the Province of British Columbia is designed "to inspire communities and to assist them in creating unique opportunities in the areas of sport and recreation, arts and culture, literacy and volunteerism.”

From Bell's point of view, business is also a part of the project. "At Bell, we take pride in connecting communities to opportunities that help foster economic growth," said Justin Webb, Bell Canada's Vice President of Olympic Services, a function that was created within the company after it won the telecommunications sponsorship with VANOC. "Supporting initiatives that help build strong and vibrant communities is our priority," Webb says.

From the provincial government's point of view, the Tour is about benefits and that there will be more such activity to come. Olga Ilich, Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, says, “We look forward to working with 2010 Legacies Now on programs like this to convey community benefits as a result of the 2010... Games.”

RESOURCES

Here's the fall list of places and dates for the Tour:

West Vancouver - Park Royal - September 15-18
Prince George - Pine Centre Mall - September 21-25
Nelson - Chahko Mika Mall - September 28-October 2
Cranbrook - Tamarack Centre - October 5-9
Kelowna - Orchard Park Shopping Centre - October 12-16
Vernon - Village Green Mall - October 19-23
Victoria - Mayfair Centre - October 26-30
Nanaimo - Woodgrove Centre - November 2-6
Burnaby - Metropolis at Metrotown - November 10-13

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 15, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1182
2010 LEGACIES NOW ISSUES CALLS FOR A PR FIRM AND GRAPHICS COMPANY TO SUPPORT BC WINTER HOCKEY TOURNAMENTS

2010 Legacies Now is in the planning stages for its sponsorship of the 2006 community hockey tournaments around British Columbia. It's going to be another big production, and it's looking for a PR company and a graphics firm to work on them.

The successful PR firm will deal with the sponsorship and branding of more than 175 amateur hockey tournaments involving about 33,000 youngsters in more than 80 communities across the province, and it will supervise the successful graphics firm. This will be the third year that 2010 Legacies Now has been involved in this project.

The first major event the PR firm will be asked to stage is to design and implement a media event in Vancouver about mid-October to announce the launch of the tournament series. Besides coming up with the theme of the event, the firm will look after venue selection, event staging, getting media to it and looking after their requirements during and after it, deal with VIP invitations and the RSVP process, and arranging for amateur hockey players and various dignitaries for the photo-ops. Afterwards, it will be sending out news releases and photos to editors, and arranging for media interviews that are to include the project's sponsors.

After that comes the grunt work of organizing the marketing of all those tournaments. For instance, the PR firm is to work with all the minor hockey associations, tournament organizers, local municipal and provincial government representatives, Spirit of BC Community Committees and sponsors, and it will also have to contact all of the B.C. minor hockey associations to get the names of the estimated 350 local tournament coordinators to ensure they confirm they want to be one of the Spirit of 2010 tournaments, and then co-ordinate registration and all the tournament details. Of course, it will also have to send copies to local MLAs, Spirit of BC Community Committee members and mayors of all the sponsorship letters and registration media releases.

The PR firm won't have to produce all of the supporting materials for the tournaments , such as 60,000 posters, 180 banners, 60,000 tournament hockey pucks and 180 trophies for the local hockey associations and tournament organizers. There's a separate contract offered for that. But the PR firm will has to distribute all that collateral.

And, to launch the tournament, the PR firm will be creating a second media event -- primarily a photo-op -- in Vancouver about the middle of next February, and going through the process of notifying all the politicians and tournament organizers, then doing individualized tournament news releases is all 80 communities. And, of course, that involves quotes form and contact info for BC members of the Legislature, Spirit of BC Community Committees and mayors. A wrap-up news release will also be required.

2010 Legacies Now also wants promotion of Spirit of 2010 trophy presentations. It figures there will probably need to be about 40 separate photo opportunities during the first spring school-break weekend with the remaining 100 or so photo ops taking place over the two-week spring school-break period. The tournaments are usually scheduled for that break.

Companies -- the PR firms and the graphic-production houses -- have until next Thursday to reply to their respective 2010 Request for Proposals, and the contracts are expected to be awarded by September 29, with work to start the following day.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 15, 2005

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1181
BC OPERATIONS SPENDING ON OLYMPIC SECRETARIAT TO DROP BY C$36 MILLION, ACCORDING TO UPDATE

The BC government's provincial budget update shows it expects operational spending in its current fiscal year on its 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat to reach C$109.6 million.

That's about 11% of the spending the government expects to do through the Ministry of Economic Development, which supervises the Secretariat, but it's less than the amount the government, in its budget earlier this year, projected would be spent this year. Last February 15, it expected C$145 million would be spent during fiscal 2006.

