Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: November 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1333

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC/ABORIGINAL PROTOCOL PROMISES MORE INVOLVEMENT IN 2010 OPERATIONS

The new protocol signed in North Vancouver this afternoon between the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and the four main aboriginal groups involved with the Games encompasses a number of areas in which VANOC says it will work with the groups so they can participate.

They include, says VANOC:
- VANOC's opening, closing and medal ceremonies;
- More opportunities than have already been offered to showcase native art, language, traditions, history and culture;
- Skills development and job training that will be oriented to Games requirements;
- Various arts festivals and similar events;
- "Lasting" social, cultural and economic opportunities and benefits;
- "Improved" health, education and "strengthening" of aboriginal communities through sport, economics and cultural development;
- A youth sport legacy, which VANOC has discussed at various times already.
VANOC says it has also set up department called Aboriginal Participation Department within VANOC, and that all four of the bands' chiefs will take part in VANOC's Torino 2006 Observation program, in which about 70 VANOC personnel will be observing the back-end of the Italian Winter Games. Those taking part will be Lil'wat chief Leonard Andrew, Musqueam chief Ernest Campbell, Squamish chief Bill Williams and Tsleil-Waututh chief Leah Wilson. "It is important for our children to participate in sport, so not only will we have taken part in the planning leading up to the Games, but hopefully our youth will participate as athletes in the Games," says Wilson. "It is our hope, along with the rest of Canada, that we win more gold medals than this country has ever won and that aboriginal youth are represented on the podium."

BC TOURISM INFORMATION KIOSKS MAY BE OUTLETS FOR 2010 BRANDS NEXT YEAR
There's an indication that tourism kiosks around BC could be selling 2010-branded items during 2006. Apparently there have been discussions to that effect with various chambers of commerce and tourism officials. At the moment only HBC-related stores -- The Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters -- have been selling branded items.

US SPENDING BILL TO SEND MONEY FOR US-SIDE INFRASTRUCTURE
A huge US government spending bill currently awaiting approval by president Bush will have some implications for 2010-related activities in Washington State. The president is expected to approve it before December 8. A US$425,000 appropriation in the bill is to go to Skagit Transit will pay for several new buses, which are part of a regional transit project aimed at accommodating expected additional traffic during the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia. The spending bill would also provide about US$50 million in federal money to projects in Northwest Washington State, most of it to help with a US$46.5 million upgrade to the Blaine border crossing south of Vancouver, one of the two major border crossings suppliers, tourists and spectators bound for the 2010 Games would be expected to use.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1332
ZENKEL PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT OF NBC'S OLYMPIC BUSINESS UNIT

Gary Zenkel, who has been one of the main executives that has kept American broadcaster NBC connected with the Olympics, has been promoted to president of NBC Olympics. It's a position that puts him in charge of the network's Olympic business unit during the run-up to the 2010 Winter Games.

NBC is the American broadcast rights holder of the 2010 Winter Games, CTV is the Canadian broadcasting rights holder, and the European Broadcast Union is the broadcast/sponsor for most of the European countries, except for Italy. Negotiations for 2010 broadcasting rights still have to take place with Australia, Japan and India, and several other regions.

Zenkel has been the executive vice-president of NBC Olympics since 2001. "Gary is our great strategic thinker and a tremendous asset to NBC Universal and GE," said Dick Ebersol, Zenkel's boss and the chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. Ebersol is also the point man who has been to Vancouver and Whistler several times in preparing for the network's coverage of the 2010 Winter Games. Zenkel, says Ebersol, "has kept us several steps ahead by constantly thinking of the future."

Ebersol says Zenkel will report to him on all business matters related to the Olympics, including new-media initiatives, marketing and promotion, technical operations and strategic business alliances. David Neal, the executive producer of NBC Sports and the executive vice-president of NBC Olympics, also reports to Ebersol on all matters concerning Olympic production and programming matters. For all other Olympic business issues, Neal will report to Zenkel.

Zenkel, who is also involved with managing General Electric's Olympic sponsorship interests, was one of the main executives who helped with NBC's successful bid for the U.S. rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics. He also works with NBC affiliates -- TV broadcasters at the state and city levels -- to help them offer localized coverage of Olympic Games, including profiles of local athletes. That aspect of NBC's online coverage will expand to television for the Torino Games.

Zenkel has held several positions since joining NBC in 1990. He helped negotiate contracts for the Olympics, Notre Dame football, PGA golf and tennis, among others.

He was also in charge of negotiations and business development for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. From 1997-01, he was the senior vice-president of business development and marketing for NBC Olympics.

NBC holds the U.S. rights for the next four Olympics, beginning with Torino in February, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and running through 2012 in London, England.

RESOURCES

Zenkel was behind the creation of a website which will focus, once it launches, on NBC's Olympic coverage. At the moment, it's still under construction, but features a couple of Olympic film clips:
www.NBCOlympics.com

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

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1331

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

BC APPEARS TO BE WILLING TO LISTEN TO VANOC FINANCIAL REQUESTS -- BUT NO PROMISES

Intriguingly, the reaction from the BC government to the concept that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is thinking about asking it to protect the value of the capital construction funding so that it's expressed in 2007 dollars isn't setting off the same earthquake-type rhetoric that followed a similar trial flag that was run up by VANOC board chair Jack Poole more than a year ago. B.C. Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen is saying the C$139 million contingency fund is available to be tapped for that if need be, and BC expects the federal government might be convinced to help with that fund as well. The BC treasury board would have to approve the release of any contingency funds. By International Olympic Committee bid rules, the original capital cost of C$620 million had to be expressed in the Bid documents in 2002 American dollars, and not allow for inflation or other types of escalation, to keep things consistent with other bids.

BC CANADA PLACE WEBSITE IN VIEW
The BC Olympics Secretariat, which is behind BC Canada Place, the log building to host athletes, sponsors and officials connected to the 2010 Games at the 2006 Torino Olympics, has set up a website that shows what the building will look like, as well as its layout and construction methods. The logs are from British Columbia, the building built in the province, then taken apart to be shipped to downtown Torino, Italy. It will be open for business between January and March. A set of double doors carved by Squamish aboriginal band artist Aaron Nelson-Moody is the centrepiece of the building. They show a sun face surrounded by the heads of eagles, with copper plates that resemble stone paintings. The website address is below.

PRINCE GEORGE DELETATION EXPECTED TO USE BC CANADA PLACE
One of the users of BC Canada Place is expected to be the Prince George delegation that's assigned to market the city for Olympic winter team officials that will be gathered in Torino for the Games. Spokesman Kathie Scouten of Initiatives Prince George (IPG), the economic development agency for the BC north-central city, says the group, "is working closely with the [BC] Ministry of Economic Development and the BC Games Secretariat to include Prince George within the broader provincial promotional initiatives, and will be using BC Canada House in Torino for a Prince George-designed marketing program that is already well underway. The five opportunities for Prince George's economic development that can be marketed effectively to the audiences attracted by Torino Winter Games are team hosting; trade; education; tourism and transportation." And, she adds, "The initiative will also be driven by a media-and-communications strategy." The delegation will be led by IPG and include sport, civic leaders and a media-relations person.

RESOURCES
BC Canada Place's website:
www.bccanadaplace.gov.bc.ca

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1330
WHISTLER SHORTLISTS FOUR FIRMS IN PLAN TO UPGRADE ITS WASTE WATER SYSTEM IN TIME FOR 2010

Whistler municipality has short-listed four proponents out of the eight firms that responded to a call for those interested in working on upgrading its wastewater treatment plant, made necessary by 2010 development pressures.

Whistler needs 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, among other demographics, and to reduce or eliminate the smell from the current plant.

The four firms are:

American Water Canada, a subsidiary of an American firm, which is owned by a British company and ultimately owned by RWE AG of Germany.
CH2M HILL Canada - A Toronto-based engineering firm with offices in most major cities in Canada, including Vancouver.
EPCOR Water Services - A national Canadian firm, with offices in Richmond, B.C., south of Vancouver
Veolia Water Canada - A France-based international firm, with Canadian head offices in Montreal.

Each will get a formal request for proposal in January. The idea is for the project to start next year and completed by 2008. Whistler only has about C$20 million set aside for the capital cost of the project -- with C$12.6 million of the capital costs for the upgrade being paid for by the federal and provincial governments, and it knows that the C$26 million price tag for the work, as estimated in 2003, probably won't cover the recent price surge in rebar/cement construction projects in western Canada.

As a result, it's proposing the upgrade be done through a "partnership model" where the private sector will design, build and operate the plant for 10 years, perhaps more. Whistler, under the proposal would continue to own the treatment plant, and would also set utility rates and deal with customer billing. All plant employees are expected to be offered positions by the new operator at the same wages and benefits for a guaranteed period. The union representing the workers, however, isn't reportedly unhappy with this part of the plan.

RESOURCES

The project has a website:
www.whistlerwastewater.com

--

American Water Services Canada:
Stan Spencer
Manager
Domestic Sales & Marketing
Phone: (905) 521-1988
Fax: (905) 521-9613
Email: spencers@worldchat.com
www.amwater.com

--

CH2M HILL Canada
Ian Rokeby, Vancouver Manager
Suite 2100, Metrotower II
4720 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia V5H 4N2
Phone: 604.646.2766
Fax: 604-684-3292
www.ch2mhillcanada.com

--

Epcor contact info:
www.epcor.ca/Contact+Us/WaterContacts.htm

--

Veolia Water Canada (dba Onyx Canada)
1705, 3e Avenue
Montral, Qubec H1B 5M9
Tel: 514.645.1621
Fax: 514-645-5133
E-Mail: onyx@onyx-canada.com
Site: www.onyx-canada.com

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1329
QUICK FOOD AND CATERING TO BE OFFERED AT VANOC'S NEW OFFICES

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), when it moves into its two new office buildings in east Vancouver in the spring, will have lunch all ready for its staff.

