Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2504

COC CONSIDERS POSSIBILITY OF AMATEUR SPORTS TV CHANNEL IN CANADA

There's talk that the Canadian Olympic Committee is planning to ask the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission in the next few months for approval of a TV cable channel that would focus on amateur sports. The COC has been meeting with consultants about the concept. The CRTC, which regulates broadcasting in the country, isn't seen as the main challenge to getting such an endeavour going. The key part of the business plan would be the number of cable distribution operations who would carry it. Should that prove difficult to get done, one option might be for the COC's application to the CRTC to request it be part of the basic-cable channels that all cable operations are required to carry as it would help considerably with revenue, but that kind of approval is tough to get.

VANOC MARKETING EXECUTIVES SET FOR COC FUNDRAISER

There will be two main VANOC marketing executives representing the 2010 organization at next Friday's fund-raising golf tournament in Whistler for the Canadian Olympic Committee: Dave Cobb, VANOC's executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, and his Sponsorship Department vice-president, Andrea Shaw.

IOC SETS OCTOBER 7-11 AS OLYMPIC WEEK AROUND WORLD

The International Olympic Committee has set October 7 to 11 as the 27th annual Olympic Week. The general focus, because of the Beijing Games occurring next August, will be on summer Olympic sports in various places around the world, but the IOC also tries to have activities focus on underlying themes. This year, the themes are: excellence or how to give the best of oneself, on the field of play or in life, taking part and progressing according to one's own objectives; friendship or how, through sport, to understand each other despite any differences; and respect or how to use fair play with others, knowing one's own limits, taking care of one's health and the environment.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2503

SOME GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS ABOUT WHISTLER'S 2010 CELEBRATION PLAZA

Whistler has been talking about Lots 1/9 for years: the forested area near the centre of Whistler Village was earmarked for an Olympic sledge-hockey rink and, when that fell through, it was tagged to become a spectacular Olympic celebration plaza, budgeted at C$14.2 million, with a spiffy, covered, outdoor ice rink and various other treats, such as water features. They may have talked too long. Whistler planners have been told by architects Bing Thom of Bing Thom Architects and Chris Phillips of Phillips, Farevaag, Smallenburg that they had some good news and some bad news. The good news from Thom is that the spiffy, open-air ice rink, when built, will have a suspended clear glass roof -- if the engineering and snow loading can be worked out, but it should look fabulous and be unique. Through some "reforestration" work, he added, people will experience the effect of "skating through a forest." The bad news, he says, is that it won't be built in time for the 2010 Games. The good news is that the best portion of the existing secondary-growth forest on the grounds is at one end of the rink. The bad news is that those trees, plus 85% of the rest of the trees and cover on the land will be cut down to make way for VANOC to construct a "temporary stage for the Olympic medal ceremonies and a large open space to accommodate the Olympic visitors and media," according to Phillips when the 2010 Games are underway. Hence the need for the reforestation work in connection with the 1,115 square metre (12,000-square-foot) ice rink and its related buildings for a skate shop and a Zamboni, plus some buildings for cafes and the like. VANOC expects about 8,000 people each day for the medals ceremonies during the Games -- the design target is 5,000 standing and 3,000 seated. Even though most of the land will be logged, it "will not be built upon," before or after the Games, he added. What about power? Thom is contemplating geo-thermal heating, and LED lighting, but the water feature is gone. Some experts were pleased with the iconic concept of the skating rink roof, but others were not so sure. As one put it, "If we can't afford it for the Olympics, then why build it at all?" The architects, armed with the mixed reaction, will refine the concept and report back to the planners in a few months.