However, the government's Strategic Plan update claims no change in the government's perception of what the Games can do: "The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for British Columbia to showcase the province on a global basis, to celebrate provincial accomplishments and to create lasting economic opportunities for British Columbians. Government is committed to ensuring businesses throughout the province are prepared to take advantage of 2010 Games opportunities."

The current fiscal year ends next March 31, and this update isn't a full-fledged Budget; the next Budget isn't expected to be tabled until early next spring. The figures released today, however, compare with the estimated actual operational spending in the previous 12 months of C$3.19 million.

Capital expenditures through the Secretariat are expected to be C$620,000 during this year, compared with a net of C$50,000 during the previous period. That is also down from what it expected to spend when the government tabled its major budget last spring. At that time, it expected to spend C$640,000. This year, it intends to spend about C$50,000 just on office furniture and equipment alone, and the rest, C$570,000 is to be spent on information systems.

The Secretariat is the BC government agency through which it provides programs and funding through to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), as well as to a host of other activities. The Secretariat is also responsible for running the 2010 Commerce Centre website, and supporting a large number of seminars it's been hosting in various towns and cities around the province this year on how to do business with the 2010 Winter Games.

The Secretariat co-ordinates VANOC and Olympic relationships both within the BC government and between BC and other governments. It is also used to fund programs or projects that support the Olympic and Paralympic Games in some way, and it is also used to supervise various economic-development activities related to the Games throughout the province, including its portion of governmental support for VANOC. Some costs are partially recovered from external organizations for program services, but not much -- perhaps C$1,000 -- is expected, at least this year.

This operational category, by the way, doesn't include the BC government's executive management costs, such as the operational expenses for the office of the Minister of Economic Development nor executive administration, nor ministry executive support, including the deputy ministers' offices, financial and human resources, legislation and administrative services, library operations, records management, and information systems. They're all covered under a different category.

Elsewhere, the provincial government's Olympic Arts Fund, which spent C$620,000 during the last fiscal year, will spend that amount again, plus an additional $C50,000, all of it by way of grants.

BACKGROUND
==========

According to the detailed breakouts the Finance Ministry also made available today, the government expects to spend the following amounts this year (all figures are Canadian dollars and rounded, in the case of millions, to the nearest $100,000, and to the nearest $1,000 in the case of thousands):

FOR THE SECRETARIAT:

REMUNERATION
Base Salaries: $1.4 million
Supplementary Salaries: $3,000
Employee Benefits: $354,000
For a total of $1.8 million (rounded)

OPERATING COSTS
Public Servant Travel: $120,000
Professional Services: $2.8 million
Information Systems: $30,000
Office and Business Expenses: $30,000
Amortization: $20,000
Building Occupancy Charges: $120,000
For a total operation costs of: $3.1 million

TRANSFERS AND AGREEMENTS: $104.8 million

EXTERNAL RECOVERIES: $1,000

TOTAL: $109.6 million

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 14, 2005

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1180
VANOC SENIOR VP ATTENDS OPENING OF MAJOR SPONSOR'S NEW RETAIL STORE

Dave Cobb, the senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) was among the dignitaries on hand today when the president of VANOC sponsor Rona opened a big new retail store in Richmond, south of Vancouver.

The new 75,000 square-foot facility is the first store of its kind for Rona in Western Canada, which says the store will be "a reference for big-box stores in the home-improvement retail industry."

RONA president and CEO, Robert Dutton, and members of his senior management team were joined in the opening by a winter Olympic medal winner, snowboarder Ross Rebagliati and two Summer Olympic athletes, gymnast Lori Fung and wrestler Daniel Igali. Raymond Chan, Richmond Liberal member of Parliament and minister of State for Multiculturalism as well as Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. Richmond is to be the site of VANOC's flagship venue, a huge sports complex housing VANOC's long-track speedskating oval.

Dutton said during the opening that, "With our Olympic sponsorship we have taken this to a whole new level. The Olympics represent a lot of the same values we see as a priority here at RONA, including determination, teamwork and a desire to be the best."

RONA’s Olympic sponsorship, reached last spring, was valued by VANOC at C$68 million, primarily for various renovation products that VANOC will be needing in connection with its venues, and that amount includes C$7 million in sports projects, such as the RONA Youth Aspiration program and the Canadian Olympic and Paralymic Committees's "Own the Podium" programs, which are set up to help Canadian athletes win more medals at the 2010 Winter Games.