VANOC planners say that they'll be hiring an outside firm in the next few weeks to set up a lunch kiosk, as well as offer some catering services, for the staff until a new cafeteria section is opened up in the building, which won't be until there's enough people hired to support it. The cafeteria won't be available until early 2007, according to current planning and hiring trends.

The in-house catering service provided by the kiosk food contractor will continue after the cafeteria becomes available, to deal with more formal luncheons and business meetings among VANOC staff, and representatives of its sponsors and other major stakeholders, all of whom will have offices in the buildings. The catering services are likely to be required during normal business hours for the most part; however some catering services may be required after hours. VANOC won't allow the kiosk to be branded, according to planners.

They also want the eventual kiosk/catering contractor to offer "inexpensive meals, compared to off-site options", so they will be wanting to know how open the proponents are to making that happen or even to go along with "joint price-setting." They are also asking for the proponents to confirm they would deal with cleaning and garbage collection from all of VANOC's common areas "directly associated with the outlet's business." And, they are also asking for information on the proponents' "direct costs, margins and overheads." Why? "To support an open and transparent relationship," according to planners, but it sounds like VANOC might be open to a cost-plus arrangement.

VANOC, for the moment, will leave menu planning, the types of food and such things as promotions, catering, cashiering, licensing and the necessary supplies and equipment that will need to be involved up to the kiosk/catering proponent to outline. VANOC will use its standard expressions-of-interest process to get some ideas on what firms want to do what, but it will be more closely directing the requirements during a following request-for-proposal process to the shortlist of up to six proponents.

Unless the proponents for this process also suggest they'll be happy to take on the cafeteria aspects as a component of their solution, that aspect will be left for another day.

VANOC planners are specifically saying this opportunity is open to firms beyond Canada's borders.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1328
ABORIGINAL GROUPS TO SIGN THIRD MAJOR PROTOCOL TOMORROW DEFINING RELATIONSHIP WITH ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the four aboriginal bands connected with the Games will sign tomorrow yet another protocol, this one defining the relationship between the Committee and the four acting as a group.

The signing -- involving the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh -- will be held tomorrow at 1 pm at the Tsleil-Waututh's community centre in North Vancouver. The agreements are necessary because these groups are in various stages of settling claims on the lands on which the 2010 Winter Games will be held, and because of VANOC's decision to treat them as full supports of the Games.

Those who plant to be at the ceremony include Jack Poole, VANOC's Board Chairman and VANOC aboriginal director Gibby Jacob, chief Leonard Andrew of the Lil'wat, chief Ernest Campbell of the Musqueam, chief Bill Williams of the Squamish, chief Leah George Wilson, Tsleil-Waututh and Tom Christensen, BC's Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. Because of a federal Canadian election was called yesterday morning for January 23, the Canadian government representative hasn't yet been decided.

This will be the third protocol VANOC has arranged with the bands and it will be accompanied by ceremonies similar to the ones that involved the first two. The first was with the Bid Corporation to ensure each band offered its support to the Games before they were awarded to Vancouver and Whistler by the International Olympic Committee. The second was signed just over a year ago when the four bands formed a partnership among themselves.

Tomorrow, the new one is to define the relationship between VANOC and the four as a unit, and, according to a VANOC spokesman, "the parties will acknowledge their commitment to working in partnership to achieve successful... Games."

VANOC, in order to get aboriginal support for the necessary environmental and social clearances in time to stay on schedule for the start of building the Whistler Nordic Centre, also signed a detailed list of requirements last February 2 that dealt with a number of aboriginal issues in the Whistler area.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1327
WHISTLER HUNTS FOR ARCHITECT TEAM FOR PARALYMPIC SLEDGE HOCKEY ARENA

The saga of the Whistler Village sledge hockey arena, proposed for the Paralympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games, continues with the municipality today looking for an architect team to help with the project -- whatever it may be.

It had been scouting for a development manager for the project this month, but the deadline for resumes closed Friday and municipal officials are evaluating them now.

Whistler municipal council voted unanimously October 17 to accept the C$20 million VANOC was offering to build the venue, and it also voted to continue researching the two concepts proposed for Lot 1 (from Eldon Beck and from a local business group), along with potential commercial components on Lot 9, and to determine as soon as possible whether a referendum is needed. The two favoured projects are projected to cost (in 2007 dollars), between C$32 and C$33.4 million. There are various technical issues with the proposals which are still being studied, and it would take about five months for a referendum and a subsequent tax hike if the municipality decided to borrow the funds. Whatever is decided, the facility has to be operational in the spring, 2009.

VANOC has agreed to amend the December 18, 2002 Venue Agreement to increase its contribution by C$8 million to be applied to construction of a practice facility, if the municipality doesn't develop the arena. That allows the municipality to plan a facility and figure out a way to finance it without losing the opportunity to develop a second practice ice surface at Meadow Park. Both the BC and Canadian governments have approve that amendment. VANOC prefers the municipality build the sledge hockey arena. An additional ice surface is needed for the Paralympic Games so teams will have full access for practice.

For the architectural team, Whistler's looking for expressions of interest by December 9, so it can shortlist three or four firms and give them a detailed and formal request for proposals.

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

Monday, November 28, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1326
OFFICE MOVE NOW SET FOR "SPRING", AND STAFFERS WILL HAVE A NEW FITNESS ROOM AWAITING THEM

The moving date for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) from its downtown Vancouver offices to its new location in east Vancouver continues to slowly slide further into the future. But when it does move, its staff will have a fitness centre.

About a year ago, when VANOC had only recently moved into its West Pender Street location, it figured on being out of its two floors by December 31. By this fall, when it had located and agreed to the conditions of moving into the two, new adjacent office building near First and Boundary, and had hired a firm to fit out the new buildings, the moving date had also moved, to late January or early February.

VANOC, because it had outgrown the Pender Street location this fall, said it would have to take on an extra batch of offices in the downtown neighbourhood on a temporary basis while the new building was fitted up. However, a January/February move would mean relocating just as the organization was to send about 70 of its top people to Torino to observe the 2006 Winter Olympics, which start February 10.

VANOC CEO John Furlong said Friday that the organization now will be relocating to a new office space located in the east end of Vancouver, in the "spring" -- he didn't get more specific than that -- which puts the moving date after the Torino Games.

We now learn that the new location will have a health-and-wellness centre that will require an indoor fitness facility located on-site. The entire centre will look after 270 employees initially -- VANOC has about 150 staff at the moment and expects to have about 300 by this time next year -- but that will grow each year to eventually look after about 2,000 employees by the 2009. The size of the active gym space 1,683 square feet, plus change rooms and a shower area.

VANOC is now looking for firms that can provide, at a minimum, cardiovascular and weight equipment, along with an area for stretching. In addition, if possible, it would like to provide a designated area for wellness classes and fitness training, as well as all the administration of such a centre as well as look after the supply and maintenance of the equipment. Since VANOC is also focusing on Paralympic sports, all equipment and facilities need to be accessible for people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities.

Once a short list of about five or six proponents is developed from the companies interested, a formal Request for Proposals will be issued on December 16 just to them, and those applicants will be asked to help identify the possibilities and options available for the development of the centre and its and programming.

Companies interested in being considered for the short list need to apply to VANOC by December 9.

BACKGROUND
To visualize how big the fitness centre area is, picture a room that's about 40 feet per side.

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

Friday, November 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1325

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

FURLONG CONFIRMS INITIAL SALES OF OLYMPIC BRANDS ARE STRONG

The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), John Furlong, says he's not surprised sales of Olympic-branded merchandise are healthy. HBC, without giving figures, says that such merchandise, which includes their Olympic team clothing line, "is just flying", and is one of the factors it hopes will help pull the company from its financial slump. Furlong says that he was at the opening of one of the company's boutiques, which are now in 500 stores across Canada. "In the first 10 minutes, they did a couple of thousand dollars worth of sales, and that was on the day they opened."

VANOC'S SECOND ANNUAL REPORT TO BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK
VANOC is expected to release its second annual audited financial report on Monday or Tuesday, according to Communications vice-president, Rene Smith-Valade. "We were going to release it this week," she says, "but there was one number that we wanted to double-check, so we decided to reschedule it." The financial statement is for the year ending July 31. VANOC released its first such statement on November 22 last year. The report was prepared before Chief Financial Officer Rex McLennan was hired; he only started work, after leaving mining giant Placer Dome, on November 21. The work on the audited numbers, prepared by Ernst and Young LLP, was supervised by vice-president and comptroller, John McLaughlin, and was reviewed by the audit committee of VANOC's board of directors.

VANOC TO BE BIG COMPANY BY 2010
Furlong says that VANOC will be "one of the largest companies in Canada" by the time it's full compliment of 1,200 staff overseeing up to 25,000 volunteers is in place by 2010. At the moment, VANOC has 150 staffers and Furlong expects to have about 300 working at the organization by this time next year. The current staff, he says, are already international in scope: they or their immediate relatives have origins in 10 countries and speak a total of 20 languages.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1324
FURLONG ASKING GOVERNMENTS FOR INFLATION ADJUSTMENT TO PROTECT CAPITAL-CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM

The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), John Furlong, says he hopes to have "a dialog" with the federal and BC governments about protecting the value of their financial commitments to VANOC's C$620-million construction program.