CONTRACTOR CALL TO UPGRADE POWER SUPPLY TO 2010 COLISEUM VENUE

VANOC today issued a call for electrical contractors interested in helping VANOC upgrade the power supply between one of the main BC Hydro feeder station in Hastings Park and the Pacific Coliseum, the short-track speedskating and figure-skating venue. It's part of the work on the venue that VANOC has been undertaking over the last couple of years, with a total budget before contingency draw-down of C$23.7 million. The 12.47kV feeder system to the Pacific Coliseum is underground and it needs a backup feed to meet the IOC's reliability requirements for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. VANOC is working with the Pacific National Exhibition, which supervises the park, and the City of Vancouver Parks Board, which also supervises the park, to make the improvements, and they're taking advantage of the contractor being on site to also provide at their cost a new 12.47kV underground feeder for the nearby Hastings Park Horse Racing Track. Two new 12.47kV underground transmission lines are expected to carry power from the Rupert Substation at the southeast corner of the PNE grounds to new outdoor power switch-gear that is to be located outside the southeast corner of the Pacific Coliseum. New duct banks and manholes, together with the use of existing spare ducts that are currently empty, will be required. Once it's installed both the Coliseum and the race track get their electrical power from the new switch-gear. VANOC wants its portion of the work to be built to LEED Silver standards, and it also wants the contractor to use materials supplied as value-in-kind from its corporate sponsors, to save its cash supplies, but it also wants the companies that intend to bid on the project to incorporate its detailed list of social goals, which deal with aboriginal, and low-income employees, particularly from neighbouring east-Vancouver areas. If the winning company is unionized, VANOC wants the union to agree to no work stoppages during the job. There are two phases to the work, and VANOC wants the job to start October 1, with phase one finished by December 21, with phase two completed by March 1. It wants the entire job finished and the power ready to be switched by March 15. VANOC's paperwork on just the tendering is prodigious: it's expecting proponents to wade through a 48-page RFP and a 78-page contract. The window for bidding on the job closes September 20.

VANOC SETS DATE FOR COC GOLF-TOURMANENT FUNDRAISER

Next Friday, September 7, VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee will co-host the fifth annual Whistler Golf Tournament, sponsored by Bell Canada as part of its 2010 marketing activiation, to raise money for the Canadian Olympic Foundation. The tournament involves appearances by some Canadian Olympians including Charmaine Crooks, one of the COC's three appointees to the VANOC Board of Directors. The Winter Olympians who will be taking part include Veronica Brenner (freestyle skiing), Chris Farstad (bobsleigh), Melissa Hollingsworth (skeleton), Crispin Lipscomb (snowboard) and Georgina Wheatcroft (curling). COC CEO Chris Rudge and senior executives at VANOC will also be participating in the tournament. The tournament involves 18 holes of golf, Olympic-themed demonstrations, two auctions and dinner at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler. CBC Sports' Steve Armitage, who covered the Torino Winter Games for the national network, will serve as the tournament's master of ceremonies and host.

BACKGROUND

Our previous story about the Whistler Celebrations Plaza
'Here's an overview look at how and when the C$14.2 million budget for the Whistler medals plaza is expected to be spent'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2404; Published on Thursday, July 5, 2007]

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 31, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2501

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT - OWN THE PODIUM'S "TOP SECRET" APPROACH VARIES WITH SPORT

"Mr. Peter Davis -- Own the Podium's director of sport science, medicine and technology -- said multiple factors are at play when an athlete performs at his or her best. Top Secret's job is to find the keystones for building a winning performance. 'You can't look at [a winning performance] and say 'yes, it was the nutrition experiment, or it was the altitude program, or the piece of equipment just by itself',' said Davis. 'Everything has to come together perfectly. There are a large number of factors that contribute to a winning performance. Top Secret [an Own the Podium program] is merely the icing on the cake.' Davis said all of Canada's winter Olympians already have, or will have, the assistance of what he calls Performance Enhancement Teams (PETs) to help them and their coaches improve. PETs are made up of the variety of science and medical specialists such as biomechanists, nutritionists, physiologists, physiotherapists, sport psychologists, and other specialists as needed who are trained to enhance performance. Davis said in the lead-up to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, some sports may notice a leap in equipment quality. Other sports, meanwhile, will focus on athletes, opting to fine-tune nutrition or psychology programs or conditioning and recovery programs. Every sport is different and it's all about matching a sport's need with appropriate solutions." -- an excerpt from a feature-length article, which gives little specifics, about the Top Secret program, published today by VANOC's Communications department [the link to the full article is in RESOURCES, below].