RONA operates a network of about 560 franchised, affiliated or corporate stores of various sizes and formats across Canada, with more than 22,000 employees. The RONA store network is now more than 13 million square feet of retail space and it reports annual retail sales of C$4.8 billion.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on September 14, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Paralympic| #1179
CANADIAN PARALYMPIANS AIM TO WIN AT LEAST 10 GOLD MEDALS AT VANCOUVER 2010 GAMES

The Canadian Paralympic Committee has worked out how it believes Canada can rank within the top three medal winners at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. It has to win at least 10 gold medals to do it.

It's done so in draft 2 of a report on its portion of the national "Own The Podium" program, for which the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) and the federal government have raised millions of dollars.

The report is authored by the Canadian Sports Review Panel and reviewed by the Own the Podium Independent Task Force - the same group that prepared the Olympic Own The Podium Report -- with input from Paralympic experts.

The review panel also held talks with all participating of the national Sports Organizations connected with Winter Paralympic sports: Hockey Canada, Alpine Canada, Cross Country Canada and the Canadian Curling Association. As well, says the report, those organizations met with the Paralympic and Olympic sport funding sponsors, representatives from the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Calgary Olympic Development Association, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), and 2010 LegaciesNow.

The report says that after all this consultation, "It was agreed that Canada must change the way it delivers sport in order to accomplish this goal."

"The report looks at each sport, assesses strengths and weaknesses, and offers a recipe for success for each sport," said Brian MacPherson, chief operating officer of the CPC, said today in Ottawa. "The CPC provided extensive support to the task force and we're pleased with the results. We're on track to realizing the Paralympic community's vision of Canada's performance at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver."

MacPherson says the report demonstrates how to get "maximum value" for the additional C$2 million that is to be contributed each year until 2010 in support of the top-three goal, with C$1 million each from the Own the Podium program and Sport Canada.

The program, according to the report and MacPherson, will support Paralympic Winter athlete recruitment and development as well as coaching and sport sciences, primarily. The idea is to nearly double Canada's recent gold medal performances at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, from six to 10 gold medals.

The sports organizations and their sponsors and other funding agencies, according to the report, have now committed to the same eight principles as their Olympic counterparts in order to get to the 2010 Games medal-count goal.

Canada achieved its greatest Paralympic success only recently. The country finished third overall in the Summer Olympics at Sydney, Australia, in 2000 and in Athens lat year, but only sixth overall at the most recent Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002. But the report notes, that countries participating in the Paralympic Winter Games are expected to continue to rise rapidly from the 35 nations competing in Salt Lake City; 40 countries are expected to field delegations in Torino 2006 next February.

However, according to the draft report, "Our current strong results simply cannot be maintained without a significant transformation of Canada’s Paralympic high-performance system and athlete-development strategies."

The report adds, "An increased focus on athlete-development initiatives to enlarge the size of the potential medallist pool, coupled with an increased investment in maximizing the training and competition programs of our identified podium-potential athletes, demonstrate a significant improvement in Paralympic nations medal standings can be achieved in a relatively short timeframe."

The report says the Panel is not projecting any new full-medal winter sports will be added to the Paralympic program in time for the 2010 Games. "As a result, medals will be available in the current four sports (5 disciplines): alpine skiing, wheelchair curling, Nordic (cross-country skiing and biathlon) and sledge hockey. Although there have been recent informal discussions regarding the possibility of adding the sport of snowboarding to the 2010 Paralympic program, no concrete information currently exists indicating it will be added as an official medal event by 2010 and therefore snowboarding was not examined in the context of this report."

The report says Canada has to focus on specific countries if it wants to achieve its medal plans in 2010. "In order to achieve our goal of a top 3 ranking in 2010, Canada must not only overtake one of the traditional top 3 countries (Germany, USA, Norway), but also the emerging countries such as Russia and Japan, [which] have recently been edging ever closer to top 3 status."

The report's conclusion is clear, "Canada possesses the expertise to develop athletes into podium performers -- our winter sports simply do not currently have enough athletes in their high-performance programs to develop the required number of podium potential athletes. Given our strong medal conversion rate, the CSRP strongly believes the critical challenge in order for Canada to achieve a top-3 nations ranking in 2010 is to tremendously increase the number of participants and potential medalists meeting Paralympic qualification criteria for the Vancouver 2010 Games."

RESOURCES

A Word document of the full, 31-page draft 2 report is available here:
http://www.paralympic.ca/english/word%20documents/sept_2005/Paralympic_Own_the_Podium_2010_Final_Report.doc