"What we're doing is having a dialog with them about the situation we're in, and it's just starting," says Furlong. "What we've been trying to do is get this construction season over with. It's over, and we've done well, we're happy with the outcome; we're happy with where we are [financially]. But we're getting into the toughest piece of the project now. What's a home run for us would be if the value of the money that was committed to the project was protected all the way to 2007."

Furlong says that the rules of Olympic bidding required VANOC's predecessor organization, the Vancouver Bid Corporation, to provided construction costs in 2002 dollars, even though the plans originally were to start construction in 2004 and that has now been delayed to finish the bulk of the capital works program in 2007.

"That's the discussion we're having, and how it will go, we'll see. It's a reasonable position for us to have."

Furlong says he doesn't know how much the 2002 value on C$470 million -- the component of the capital budget that would be most affected by inflation -- would be expressed in inflation-adjusted dollars. Most inflation calculations are done in Canada on the basis of the Consumer or Industrial Price Indexes, but those indices are not particularly applicable to the substantial rise in cost of rebar, concrete and construction labour due to shortages. An estimated C$37 billion in capital projects are on the books for construction in BC during the next three years, and many in the construction industry figure that those non-residential construction costs have escalated by about 40% or 50% in the past three years.

Furlong says that a thorough review of the projected capital-spending program in the Bid Book plans -- including the concepts of moving the 2010 Media Centre from a stand-alone building in Richmond to space in the big convention trade centre expansion in downtown Vancouver and the decision to limit VANOC's financial exposure on construction of a long-track speedskating oval to the budgeted C$60 million when the project was moved from Burnaby to Richmond -- has saved an estimated C$85 million.

"We've done a pretty good job on that," says Furlong, "and we're continuing to look at other ways and means [to save further expenses]. But our view is that if we can get that [inflation-adjusted] support, the problem is a far different one than it is. It's clear to everybody that the climate that we're in, all across the province is the same, what we're trying to do is get an absolutely remarkable result under the circumstances."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #1323
PRINCE GEORGE TO FOCUS ON WINTER OLYMPICS IN EVENTS AND LIVE BROADCASTS IN FEBRUARY

There will be a strong focus on the 2010 Olympics in the north-central BC city of Prince George in February, with two events designed to highlight the importance of the 2010 Winter Games in BC. The events will occur on either side of the 2006 Winter Olympics, while February also marks the four-year-out anniversary of the 2010 Winter Games.

Mary Graydon, an Initiatives Prince George coordinator for the Spirit of BC Committee in the city, says the Committee will use the events as opportunities "to promote ways for the city's citizens to work on developing legacies inspired by the 2010 Games, while also connecting to the Games and contributing to their excellence."

The first of the events is the "2006 Winter Opportunities Summit: Lighting Your Community's Flame Through Sport, Business and Tourism". It's the second edition of a similar event held last January in Prince George, and this year, Graydon says, it has $120,000 in community support, with 90% of support coming from the private sector and ticket sales, including its major sponsor, Bell Canada, which is also a major sponsor of the 2010 Games. The second, says Graydon, is the Community Torch Celebration which will take place in February during the Torino Olympic Winter Games.

The Winter Opportunities Summit (WOS), she says, combines northern businesses, sport and culture, "by providing a forum for northerners to learn about and take advantage of the immense opportunities arising from British Columbia's hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games." About 250 delegates from BC and Alberta, are expected for the three-day event, which is due to start February 9. "The WOS presents ways to use the 2010 Games as a catalyst to further develop and strengthen existing capacities in Prince George and throughout the region in key areas. It is a summit for those already in positions of leadership in their communities whether in business, the volunteer sector or municipal and other levels of government," says Graydon.

The keynote speaker is scheduled to be Susan Auch, a three-time Olympic speedskating medalist at a luncheon that will be open to the pubic and expects to draw up to 400 people.

Meanwhile, the Community Torch Celebration will take place at Prince George's Canadian National Railway Centre on February 26th, where there will be public broadcasts of the gold-medal men's hockey game live from Torino, as well as the Closing Ceremonies of the Torino Winter Olympic Games, during which the Olympic Torch is handed to Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, followed by a six-minute "We're Next" video showing BC images from throughout the province.

Graydon notes that passing of the Torch will be a highlight the city's Celebration because the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, John Furlong, confirmed this week that Prince George will be one of the Torch Relay's last stops on its way to Vancouver and Whistler in 2010.

RESOURCES

Prince George Spirit of BC Community Committee
www.pgspiritofbc.com

2006 Winter Opportunities Summit
www.wintersummit.ca

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1322
FURLONG TAKES MESSAGE OF INVOLVEMENT IN 2010 GAMES TO NORTHERN BC

The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee took his message that all Canadians should be involved in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games to several town halls from Prince Rupert to Prince George along the Yellowhead Highway in northern BC this week.

John Furlong, who is due to give what he calls his annual report on the status of the Games to the Vancouver Board of Trade this afternoon, told town meetings in the north that he wants all Canadians to feel about the 2010 Games what he felt at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Although his primary job at those Games was to round up Olympic delegate votes for Vancouver's bid, he was awe-struck by what happened after the Canadian women's hockey team had won gold by defeating the US women's team. About two minutes before the end of the Canada-US men's gold championship hockey game, which Canada won: All of the Canadians in the crowd at the hard-fought, skilful game stood up and began singing the national anthem, "O Canada".

"Wouldn't it be something not just do it in hockey, but in everything?" he asked a crowd in Prince Rupert, on BC's northern coast.

He told meetings that the general question he hears from outside of the Vancouver-Whistler corridor is, "What's in it for me?" He said he answers by asking, "What can you do to contribute to the Games?" In Prince George, he said the decision of the city's council to spend up to C$38,000 to send a delegation to Torino to pitch the city as a place for teams to train was "a terrific strategy." And, he added, "Just by being in Torino, you'll know what it's like and what works in the environment."

Furlong cited several things he felt would lead to successful Olympic Games in 2010: Keeping the promises VANOC has made, that he assembles a team that's good enough to deliver on those promises, to ensure that sport development funds are focused in areas where Canada has a good chance of winning medals -- he cited the "Own the Podium" program for which VANOC is in the process of raising C$55 million -- and Canada-wide involvement, including the aboriginal community -- in the Games.

He also said that the 2010 torch relay, expected at the moment to start 115 days out from the Games, will try to touch as many communities in Canada as possible, even to the Queen Charlotte Islands, which he called by its aboriginal name, Haida Gwaii, west of Prince Rupert. He also says that volunteers to help with the Games -- about 25,000 will be needed -- will come from all parts of Canada.

"Every child can be world class. That's the real message of what we're trying to do," he said.

Furlong spoke at aboriginal cultural centres and to elementary schools in the communities, which have a relatively large aboriginal component, focusing on including aboriginal people in the Games, underlining the fact that VANOC has hosting agreements with the four aboriginal bands that are in the Whistler and Vancouver areas.

With him was Gibby Jacob, who is a VANOC director and chief of the Squamish aboriginal band, one of those four. Furlong was also accompanied by Lara Mussell Savage of Chilliwack, east of Vancouver. She was twice a world champion in the sport of ultimate and the Aboriginal Sport Circle's 2005 Female Aboriginal Athlete of the Year. She said she was determined to get to the Olympics as she watched the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as a 10-year-old. "I was a kid just like you who just wanted to see how far I could go," she told the elementary students. "You don't have to wait for 2010 to start dreaming big."

Furlong, who has negotiated a Games-support agreement with the province of Quebec and is working on one with Ontario, is due to make a series of his trademarked "Best you can be" speeches in cities across Canada following his return from observing, along with a large part of his Organizing Committee, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 25, 2005

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1321

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

VANOC DIRECTOR ROGERS AMONG CANADA'S MOST POWERFUL WOMEN

A director of VANOC has been ranked in the top 100 of Canada's most powerful women -- for the third consecutive year. The acknowledgement was given to Judy Rogers, who is also Vancouver's city manager, by the Toronto-based Women's Executive Network. Rogers was recognized in the Public Sector Leaders category. She was appointed to the VANOC Board in 2003 as Vancouver's representative on it. She has held the role of the city's manager since 1999, and was the first woman to be appointed to the position. The organization's annual Top 100 Award is for the accomplishments of Canadian women in several categories: corporate executives, entrepreneurs, public sector leaders, trailblazers, champions, professionals and future leaders. The first three categories, including public-sector leaders, are only nominated by the organization's Advisory Board against what they call "defined, measurable criteria." In Roger's case, the category is for women who hold the most senior positions in Canada's largest public sector organizations, in descending order of operating budget. Rogers was selected from among six nominees from each of this category's two groupings: federal government departments and provincial ministries with a minimum C$1 billion operating budget; and, universities, municipalities, hospitals and regional health authorities with a minimum C$150 million operating budget. VANOC's total operational budget is expected to be about C$1.7 billion during its lifespan. The City of Vancouver's 2005 budget is about C$773 million.