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT - STRIKING VANCOUVER CIVIC WORKERS DISCUSS 2010-RELATED PORTION OF LATEST OFFER

"The union also included an Olympic partnership agreement in its counter-offer, which [Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 15 president Paul Faoro] had previously said his union would only discuss after all the other details had been ironed out. Keith Graham, CUPE 15's chief negotiator, said the Olympic [portion of the] agreement the union has proposed is basically the same as the one the City of Richmond reached with its civic workers, with a few key differences. 'What we're asking for in the Olympic agreement is that our members, who normally work at that site, be given first opportunity to continue to be scheduled at that site, doing their normal work, before volunteers and VANOC employees are called in,' Mr. Graham said." -- Reporters Armina ligaya and Laura Drake, writing in a story entitled "Strike drags on after union rejects city's proposals" in the August 28 edition of Canada's Globe & Mail newspaper.

BRITAIN STARTS PROCESS OF BUILDING 2010 OLYMPIC CURLING TEAM

British Curling, the organisation charged with selecting, supporting and preparing the British curling teams for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics, is ready to register curlers in the UK who wish to be considered for the Great Britain Olympic curling squads that will be preparing for the 2010 Games. The organization has published an athlete information pack that covers the selection process, timelines and eligibility for Vancouver 2010. The closing date for applications is September 30. Squads of eight athletes are expected to be selected in the first round, and these would be reduced to teams of five players.

RESOURCES

VANOC's feature on the Top Secret program is here:
www.vancouver2010.com/en/OrganizingCommittee/MediaCentre/FeatureStories/2007/08/28/45436_0708281122-951

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 30, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2500 (Feature)
VANOC'S BELL-PROVIDED COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK TECHNOLOGY IS EXTENSIVE AND EXPANSIVE

Bell Canada is still working on constructing the physical part of the digital communications network it's building for the 2010 Winter Games, but when it's complete, it'll be 1,120 kilometres of a state-of-the-art, industrial-grade system that will connect Vancouver, Whistler, West Vancouver and Richmond -- and a lot of points in between -- for years after the Games have gone.

Here's what we've learned from investigating Bell's plans for a communication infrastructure that it eventually use for corporate clients, but will first donate it for use by the 2010 Olympic Games as part of one of the largest national Olympic corporate sponsorship deals involving cash and value-in-kind services and materials reached for any Games (sponsorship deals for the London Summer Olympics have yet to reach the value of the Bell deal).

It's a deal officials of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) calculates is worth about C$200 million if it had to buy Bell's services at retail rates. Instead of cash, VANOC provides Bell with a wide range of marketing opportunities, including the ability to link VANOC and Olympic brands to its own until December 31, 2012.

The Bell network is what will carry all of VANOC's communications, including the critical television programming, which is responsible for generating a large part of VANOC's operational revenues. The audience is expected to be, when news and features are added up, more than three billion viewers -- about half of the world's population. About two billion are expected by VANOC to be watching the Opening Ceremonies on February 12, 2010. The TV coverage is expected to be more than 13.1 billion viewer-hours; that's an average of six hours and 14 minutes per viewer. It also means the Olympic Broadcast Service of Vancouver, an International Olympic Committee agency that provides pooled feeds to the world's networks, will be providing 10,416 hours of dedicated coverage, 23% in prime time. That's an equivalent of 434 days or more than 14 months. During Games time, OBSV will need about 2,200 people -- some paid, some volunteer, but all skilled -- to run cameras, deal with lighting and sound, and handle logistics. (A note here: Vancouver has a large contingent of people with video skills, but the Games could interfere with movie production due to manpower shortages and road closures connected with the Games.) The Bell network is also expected to carry signals and information generated by VANOC and its sponsors: Voice, data, Internet, wireless PCS, private radio, CATV (cable television broadcasts), closed-circuit TV for security and related data, information from timing & scoring systems, and even information from and for public address systems.

The network, which uses Internet protocols (IP) full time for transmission for the first time in a Winter Olympic Games, is comprised of about 160 kilometers of fibre-optic cable, 960 kilometers of copper wire, 2,700 fibre cross connects and 15,000 connections for voice-and-data services. There are two Bell optical-signal repeater stations in Squamish, the town roughly halfway between Vancouver and Whistler, where the signals are constantly regenerated and re-clocked to ensure the switching there isn't a single location for transmission failure. To put that length in perspective, if the cable was built in a straight line going south from Vancouver, it would almost reach San Francisco. Bell is responsible for designing the system, installing it at each of VANOC's competition and non-competition venues and removing some of it from specific areas following the Games. Each venue is provided two fibre lines, the second for redundancy in case there are problems with the first one. The lines terminate in portable huts that are to be located just outside each venue in protected areas.

The IP method allows any of the expected 15,000 voice and data users with a device that is capable of connecting to the network, including everything from big processing servers to tiny PDAs, the ability to do so anywhere on it, at any time, through a user-password system, and many of the computers themselves will have hardware in them to also authenticate the machine. Compared with even the type of system used during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, considerably simplified support systems and billing methods -- yes, some users will be paying for access to the network -- and it also considerably simplifies the cabling requirements.

The backbone of the system is a dedicated fibre-optic set of rings that's a total of 450 kilometres long. It's comprised of seven rings, including six that are known as "Optical Carrier-48", which means they can carry up to 2.49 gigabits of data per second, and one is an OC-192 ring, capable of transmitting 9.6 gigabits per second. It will have 10 gig Ethernet backbone branches between each venue. The system is designed so that VANOC traffic doesn't mingle with that of other Bell clients. The system is also designed to heal itself within 50 thousandth of a second. Bell is using its bi-directional line switching ring system on those backbones, a method in which half of the network data is sent counterclockwise over one fibre and the other half is sent clockwise over another fibre. The data is merged and purged at the receiving end until there's a break in the line, in which case the data is rerouted.

Wireless is fairly common now, but in three years it will be ubiquitous and, because VANOC is locking in its technology this year and early next, so it doesn't have to deal with bleeding-edge systems that may or may not work properly, Bell is building a wireless network to ensure the VANOC system seems like it will be state-of-the-art in 2010. It is installing 44 new wireless cell sites; 31 of those are in the Whistler and Sea-to-Sky area, with 13 sites to enhance Vancouver-area transmission. There is expected to be wireless coverage at every VANOC competition and non-competition venue, including the two Athlete Villages. The Olympic family -- those helping to put on the Games -- will have a five-megahertz spectrum of wireless frequencies just for them.

VANOC will have four phone exchanges dedicated to it through the network. (For example, VANOC main phone number is 778.328.2010. The "328" in that number is the equivalent of one exchange.) The network comes with the ability of any authorized network user to contact any other by simply dialing five digits. It uses VoIP (voice over Internet) to connect one phone to another. It will also have a complete Centrex set of features, which the standard set of business-communication features are available for every user on the network, such as transferring incoming calls from one extension to another or identifying extension telephones for billing long-distance calls.

Other features include the ability to set up virtual networks between machines on the fly, as well as a wide range of broadband data communication services. The network will also carry signals for IPTV -- Internet-based TV distribution. It's essentially going to be VANOC-TV. It will carry schedule changes, provide traffic updates, talk about the impact of weather on the Games as well as carry local and international news, carry security information, help Games reporters to cover multiple events with less travel -- it's expected to even help VANOC people deal with emergency situations. Bell will deal with setting up about 5,000 TV monitors across all of the competition and non-competition venues. The IPTV will have 30 channels of high-definition video available to it. [For a list of what the channels will carry, see BACKGROUND, below]. Bell expects to set up a Vancouver-based video service office that will connect the venues to OBS and to the Bell-owned host broadcast system head end in Toronto: CTV and the cable channels connected to the Rogers network with which Bell is working. They include TSN, RDS and SportsNet.

The network will also carry what are known as local-area radio networks. Bell expects there will be about 5,000 portable and mobile radios that VANOC-related people -- staff and volunteers -- will be using that won't need to carry encrypted data. It'll be traditional two-way radio systems and push-to-talk cellular systems. They can connect to the network too, and it's estimated they'll transmit about 400,000 calls per day. The people who will be using them will deal with managing the sports facilities and operations, maintenance of the so-called field-of-play, which is the area used by the athletes at each venue, sport juries and judges and medical services.