NEW WESTMINSTER PONDERS ATTRACTING OLYMPIC 2010 CURLING TEAMS
Dave Merklinger, the manager of the Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster, says he's trying to convince at least four national Olympic curling teams to train at his club between now and the 2010 Winter Olympics. They weren't Olympic teams, but curling units from Japan, China, South Korea, Taipei and Australia were in New Westminster this month for bonspiels. As Merklinger puts it, the only curling facility for the 2010 Olympics won't open in time for anybody to train on it, so they're going to have to train at neighbouring curling clubs. He suggests that in the next four years European and Asian teams in particular will wanting to train in BC so they can deal with the climate and time change, and he figures he can handle at least three, and perhaps four. His main focus is the Japanese women's team, since it's a Royal City Curling Club member, Fuji Miki, who coaches it. But he also suggested that he has good connections with Danish and Chinese teams.

VANOC GOES GUNNING FOR TRIPLE-LEAF LOGO
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has filed an application for a stylized triple maple leaf logo, and listed virtually every commodity known to mankind for its use. Including "firearms; ammunition and projectiles; explosives; fireworks". We don't think VANOC plans on taking up arms, unless it's got a new, more aggressive policy to deal with ambush marketers that it plans to unveil, but we think it's just a section that appears to have been swept in along with the rest of the 34 categories and 10 service areas listed. The design consists of a frontal view of a full leaf, overlapping two smaller leaves on either side. The logo application was made on Hallowe'en in Canada, which is October 31, and was formalized this month by the Canadian Intellectual property office. It's the 89th logo or trademark that's now owned by VANOC.

RESOURCES
You can see the latest 2010-registered logo here:
www.olympic.ca/EN/organization/news/2005/otp_logo.shtml

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1320
HBC POSTS MAJOR THIRD-QUARTER LOSS, BUT HOPES OLYMPIC MERCHANDISING WILL HELP PULL IT OUT OF ITS TAILSPIN

One of the major sponsors of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) financial problems are getting worse, but it is hoping that its Olympic merchandise sales will be one of the major factors to pull it out of its slump in the fourth quarter.

HBC, a public company which is the major retailing firm for VANOC but is also the subject of a take-over bid by a major shareholder, released its third-quarter results today, and reported a loss before interest and income taxes for the quarter of C$73 million compared to a profit of C$1 million in the same period last year. It also reported a loss, albeit smaller, in the previous quarter.

About C$28 million of this quarter's loss was due to the one-time cost of severances related to a restructuring that was done in the first and third quarters in which HBC rid itself of nearly 1,000 people, many in management positions, which it said was to reduce overlapping administration among its various businesses. But management also said it was partly due to a 3% reduction in customers coming into its stores during the quarter.

Sales and revenue for the first nine months of 2005 was C$4.7 billion compared to C$4.8 billion in the same period of 2004. Including the costs associated with the restructurings that were launched in the first and third quarters, the loss before interest and income taxes for the first nine months came to a substantial C$139 million, and the loss per share was $1.44. HBC owns Hudson Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitter stores. The Bay is the oldest company in Canada.

Last spring, the company signed a deal to sponsor VANOC and the Canadian Olympic team until 2012, worth to VANOC up to C$100 million. And, as part of that deal, it unveiled its Canadian Olympic Team clothing line and opened Olympic boutiques in all 500 of its stores earlier this month, stocking them with apparel with 2010 and other Olympic brands.

Michael Rousseau, HBC's executive vice-president & chief financial officer, during a discussion of results, said that one of the main drivers for the company in the fourth quarter, it appears, will be "Olympic product in all [of our] banners, which, by the way, is flying."

George Heller, HBC's president and chief executive officer and the man who arranged the deal with VANOC's CEO John Furlong, says, "The improved and lower cost structure, the completed roll-out of our new merchandise initiatives and the favourable weather, are positive indicators for the all important fourth quarter." Traditionally, retail in Canada does best in the last three months of the calendar year because of the holiday season buying cycle.

The Company's fiscal year-end is January 31. Executives note that its balance sheet and cash position remain strong, despite the losses.

RESOURCES
HBC's third quarter results:
tinyurl.com/8rykd

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1319
RICHMOND SPEEDSKATING OVAL TO HAVE LARGE AREA SET ASIDE FOR SUPPORT-SERVICES USE DURING THE 2010 GAMES

Planners for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) have decided that it will need a 38,500 square metre area west of the Richmond speedskating oval for its Games overlay set-up.

VANOC planners intend to use the main part of this temporary facility for areas to handle media, warehousing, logistics and various Games management and administration uses. The current plan is for the overlay area to have a gravel surface, but serviced by underground utilities and monitored by security while in use, starting from about the fall of 2009 through the 2010 Games and then decommissioned in March and April of 2010. The C$178 million complex, to which VANOC is contributing C$60 million for the oval portion, is expected to be one of the flagship venues for VANOC during the Games.

Specifically the temporary overlay area is expected by VANOC to need several compounds for permit parking, broadcasting, catering, temporary telecommunications and games information systems, garbage management, logistics, Games-related retail merchandizing, venue development, a workforce locker area and a lounge for the shuttle bus drivers who will be moving athletes and officials between the oval complex and other VANOC venues, including the Vancouver Athletes Village.

The complex is expected to be completed in the first half of 2008. VANOC is to have control over the security for the complex once it has taken full possession of it in 2009, or any other times that it's using it, such as for test events, and it will screen construction personnel and their employees when contractors are hired and building starts early next year. Richmond City and the municipality's RCMP, working with VANOC's Integrated Security Unit, will set up fairly sophisticated systems around the sport complex's site when the overlay goes in. VANOC is thinking there will probably be a 100-metre security perimeter in place leading up, during and shortly after the 2010 Games, with four check points, three of them just outside the perimeter, with the fourth inside that zone near the southwest entrance.

From late 2009 until the summer of 2010, security is expected to fully control vehicle and spectator access.

And, intriguingly, VANOC is thinking there may be security screenings of businesses in areas near the perimeter, such as those on the northeast side of Hollybridge Way, and those with addresses in the 6000 block of Elmsbrige Way, since they are large enough to fall into the perimeter zone, but that's not yet confirmed.

There are two industrial properties along the east side of Hollybridge Way and about nine industrial properties south of the Canadian Pacific Railway right-of-way that are within the security zone. Richmond and VANOC both say they'll do their best to "minimizing disruption" to businesses during the construction and operation of complex, and that they'll provide "maximum access while maintaining security measures."

In addition to the primary overlay area, a secondary area to be used as a small warehouse -- VANOC calls it a "material-transfer area -- a helicopter landing pad, a loading zone and a vehicle-screening area for use by security. It's to be set up either in the main or secondary temporary areas depending on how specific requirements can be arranged during future planning. Officials note that there is a 5,500-square metre area west of the primary site that could be used if necessary, but they won't know if it's needed until plans are a bit further advanced.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1318

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

PRINCE GEORGE TO SEND CITY OLYMPICS PROMOTION TEAM TO TORINO

The City of Prince George, in north central BC, has approved C$38,000 to fund the travel expenditures of a four-person delegation that will promote the city for a week at the Italian Winter Olympics in February. The group, which will include representatives from Initiatives Prince George, which asked for the funding. will work out of BC Canada Place. That's a building sponsored by the provincial and federal governments at set up in downtown Torino, for just such a purpose. Prince George has been working on attracting national Olympic committees to use the city's facilities for training in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Those venues include hockey, curling, speed skating, cross-country skiing and biathlon. Besides setting up meetings with Olympic team managers, the group also hopes to make connections with some of the estimated 3,000 journalists expected to be in Torino covering the Games; their media centre is not far from Canada/BC House.

BC CANADA PLACE DIRECTOR TO BE OSVALDO BRASCA
The new director of BC Canada Place is Osvaldo Brasca, of Campbell River, a town on the east side of Vancouver Island. Brasca, born just outside of Torino, speaks Italian, French and English, has been working in the tourism and hospitality industries of Canada for about 40 years, and has been a hotel manager in most of the major cities in Canada. The building, built of trees killed by the pine beetle that's currently infesting BC forests, was disassembled and is being shipped to Torino, where it's to be reassembled and opened in early January. It will shut down in March, after the Games are finished.

POWELL RIVER MAKES NORWEGIAN OLYMPIC CONNECTION
When you're a small BC coastal town, you don't have a big budget to spend on trying to attract national Olympic committees to consider your town as a place for their Winter Olympic team to stay while acclimatizing or training for the 2010 Games. There's no money for delegations or fact-finding missions or months of diplomacy. So, you do the next best thing: you knock on a door and see what happens. That's what Powell River's chief administrative officer, Stan Westby, did. Powell River is a forest-industry town of about 13,000 people, about 100 kilometres up the coast from Vancouver. Westby was born in Canada, but his parents are Norwegian, which is why he was in Oslo for a two-week holiday recently. When Joyce Carlson, chair of the Powell River Spirit of BC Community Committee, heard he was going, she suggested he meet with somebody from the Norwegian Olympic Committee. So he took some business cards, some Powell River pins, a couple of brochures and a CD about the town, and he stopped in at the steel-and-glass Olympic Committee headquarters, prepared to leave them and go. Instead Norwegian Olympic Committee president Karl-Arne Johannessen shook his hand and introduced him to the Committee's deputy president and secretary-general. That would be the top three people in Norway for Olympic sports. He told them about Powell River's rinks for hockey, curling and figure skating. He said the Norwegian junior hockey team would be visiting the town this December when Vancouver hosts the World Junior Hockey Championships. They told him they were currently focused on the February Torino Winter Olympics, but were intrigued about the hockey team and impressed with Westby's presentation, not to mention his timing. They took him to lunch and introduced him to the Norwegian team's Mission Chief, who has a strong influence on the team's facilities and travel plans. The next day, he ended up at Norway's training centre, talking to its manager. The manager, in turn, introduced Westby to Olympic athletes in training. Will anything come of this? Westby isn't sure, but now he knows who to call. And so do they.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1317
DAYTON & KNIGHT, ENGINEERS, WORKING ON CYPRESS BOWL VENUE'S SNOW-MAKING INFRASTRUCTURE

An engineering firm based in North Vancouver has been hired by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to design the snow-making reservoir that will be the first construction project at its Cypress Mountain venue.