Outside each venue's fibre-termination hut, routers distribute the data to and from machines that change the optical data to electrical (and vice-versa) and transfers the signals to and from Sonet rings -- a Bell optical-network standard system -- that are normally located in telecommunication central offices but Bell has moved them to the venues, which then connects to the termination hut. Inside each hut, the data is converted to and from Ethernet, a standard system now used by most desktop computers. The Ethernet cables communicate with computers, PDAs, digital phones, security cameras, etc., inside the venue using Ethernet switches.

All of the services provided by or directly for VANOC -- such as the timing and scoring systems, VANOC e-mail and VoIP communications and the like -- are on-line for free, but broadcasters and other news media, sponsors and others will be charged for using the network in various ways using a rate-card system VANOC is still preparing and negotiating.

Bell is installing 150 strands of redundant optical fibre from the Vancouver venues to VANOC's two broadcast centres, one on the Vancouver downtown waterfront at the trade centre expansion building that's still under construction by a separate agency, and one in downtown Whistler. It's also providing 108 circuits between Whistler and Vancouver that are dedicated to high-definition video -- all of the Games, for the first time, will be broadcast in high-definition. There will be several hundred video-transport channels, most of them capable of carrying from 1.55 megabits per second up to 2.5 gigabits per second. All of the broadcast-video fibre links will have redundancies built in, to deal with any problems in the main line.

The television satellite antenna farms that will start springing up around the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre in 2009 is how the stations will transmit their feeds from the Games to the rest of the world, if the feeds are not already moving on Bell's fibre network to 10 other cities in Canada. Vancouver is known as the worst Canadian city for radio-frequency interference in the main satellite transmission frequency, known as the C-band. The city also has plenty of expertise in controlling it. A former subsidary of Bell, Telesat Canada, has what it calls "the Teleport" that houses transmission antenna that are shielded from that interference and will be transmitting the broadcasts to its fleet of satellites that cover North and South American from geo-stationary orbits.

That describes the main Bell components of the network, but there are other VANOC sponsors that are putting things onto that network. For instance, Atos Origin is responsible for major parts of systems that control the Games, Swatch corporate subsidaries, such as Omega, will be supplying all the timing and scoring systems, while Nortel is supplying all the equipment that physically connect devices to the network.

BACKGROUND

Here is the preliminary list of the 30 channels, delivered by the Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver system, that IPTV is expected to carry, and what's expected to be on them at the moment (planning changes between now and Games time may adjust these):

1 Game results
2 BC Place –Ceremonies
3 Richmond Oval
4 Pacific Coliseum, Skating
5 Curling 1
6 Curling 2
7 Curling 3
8 Curling 4
9 GM Place Hockey 1
10 UBC Hockey 2
11 Cypress Snow-Boarding
12 Whistler Medal Plaza
13 Sliding Centre
14 Alpine
15 Nordic Jumping
16 Cross-country
17 Biathlon
18 A constant transmission of the Olympic flame
19 OBSV background broadcasting 1
20 OBSV background broadcasting 2
21 OBSV background broadcasting 3
22 OBSV background broadcasting 4
23-29 Canadian standard TV channels

RESOURCES

Bell Canada:
www.bce.ca/en/

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 30, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2499

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT -
OLYMPIC CONFERENCE CHILL, FROM EASTERN CANADA'S VIEWPOINT

"Another trend emerging is the effects from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. They are already being felt throughout Canada and that will continue for the next few years, according to [Phil Dangerfield, president of Alliance Events, Toronto]. 'It's already noticeable, maybe more out west than over here, but people in the industry like myself are watching that. Clients want to come here with a year's or less notice – especially the government. Because of the construction and other things in Vancouver, they want to look at other places,' he said. He cited the Champ Car World Series which moved to Edmonton in 2005. Organizers said although Vancouver had been the site of 14 Molson Indys, corporate support seemed to be switching away from regular events like the Champ series to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. 'We're going to see a lot more of that to the lead up. Alberta is already getting full now. Vancouver is going to be off the radar for a few years,' Mr. Dangerfield said." -- Ottawa Business Journal, August 29, 2007