Dayton & Knight, whose office is not far from the site, is already at work on the task of designing and supervising construction this year of the relatively small, lined, earthen reservoir and its related pumping station on Cypress Mountain. The project has a C$400,000 budget. Since this project will be used well after the Winter Games, VANOC is working with the owners of the mountain ski area, Cypress Bowl Resort Limited Partnership (CBRLP), so it and VANOC will both be involved in overseeing the project.

The Cypress Mountain ski area, atop the mountain range that marks the northern edge of the Greater Vancouver area, is to be used for skiing and snowboard competitions. These events are to include moguls and aerials, freestyle skiing events, half pipe, snowboarder cross and parallel giant-slalom snowboard competitions. The location offers a spectacular vista of Greater Vancouver.

The contract that was offered calls for coverage of only the snowboarding areas -- 10.5 hectares, plus the five-hectare training area. The water for the snowmaking, if it's needed, would be pumped from Cypress Creek from a location near the Day Lodge, at a rate of up to nearly 1,000 litres per hour, to the main pumping station and, from there, to either the reservoir or the snow guns, when they begin operation. Four turbine pumps capable of delivering up to 2,840 litres per hour would move the water from the reservoir or creek, when the snow guns are in operations. Water-use licenses from the BC Government will be required as part of the overall project's environmental review process, as will an electrical system designed with a back-up system. The snow guns will be commissioned later.

The earth-banked reservoir, which will have a thick plastic lining, is to be built in an old gravel yard that has been used previously; the construction area would take up about two hectares but the reservoir itself won't be nearly that big by the time it's installed. The reservoir itself will be about 50 meters by 130 meters and six meters deep.

RESOURCES

Don Degen
President
#210-889 Harbourside Drive
North Vancouver, BC V7P 3S1
Phone: (+1) 604.990.4800; Fax: (+1) 604-990-4805
www.dayton-knight.com/company/About%20Us.htm
The company also has offices in Smithers and Abbotsford, B.C., and Singapore.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 24, 2005

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1316
ALTUS CANADA TO PROVIDE 2010'S FINANCIAL SOFTWARE

The Canadian subsidiary of a Colorado software development company has been awarded a contract to provide the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) with a new financial administration system.

Altus Canada of Toronto, a subsidiary of Serenic Corporation of Lakewood, Colorado (TSX-SER), is a value-added reseller firm that specializes in assembling Microsoft-based software for non-profits. Its parent company, is expected to generate about C$7 million during its 2005 fiscal year. The companies have two major programs: Microsoft Navision and their flagship, Altus/Serenic Navigator.

VANOC requires the new system's major components -- such as a system-wide general ledger, procurement, commitments tracking, budgeting & forecasting, and contract administration -- to be in place before the end of December. However, VANOC was somewhat behind in awarding the contract. It was supposed to be in place by late August or early September, however the agreement wasn't finalized until October 18 -- there was quite a bit of testing of various proposals by VANOC staff and its consultant, SoftResources LLC, an independent software-selection consulting group based in Seattle -- and VANOC only confirmed the arrangement this month.

The installed system, once it's ready, is also intended to support all of VANOC's organizational objectives through the execution and into dissolution of the Games operation, which is currently scheduled to occur by June, 2011, and VANOC also wants the new system to be capable of considerable expansion by way of additional modules as its requirements grow. The new, industrial-grade system that Altus is to provide is expected to replace the hodge-podge of various off-the-shelf computer programs VANOC is currently using.

VANOC was looking for a company to provide it with an integrated general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, procurement via purchase order, commitments tracking, contract administration, budgeting & forecasting, project accounting, asset management and a report writer. Future additions to the financial accounting system that will need to be integrated: project management, rate card, logistics & material planning, as well as inventory, and there may be other requirements later as well.

VANOC has organized itself into about 60 functions, some are operational now, some will be opened later. The Finance function consists of: the Chief Financial officer, Placer Dome's Rex McLennan, who was hired earlier this month but won't start until December; the vice-president of Finance & Comptroller, John McLaughlin; the Director of Financial Services, the Director of Budgets and Planning, a budget analyst, an accountant, accounts payable/receivable staff, a procurement manager and buyers.

RESOURCES

Altus Canada:
www.AltusCanada.com

Serenic Corporation:
www.Serenic.com

TSX view of Serenic:
tinyurl.com/devxb

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1315

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

ALPINE SKIERS SPONSOR TO HELP WITH OFF-SEASON

NRB Sports, the Canadian distributor of Rollerblade, has agreed to supply more than 40 Canadian National Alpine Ski Team members with a pair of high-end inline skates and protection equipment for a year. They're to be used for off-season fitness training when the team starts preparing for the 2010 Winter Games next summer. Ski officials say that inline skating exercises the leg muscles for long periods with less than half the impact shock caused to joints by running. This summer, the alpine team underwent more than three months of intense dry-land training prior to beginning their on-snow training in Chile. NRB Sports is a subsidiary of Rollerblade, Nordica Ski & Boots and Nitro Snowboards.

2010 VENUES SEEN AS ONLY A COMPONENT OF BC CONSTRUCTION BOOM
The latest edition of the BC Central Credit Union's publication, "Economic Analysis", by economist David Hobden, is remarkable for what it doesn't say, rather than what it does. The edition forecasts the economy for BC's Lower Mainland, which includes Vancouver, and the southwestern part of the province, which includes Whistler. The 12-page report, packed with statistics and comments on most aspects of the economy, mentions the 2010 Winter Olympics only once, and only then in passing. In a section on non-residential construction, way in the back on page 11, Hobden lists a range of big-ticket construction projects -- museums, temples, office towers -- adding, "In addition, a substantial number of facilities for the 2010 Winter Olympics are proposed for construction in metro Vancouver and the Whistler area through 2009." It's remarkable because a lot of media coverage of the economic boom currently underway in BC has linked it to the 2010 Games in terms of helping to drive up construction costs. In fact, VANOC's spending will only be a component of the total. Bearing in mind that the total capital-construction budget for the Games is C$620 million spread over this year and the next four years, Hobden forecasts non-residential building permits in southwest BC to be C$2.3 billion this year, C$2.3 next year and C$2.5 billion in 2007.

SLOTLAND.COM ROLLS DICE AGAIN ON 2010 CURLING HOPEFULS
The only Internet-based gambling operation to support a curling team with ambitions of playing in the 2010 Winter Olympics has renewed its sponsorship of an Ontario curling team for a second year. Slotland.com provided an unspecified amount of money to help the team of Gerry Geurts get into more tournaments in the last 12 months than it normally would be able to afford. Slotland.com's Hannah Morante claims, "These young men have dreams of making it to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and we're happy to do what we can to help them achieve that goal." At the moment, the team's win percentage for the year is 53%. When he's not practicing or competing, Geurts is the webmaster of CurlingZone.com, the official web site of the Ontario Curling Tour.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1314

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

FURLONG TO OFFER "ANNUAL REPORT" ON 2010 STATUS FRIDAY

The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), John Furlong, is expected to deliver a report on the status of preparations for the 2010 Winter Games to the Vancouver Board of Trade about 1 pm Friday. Billed as an "annual report", Furlong is expected to touch on how he hopes to involve all of Canada in hosting the Games, what he hopes his organization will be able to learn from the Torino Winter Games, and how sponsorships VANOC has arranged so far help athletes while helping the development of the 2010 Games.

OUTGOING VANCOUVER MAYOR OFFERS TIP TO NEW MAYOR ABOUT 2010
Outgoing Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell has a piece of advice for incoming mayor Sam Sullivan when it comes to dealing with the relationship between the City and VANOC. In an open letter to Vancouver citizens, Campbell, who will become a Canadian senator on December 5, writes, "The best role that the new mayor can play with the Olympics is that of a taskmaster, ensuring that all involved parties and partners are meeting commitments and deadlines. There will always be a certain degree of tension with the Vancouver Organizing Committee, so never lose sight of the fact that looking out for this city's interests, regardless of the organizing efforts surrounding the Olympics, should be the most important principle of engagement. No one can be left behind, and Olympic legacies must remain for every Vancouverite, from people with disabilities to athletes to those seeking affordable housing. It is a promise that must be kept." Campbell, who followed through on his former political party's promise to hold a referendum in the city about whether to host the Games even though it had signed a hosting agreement just before he was elected and who subsequently campaigned in favour of the Games, took note of the fact Sullivan will be given the Olympic flag during the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Games in February, says it seems right. "It seems fitting that one of the first official responsibilities for the new mayor of Vancouver will be to retrieve the Olympic flag from Torino, Italy. The hand-over of the flag -- the final act in the closing ceremonies of the 20th Olympic Winter Games -- will represent a watershed moment in the history of our city. And it is the same winds of change that transformed the face of Vancouver politics three years ago that will fly this symbol of hope high above city hall in the years leading up to 2010."

SPEEDSKATING OVAL DESIGNERS CONTEMPLATE LEED GOLD PLUS
Designers of the Richmond sports complex that will hold the 2010 Olympic speedskating oval hope to achieve at least LEED Silver accreditation of the huge building by the time their finished, which will be a strong nod in the direction of environmental awareness all on its own. Best efforts to achieve LEED accreditation is a policy of VANOC for all of its venues, and was part of its promise to the International Olympic Committee during the bid phase of the Games. However, the designers are not just hoping they might achieve LEED Gold, a higher standard. They're also considering several other possibilities as well, including whether they can cost-effectively design the site's stormwater treatment system to be as much as 80% cleaner than normal for something like this; whether they can design the landscaping irrigation system to either eliminate to considerably reduce the amount of community drinking water used by using captured rainwater or recycled water; whether they can reduce the use of water by the entire complex by at least 20% as perhaps as much as 30% over what it would normally require annually; and simultaneously reduce the amount of power the building requires annual by a quarter, and reduce the overall power cost by 18%.

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

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1313

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

COKE AND SAMSUNG BACK LAUNCH OF 2006 TORINO OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY

Coca-Cola Company and Samsung continue to be the confirmed sponsors of the 2006 Winter Olympic torch relay, which started today. This will be the seventh time that the soft drink company has sponsored the Olympic Torch Relay and the fifth time that it has been a "presenting partner." It is the second time that Samsung has been a sponsor of the Relay. In all, 10,001 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame from Olympia in Greece to Rome and then around Italy, visiting 140 cities and all of Italy's regions, before finally arriving in the Stadio Communale in Torino on February10. The torch relay for the 2010 Winter Games is due to start 115 days out from the start of the games, on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. The general plan is for it to be flown over the north pole, for the first time, and visit every major city in every province and territory in Canada.

ROOTS LAUNCHES ITS AMERICAN OLYMPIC CLOTHING LINE
Roots, the Canadian company that was the trendsetter of the Olympics clothing manufacturers for years until it was shouldered aside by the major sponsorship of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) by retailing giant HBC earlier this year for an estimated C$100 million, has launched its official Team USA collection live on NBC TV's "Today Show" this morning, saying "The Olympic wear for Torino 2006 pays homage to the culture of the host country, Italy, while capturing the spirit of what it means to be American." Roots already had the American Olympic Committee contract when it lost the 2010 deal. NBC is to be the US host broadcaster for the 2010 Winter Games. HBC launched its first Torino-related clothing line for the Canadian Olympic team earlier this month. Like HBC, Roots is only showing the team wear, but will not "reveal" the team's parade jacket until the opening ceremony of the Torino Games on February 10. The American team's parade jacket is made at the what Roots calls its "state-of-the-art factory in Toronto". About 35,000 spectators attending the event at Torino's Stadio Olimpico and an estimated two billion TV viewers around the world will be watching the ceremony. Roots, in its typical humble fashion says that, "In view of its innovative design, the American parade jacket will take American Olympic style to a new level of coolness." There was no mention of the fact that some of its designers moved to the HBC design team.

NOTES ON 2010 TICKETS AND VOLUNTEERS
Some odds and ends we've heard in passing: VANOC gets calls daily from people asking if they can buy tickets for the 2010 Winter Games, even though the details of how the ticketing will work have not yet been finalized. However, VANOC says that every event will have seating available for the public, even though it is required to provide tickets to people representing or connected with various governments, sports organizations, sponsors and the like. Becoming a volunteer for the Games, VANOC says, will be just like applying for a job. Volunteers will need to have a good resume of sports-related volunteer work, preferably working with previous Olympics or similar events, and a good attitude. And, yes, volunteers who worked with the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary have already contacted VANOC. The organization isn't expected to start accepting volunteer applications until 2007 or 2008.

RESOURCES
You can see Roots's Olympic fashions here for men...
www.roots-direct.com/style.aspx?catid=27&dptid=1&saleGroup=&template=1

... And here for women:
www.roots-direct.com/style.aspx?catid=39&dptid=2&saleGroup=&template=1

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1312
VANCOUVER EXPECTED TO START FIRST MAJOR WORK AT CLEANING UP 2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE SITE IN DECEMBER

The City of Vancouver's Southeast False Creek and Olympic Village Project Office has begun looking for companies to remove and dispose of the decking and piles located in False Creek near the 2010 Olympic Village.

The job will be the first visible signs of heavy work as the City begins the process of developing the site for the 2010 Games, and the tender gives a good idea of how the City plans to proceed in dealing with the old industrial site. Companies interested in the work have until November 28 to let the project office know their quote.

The area has been a heavy industrial work location for roughly a century. The 275 old piles and dilapidated deck, which are somewhat more modern but which have been there for years, are located north of First Avenue and west of the of the Manitoba Street extension, surrounding a small inlet.

There are two main parts to the deck, which is built of heavy, 4" x 12" timbers sitting on 12" square stringers. The eastern decking area of about 2,700 square meters sits over tidal mud flats, and the western decking area of about 300 square meters sits on a old barge slip. The piles, in bundles of three and covered in creosote, appear to have been driven into firm ground about 10 metres down.

The deck has partly fallen into the Creek. The work also includes removing and getting rid of any steel remnants from previous wharf operations, any garbage found on the decking structure, the 70 metres of old rails on the western deck, and removal of the 300 metres of fencing surrounding the area. It includes recovery and disposal of any material that has fallen into the little inlet bordered by the old wharf.

The work has to be done so that no debris falls into the Creek, which is now protected by a host of environmental regulations, and the contractor will be required to put a heavy curtain across the little inlet to protect material or silt from drifting out into the main portion of the Creek itself. The firm will also have to ensure that any water intakes are screened to prevent harm to fish, and it'll have to have a spill-prevention plan in place and ready to be activated.

Companies applying for the work will have to provide a surety and a bid bond of 10% of their bidding price, and, if they win the tender, they will have to exchange that for a 50% performance bond, along with a 50% bond for labour and materials payment.

The City notes, however, that it's still waiting for permission from the Burrard Inlet Environmental Review Committee, a governmental organization made up of environmental agencies that cover the area, to go ahead with the work. The City is responsible for getting that permission, and it's asked twice: once last May and again in early October, and it's still waiting. The work can't start until the approval is through.

The contract being offered also officially warns firms not use the fact that they're bidding or, even if they've won the tender, to promote itself as being allied with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) or the Olympic Games in any way.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #1311
SQUAMISH NEWSPAPER BITTER ABOUT VANOC'S TREATMENT OF TOWN

The community newspaper that services Squamish, the town located roughly halfway between Vancouver and Whistler on Highway 99, has published a bitter editorial about the town's treatment at the hands of the the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

Squamish Chief editor Steven Hill, under the headline "The Olympic promise", writes that, "Squamish has missed some pretty big opportunities which were supposed to come out of the 2010 Winter Games. Although, 'missed' may be the wrong word -Ð it's more like the opportunities were pulled out from under us." The newspaper has a circulation of about 4,000; the town and its surrounding area has a population of about 15,000.

Hill starts his list of snubs with the time last year when VANOC told the town to remove its "Heart of 2010" highway banners for copyright violations forcing it to spending money developing a new campaign, however, he claims, the originals were, "the same banners that VANOC's predecessor, the 2010 Bid Corporation, was so happy to have us put up before they won the Games."

He includes what he calls "the whole Paralympic Sledge Hockey Arena fiasco," adding, "Whistler, at first, didn't want the darn thing, leading VANOC to approach Squamish about taking on the project. We spent lots of time and money on the idea, based on meetings with VANOC, yet they still gave more than one extension to Whistler on the deal, allowing them to change their minds and grab the cash for the arena. Just what did all that work and money get Squamish? Nothing except for a mayor with higher blood pressure and a bad taste in his mouth from VANOC."

Hill also discusses the fact there was a ferry that was originally considered between Vancouver and Squamish, but which was rejected by VANOC planners a few weeks ago. The terminal, says Hill, "was supposed to be built in Squamish to accommodate the oodles of Games-goers Ð isn't going to be built at all. Instead, Squamish has only the exhaust from hundreds of buses to look forward to in 2010."

Hill says Squamish, along with the rest of the province, are being told by VANOC to "start looking for opportunities now and to embrace the Olympic opportunities", but he writes, "Those officials need to embrace something other than fluffy-sounding sound bytes. To have a successful bid in the first place, they needed the support of all surrounding communities, and that support was secured with nice promises about legacies and opportunity. Now that Whistler and Vancouver have the Games, those promises have gone the way of so many cheques that were supposed to be in the mail."

Hill concludes: "It would be nice to hear some concrete examples of how VANOC thinks Squamish can still benefit in 2010. Now is the time to show what the Vancouver/Whistler Games are all about Ð either it is for the whole province, or just those two cities? Will it be a story of Olympic promise, or promises broken?"

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

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #1310
SPORT, HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT SET UP FORUM IN CALGARY TO ORGANIZE 2010-RELATED TOURISM

Three organizations representing sport, tourism and government are setting up a C$200-a-seat business forum in Calgary next month with the goal of showing companies how they can take advantage of the tourism that's expected to be drawn to BC and Canada because of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA), the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), and the federal government's Western Economic Diversification Canada are collaborating to host the "2010 Sport and Tourism Forum Ð Maximizing the Tourism Benefits," to be held from December 12 - 13.