COUNTING CAR PLATES FOR 2010 AT THE LEGISLATURE

The Victoria-based news publication Monday Magazine reported today that one of its columnists, Russ Francis, went to the BC government's parking lot that's adjacent to the Parliament Buildings, to see how many of the vehicles in the lot, normally used by members of the legislature and their aides, had 2010 Olympic license plates. The Insurance Corporation of BC has a sponsorship deal with VANOC to supply these plates, which cost C$7.75 to make, for C$35, plus a C$25 annual renewal fee. So far, says ICBC, it's sold about 50,000 of them. The Crown Corporation initially projected sales of 100,000 plates by 2012, which it expected to produce a net of C$9 million, to be donated to the Games. The car survey, which Francis admits, "is a highly unscientific survey of politicians' backing for the Games," concluded that on Tuesday morning, "there were 36 vehicles in the lot. Of these, a grand total of -- count 'em -- four had Olympic plates. So, to judge by this, a little over 11% are putting their wallets where the government's mouth is."

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 29, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #2498
IOC TO IMPOSE LIMITS ON THE SIZE OF SPORTS TEAMS BECAUSE VANOC WON'T BE ABLE TO PROVIDE ENOUGH ROOM

The International Olympic Committee has told international sports federations that it will impose maximum team numbers for all sports planning to attend the 2010 Winter Games, and not just for some sports as has been the case until now, because the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) won't have enough room.

The international skiing federation (FIS) says it was told in May, along with other federations, that the IOC was making the decision "due to logistical, organizational and financial problems facing the Vancouver Organizing Committee with accommodation, notably in Whistler," according to FIS spokesman Riikka Rakic. Rakic says FIS was also told the IOC would analyze the specifics for what is known as the Qualification and Participation Criteria for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and it needs responses from those affected by the end of the business day on Friday, so it could set the quotas later this year.

There are seven international federations representing sports at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and 205 national Olympic Committees, that will be affected by the decision.

"Even though the IOC alone will take a final decision in regard to the regulations for [each] national Olympic Committee's participation in the Olympic Winter Games, FIS has undertaken extensive analyses in regard to implementing the principles defined in the IOC documentation," Rakic says, noting that FIS deals with 108 national skiing associations. "Regrettably, it has not been possible to consult all national ski associations and the FIS committees on this subject, due to the short time given by the IOC. Furthermore the situation is more complex for FIS than the other [international federations] due to the fact that we have six entirely unique disciplines that have to be looked at independently... each national ski association is rightly concerned about how the quota system affects its own opportunity to participate in the Games with as many athletes and officials as it would like in the national Olympic Committee's delegation."

For the IOC, the problem is multiplied even further with each of the seven International Federations and 205 National Olympic Committees presenting different arguments defending their sports.

Rakic says that the FIS position being sent to the IOC, "is to strongly request the IOC to retain the exact same qualification criteria and procedures that were in place at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. It is the philosophy of FIS that the world's top athletes as well as qualified competitors from as many nations as possible have the opportunity to participate in their national Olympic committee's team in the Olympic Winter Games and we can assure you that this position will be clearly represented in all discussions with the International Olympic Committee."

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 29, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2493
WHISTLER APPROVES DEVELOPMENT PERMITS FOR FIRST THREE WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE BUILDINGS

The Resort Municipality of Whistler has issued Development Permits for the first three buildings for housing of various types in the Whistler Olympic Athlete Village.

The buildings include the Athlete Centre Lodge, which is the accommodation building connected to the High-Performance Athlete Centre, both components of the Whistler Athlete Centre. The Lodge is being built by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

The Athlete Centre lodge is a four-storey modular building that will contain 98 accommodation units housing two occupants each. It will also contain an eating area and patio by the lobby, common areas for the occupants as well as meeting rooms, and is connected to the high performance centre. The building forms part of the Village Commons enclosure, and along with the high-performance centre, will be built to achieve LEEDS silver standards. The lodge will function after the Games as temporary or short-term lodging for training and competing athletes.

The lodge is to be owned and managed by the Whistler Legacy Society post-Games.

Also approved was a four-storey hostel, which a municipal spokesman confirms, is expected to be run by Hostelling International after the 2010 Games is finished using it for athlete accommodation, in April, 2010. However, the details of how it will be managed by the organization have not yet been released.