The Forum will feature two main speakers: Frank King, president and CEO of the Organizing Committee for the a1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary; and John Morse, managing director of the Australian Tourism Commission, who supervised the design and implementation of the Australian tourism strategy leading to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The CSTA and TIAC have a joint committee to "maximize the regional and national the tourism benefits of hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games". The committee includes both public- and private-sector sport and tourism operations across Canada.

After a number of meetings and discussions, the committee decided there were quite a number of organizations with various initiatives that could have an effect on the tourism industry leading to 2010, as well as beyond the Games. The Calgary forum is designed to be a platform for these organizations to share information, strategies and individual tourism objectives.

In part, the organizers say, the idea is flag areas where there are overlaps, gaps or opportunities for organizations to join in a particular initiative. The participants will also hear how government departments and tourism companies interact in attracting tourism.

"The Forum is a collaborative initiative between the sport and tourism communities to maximize the benefits of Canada's hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games", stated

RESOURCES

Randy Williams,
President and CEO of TIAC.
Contact info:
www.tiac-aitc.ca/english/tiacoffice.asp

Rick Traer,
CEO of the CSTA
Contact info:
www.canadiansporttourism.com/eng_doc.cfm?DocID=18

The registration information for the forum is here:
www.tiac.travel

The organizations list a number of groups that all have programs aimed at enhancing tourism, particularly involving the 2010 Games. These include:

The Canadian govermment's Canadian Heritage department:
www.canadianheritage.gc.ca
Industry Canada
Sport Canada
BC Olympic Secretariat
Canadian Tourism Commission
VANOC
Canadian Olympic Committee
Tourism BC
Tourism Vancouver
Tourism Whistler
2010 Legacies Now Society
Calgary Olympic Development Association

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Labour| #1309
BC LABOUR LEADER REPORTEDLY THREATENS TO KEEP AUSSIE FIRM FROM A MARKET OF "A$86 BILLION" LEADING UP TO 2010

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney, Australia, is quoting a BC labour official as saying he intends to organize a boycott of an Aussie construction firm, to shut it out of "A$86 billion" worth of work "leading up to the 2010 Winter Games."

Wayne Peppard, executive director of the BC and Yukon Building Construction Trades Council, is in Sydney, and is quoted by the Telegraph article as saying he intends to organize the campaign against the James Hardie company in order to pressure the company to settle with asbestos claimants. Peppard said he attempted to meet with company officials, but they declined to see him.

"There's A$86 billion dollars worth of work coming up in the next six years and if they're interested in any of it they'd better compensate the victims," he later told The Daily Telegraph, offering his estimate of the time before the Games, which is actually just over four years. Assuming Peppard was talking in Australian dollars, the amount translates to about C$74 billion at today's exchange rates. However, the total proposed capital expenditure of the 2010 Games is nowhere near that amount; it was last reported holding at C$620 million.

Peppard told the newspaper he would use his organization's affiliations with the US building unions to raise the matter in the United States. The newspaper says James Hardie gets about 80% of its revenue from its American business.

"We'll start the campaign as soon as I get back home this week and move it as quickly as possible," he told the newspaper.

On November 22, The New South Wales Government gave James Hardie one week to settle its C$1.6-billion compensation deal with asbestos victims or it would legislate to force the building materials company to pay the claims.

The last issue of the BC government's Major Projects Inventory, issued in June, said it was tracking about C$78 billion in actual or proposed capital expenditures, however, the capital cost of all major projects currently under construction in BC is estimated at C$31 billion. "Proposed projects, are estimated at approximately C$43 billion; however," the report adds, "of this amount, not all projects have a high probability of proceeding... and approximately C$4 billion of projects are judged to be on hold for the time being."

RESOURCES

James Hardie's corporate profile on the Australian Stock Exchange:
markets.news.com.au/Newscorp/Company/Profile.aspx?SecId=JHX

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1308
VANOC'S JARVIS ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE'S NEW GOVERNING BOARD

Patrick Jarvis, a member of the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), has won a seat on the International Paralympic Committee's new Governing Board as member-at-large.

Jarvis, who is also president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, is in Beijing for the convention at which he was elected. From the Chinese city which will host the 2008 Summer Olympics, Jarvis says, "This is the first Board elected under the IPC's new constitution, and our members can now rely on a new, credible governing structure to steer the Paralympic Movement in the right direction. My focus is to provide athletes with the best possible conditions for peak performances, as well as bridging the gaps between the Olympic and Paralympic games."

The Governing Board structure replaces the IPC's Executive Committee following recommendations of a strategic review accepted by the IPC membership at an special General Assembly.

Jarvis, a former Paralympian, served on the International Olympic Committee's 2012 Bid Evaluation Commission which eventually resulted in London, England being chosen for those Summer Games; and was appointed by the International Paralympic Committee to the 2012 Games Coordination Commission, to help with the transition between the two sets of Games.

Jarvis was the only Canadian to run in the elections. In total, 26 member-at-large candidates were nominated for 10 available positions. Philip Craven was acclaimed as the president of the IPC and Miguel Sagara, of Spain, was elected vice-president.

VANOC CEO John Furlong was enthusiastic about the election. "This is a tremendous honour for Patrick. He provides valuable contributions to help us deliver our goal of integrated planning for both the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. His Games experiences will serve him well as a member of the IPC Governing Board, and having him represent the Canadian perspective is great for sport and the Paralympic movement."

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

Monday, November 21, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1307
13 BC COMMUNITIES RECEIVE TOTAL OF C$48,500 TO BEEF UP CULTURAL STUDIES FOR 2010

Thirteen communities in BC have been given a total of C$48,500 by 2010 Legacies Now through Creative Communities, a program designed to help municipalities and arts organizations develop local culture with community leaders.

The funds were provided under the 2010 Legacies Now section called Arts Now. Creative Communities is expected to encourage the use of cultural planning by communities, recognize the creative sector's importance and push for various social and economic objectives.

Olga Ilich, BC's minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, says, that "By developing planning capacity in our arts and culture organizations, we help ensure that future investments better meet community needs and are sustainable over the long-term."

The funding is available in two categories; Cultural Planning, which supports communities in creating a cultural plan that can be developed, implemented and evaluated; and Cultural Scan, which supports assessment initiatives that enable communities to take stock of local cultural assets, strengths, challenges and aspirations for the purpose of establishing the groundwork for the development of a cultural plan.

According to Marion Lay, the president and CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, the funds will help "cultural organizations work... with municipalities to assess the needs of their arts and culture community."

Dawn Johnson, the chair of the Arts Now Committee in Princeton, in BC's southcentral area, says her organization was one of the recipients of the funding: $4,245. "The contribution from 2010 Legacies Now was matched by the Okanagan Similkameen Regional District and the Town of Princeton and, after forming our committee and a consultant, we set a goal of inventorying community assets. We also did a survey to discover what people feel is lacking in arts and culture in our community."

BACKGROUND
Here are the recipients of the funding so far; funds are in Canadian dollars:

Musqueam aboriginal band - $15,000
The band says it will hire a consultant to do some cultural research through focus groups, list "cultural assets" and establish a "community vision, principles and values."

City of Nelson - $10,000
Nelson expects to develop an Arts Advisory Board that will plan and provide cultural policy information to the City. Nelson also expects to hire a consultant to develop an arts policy for the area.

Regional District of North Okanagan - $10,000
The Regional District of North Okanagan in partnership with the District of Coldstream, the City of Vernon and other arts and culture organizations will hire a consultant to develop an Arts and Culture Master Plan for the City of Vernon and the surrounding areas.

City of Campbell River - $10,000
The city will hire a consultant to draft a "Strategic Cultural and Heritage Plan", which will then be used to help it "develop cultural and heritage practices, services and programs."

City of Fort St. John - $7,500
The City, working with its Community Arts Council, will research its existing arts and cultural section, with the idea of developing a cultural plan for the city.

City of Nanaimo - $6,000
The City wants to develop an online Cultural Resources Inventory as a "searchable guide to Nanaimo's arts and cultural community." It will include a list of the existing arts and cultural facilities, arts and cultural organizations and a calendar of arts, cultural and heritage events.

City of Port Moody - $6,000
Two consultants will be hired to develop a Cultural Facilities Plan by discussing the matter with the Port Moody Arts Centre, the Port Moody Station Museum, the Inlet Theatre & Outlet Stage and the Rocky Point Warehouse Artists' Studios and Gallery.

City of Revelstoke - $5,000
With various arts and cultural groups, the City of Revelstoke hired a consultant and developed a comprehensive Cultural Plan to assess and inventory the local artistic activities and groups. This will enable the City to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the cultural and artistic sectors and identify community priorities for the future. The City is planning to now work on a Master Culture Plan.

City of Castlegar - $5,000
The City of Castlegar is to hire a consultant to research a cultural plan for the community. The Castlegar Arts Council is also working on the project.

Golden Area Initiatives - $5,000
In partnership with the Town of Golden and Area 'A' of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, the Golden Area Initiatives group are to do cultural research to help it develop planning in Golden.

Bulkley Valley Community Arts Council - $5,000
The Council, working with the Town of Smithers, the school district and the Office of the Wet'suwet'en aboriginal group, is to hire a consultant to draft a Strategic Cultural and Heritage Plan.

District of Vanderhoof - $4,000
Vanderhoof will hire a consultant to draft an "Arts and Cultural Plan", similar to Campbell River's.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 21, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #1306
CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE HIRES DAVID BEDFORD AS CHIEF MARKETER

The Canadian Olympic Committee has hired David Bedford as its new Executive Director of Revenue Generation, Brand Management and Communications. It's a new position.

Bedford is the former Vice President of Olympic and Paralympic Marketing Worldwide with IMG, a sports agency representing athletes. He will be based in Toronto and report to the COC's Chief Operating Officer, Lou Ragagnin. He starts December 5.

Chris Rudge, chief executive officer of the COC, says Bedford has "numerous volunteer positions in sport and he also brings an extensive background in the field of sports sponsorship and marketing. With David on board, we look forward to continuing to build a stronger corporate team to support the Olympic movement, VANOC 2010 and our mutual sponsors, and high performance sport in Canada."

Bedford's position makes him a key member of the COC's senior management team, and will help it to develop and implement the organization's strategic business plans.

Bedford says, "The opportunity to pursue my passion for Canadian sport excellence with my experience as a sport marketer... will help in pointing Canadian athletes towards the podium at future Olympic and Pan American Games."

An executive with almost 25 years of sponsorship and promotional marketing expertise, Bedford will take a lead role working with the corporate partners of the COC and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to develop a broad range of programs designed to benefit Canada's Olympic athletes.

In addition to corporate sponsorship, Bedford is also expected to develop new fundraising programs, as well as work with the COC's communications department to implement a series of new plans designed to support the COC's programs involving high performance athletes and community relations.

Bedford knows the COC fairly well. He was the head of Canada team at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. He was also a volunteer member of the organization's Board of Directors, served on a number of COC committees, and was a member of the mission staff for the 1996 Summer Olympic and 1998 Olympic Winter Games.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 21, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1305
BC MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS UNLIKELY TO HOLD SURPRISES FOR VANOC

Municipal elections held throughout British Columbia over the weekend are expected to have only a mild effect on current development plans for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The people elected are expected, however, to influence VANOC's working relationship with the areas where venues are to be built, since all of the facilities will be built or renovated between now and when the next elections are held, in three years, and councillors have significant involvement in local land-use decisions.

In Vancouver, Larry Campbell, who earlier decided he would not run for a second term, was replaced by veteran council member Sam Sullivan of the more business-minded Non-Partisan Association party by a narrow margin in voting, and the city also chose a more moderate set of councillors, with the NPA given a one-vote majority on council. The leftist party, Committee of Progressive Electors, which dominated council for the first two years of its term in office, was all but eliminated in favour of the more centralist members of the party, which had split away during the final year to form their own party, Vision Vancouver. Sullivan's opponent, Jim Green, the political leader first of COPE and then of Vision Vancouver, is now out of office. The NPA also dominated separate school board and parks board elections. Vancouver Parks Board has some effect on the development of some of the city venues.

Sullivan, who is in favour of maintaining good relationships with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), immediately suggested that he might be able to loosen some of the low-rise development constrictions imposed by the previous council on the size of the buildings that might be constructed on the Vancouver 2010 Athlete's Village, which forms the core of a larger development area on the shores of southeast False Creek. However, the legalities of the City's development process, coupled with the stage the project is in, makes it unlikely there will be substantive changes permitted before construction starts next spring. The City is about to provide four potential developers a formal Request for Proposals on the Village portion of the project, and the developer has to be chosen by City council by January, with a speedy rezoning process to follow, probably in February, before construction can start. The buildings, whatever their height and configuration as proposed by the winning developer, have to be ready to be handed over to VANOC no later than November, 2009. Most of the remaining development work on Vancouver buildings for the 2010 Games is renovation-related.

The City of Vancouver also held several referenda for capital borrowing all but one of which were approved by margins approaching 80%. The exception involved a request to borrow up to C$35 million for projects which involved the City working with VANOC to take advantage of its construction and renovation schedule to renovate or construct adjacent civic buildings or use VANOC funds to share the cost of them. It was approved by a much narrower margin of 59%. The projects include: replacing two old ice rinks, one at the Killarney Community Centre, the other at the Trout Lake Community Centre, and building the Percy Norman Aquatic Centre as part of the new Hillcrest Centre. Following the Games in 2010, the new aquatic centre will form part of a complex being constructed by VANOC to include a replacement for the Riley Park community centre and ice rink, the Vancouver Curling Club and the Riley Park branch library. The reduced vote could be construed as a combination of some vote resistance to the City spending money in connection with the Olympics, and voter confusion over what the City was saying about its intentions.

In Whistler, the new mayor, Ken Melamed, narrowly defeated challenger and fellow municipal councillor, Ted Nebbeling, for the job. Melamed earlier voted in favour of a key amendment that helped Whistler council decide last month that the municipality would build the contentious Paralympic sledge-hockey arena. However, Melamed told council that he would only consider borrowing money to build a facility if the majority of the community voted to do so in a referendum. Melamed had said that Council was committed to remain fiscally responsible while staging the Games. Depleting reserves or going into debt to finance the facility, he said at the time, was not fiscally responsible. His amendment committed Whistler staff to continue considering the idea of twinning the sports centre.

In Richmond, the home of VANOC's C$60 million contribution to the sports complex that will house the Olympic long-track speed-skating oval, mayor Malcolm Brodie was re-elected. There was little debate about the project, currently valued at C$178 million, other than general concerns about the extent of the project and that its original concept being secret at the time, a requirement of the Request For Proposals process required by VANOC, but that has been hashed out over the past year, and there has been a lot of public consultation since.

In West Vancouver District, which includes the Cypress Bowl area where VANOC is to host the 2010 snowboarding events and freestyle skiing, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, who was just finishing her first term as councillor, successfully defeated incumbent mayor Ron Wood. During her term, however, she was a member of West Vancouver council's 2010 Olympic/Paralympic Committee Select Committee, the equivalent of a task force, as was Wood, so she has a good knowledge of the players and how her community's aspects are organized. The Committee wrapped up its work and reported to council last June.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 21, 2005

Friday, November 18, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1304

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

JARVIS TELLS BEIJING CONFERENCE 2010 PARALYMPICS AN INTEGRAL PART OF "ONE FESTIVAL"

Patrick Jarvis, a member of the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), is in Beijing, China, today, focused on developments in the Paralympics. Jarvis told the 2005 International Paralympic Committee General Assembly that VANOC is emphasizing an integrated planning and delivery model for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics is similar to that offered by Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Jarvis says that the 2010 Games will be "one festival, two events, 27 days of sport and 60 days of celebration." The annual Assembly involves representatives of the next four Paralympic Games Ð Torino 2006, Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. Wang Wei, the executive vice-president of the Beijing 2008 Organizing Committee said his organization would subsidize the cost of travel by Assembly delegates to see the Beijing Games. Like Vancouver, Mr. Wang noted about Beijing: "Our goal is to achieve equal splendour for both Games."

2010 TOURISM MARKETER THINKING, PART ONE...
Overheard: Stephen Pearce, vice-president of Leisure Travel & Destination Management with Tourism Vancouver, speaking in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver: "We sometimes forget that Canada, Vancouver and the Lower Mainland are just not on people's radar screens [around the world]. They're not thinking about us. It's not to say they don't think favourably about Canada, it's that they don't have much information and it's not dialled up in a way they pay attention to it. What is going to put us on the map like nothing else is the 2010 Olympics. We're going to have the opportunity to get people interested, possibly for the first time, in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. And once we've got their attention, we can sell them something."

... AND 2010 TOURISM MARKETER THINKING, PART TWO
The minister of Economic Development for BC, Colin Hansen, told the Nanaimo Daily News yesterday that the exposure the province will gain during the 2010 Games can only help the province economically, and the government intends to give the process a push when the time is right, which appears to be soon, "We are putting packages together to get Olympic visitors out of the Vancouver-Whistler area and into other areas of the province. It is a marketing gold mine for us."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 18, 2005

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1303

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

WHISTLER CHOOSES BARRATT AS NEW CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR

Bill Barratt, the deputy administrator for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, is now its chief administrative officer. He replaces Jim Godfrey, who was hired to work on the 2010 Games in Whistler last April. Barratt has worked for Whistler for 25 years.

FURLONG TO HEAD FOR BC'S NORTH NEXT WEEK
Around the VANOC corridors: VANOC CEO John Furlong will be starting a tour next week of BC's communities and aboriginal groups along the BC's Yellowhead highway, from Prince Rupert to Prince George. It'll be the first time he's been back to the areas since he canvassed them for support of the 2010 bid, and he'll be asking them what they'll be doing to help support the Games. Meanwhile, the staff of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) are just starting to hear whether they've been tapped to be part of the team going to observe the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy in early February. The messages have been circulated in the last day or two, and they include vice-president of Communications Rene Smith-Valade. No word yet on the total number going, although the last we heard, which was in September, was that it would be about half the compliment; VANOC is expected to have about 200 people on the payroll by the time the 2006 Games start.

MEDIA EXPECTED TO START TALKING ABOUT VANCOUVER AFTER TORINO HAND-OFF
More bits and pieces: VANOC figures the media invasion of Greater Vancouver, Whistler and BC will start following the hand-over of the Olympic Flag at the end of the Torino Closing Ceremony. About 10,000 news media will be coming to the 2010 Games starting in early 2010 -- and that's just the ones that will have been issued accreditation. There will be another contingent developing feature stories, and their technical crews, that will be using a non-accredited media centre. During the