The new hostel building will contain 54 short-term units accommodating two to four people per unit, along with common rooms and space that could be used as an Internet café or bistro. The Whistler 2020 Development Corporation is overseeing the construction of the hostel, and it is anticipated that Hostelling International will assume ownership post-Games, but details on the deal are not yet released.

Also approved for a Development Permit was a four-storey apartment building. Its 55 units are designed to be used as temporary accommodation for athletes during the Olympics and Paralympics, and then modified for long-term occupancy. Following the games, the Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) will take ownership of the building and rent the units to local employees.

It's is the first and most advanced project for the residential component of the Athletes Village core area, and all the buildings will be adjacent to proposed neighbourhood commercial space adjacent to the High Performance Centre. They are all to be connected to outdoor recreation through local and regional trails, they're about a kilometre from Function Junction, and are expected to be linked to employment opportunities, the Creekside area and Whistler Village by bus service.

Whistler 2020 Development Corporation is also managing the construction of the apartment building, known simply at the moment as B2, which together with Building B1 -- the subject of a future application -- will enclose the Village Commons green space, which meant to serve as a neighbourhood gathering area and crossroads.

B2's 55 units -- 40 studios and 15 one-bedroom units with balconies -- are accompanied by shared laundry facilities on the second and fourth floors, a workshop for tenants, a small office and surface-level parking. Entry to the units will be through a common hallway; the ground-level suites are expected to have outdoor patios. WDC will be incorporating Whistler Green standards to both buildings.

The architect team for B1 is Duane Siegrist, with Integra Architecture of Vancouver, and Robert Brown from Resource Rethinking Building Inc. Tom Barratt is the landscape architect,

RESOURCES

Integra Architecture Inc.
416 West Pender Street
Vancouver BC, Canada, V6B 1T5
Phone: 604.688.4220 Telephone
Fax: 604.688.4270 Fax
E-mail: <info@integra-arch.com>
Web: www.integra-arch.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 27, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2492

AP TO WORK WITH NBC FOR EXTENSION OF 2008 OLYMPIC COVERAGE

There's no word yet on whether similar arrangements will be made for American coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, but the Associated Press news agency reports it will include exclusive content relating to the 2008 Beijing Olympics from NBC Universal's Sports and Olympics division. The arrangement is part of an online video service AP plans to launch soon. The new web-based service will feature interactive graphics, multimedia elements and text content produced by AP. NBC Sports and its subsidiary, NBC Olympics, will provide links to exclusive video and other online content generated by NBC. AP said the joint effort would provide it with "premium coverage" leading up to the Olympics next summer, as well as during the 17 days of international competition in Beijing. NBC Universal is the exclusive broadcaster in the US for the 2008 Olympic Games, which begin in August, and the 2010 Games, which start in February, 2010.

BEIJING GAMES, SWAMPED WITH TICKET APPLICATIONS, USES RANDOM DRAWS

The Beijing Olympics ticketing system has allocated tickets to events in the first round of offerings, and organizers had to use a computer to pick random applications for the 26,000 seats available for the Opening Ceremonies, with only 4.7% -- one in every 21 applicants -- winning that lottery. For the closing Olympic ceremony, only 15.1% of the 172,219 applicants were lucky to get a ticket. For everything else during this first round of allocations, Beijing's Organizing committee said a total of 1,593,345 tickets, all of which provide revenue, would be allocated to over 300,000 people. The first round allocated 72% of the 2.2 million tickets available to the public during the first phase were sold. During the six-week request period that ended June 30, 720,000 applications, requesting for 5.18 million tickets, were received for the Chinese Games. A second round, on a first-come, first served basis, begins in October. About 70% of Beijing's tickets were offered to the public; the rest were provided to corporate sponsors for their own uses. VANOC has said that it expects to conduct similar randomized drawings for some of its major events, and that would likely include the Opening and Closing Olympic ceremonies, and likely hockey, figure-skating and curling events.

IOC EXECUTIVE BOARD MAKES ANTI-DOPING RULES TOUGHER

The International Olympic Committee's Executive Board has endorsed tougher sanctions on athletes and their support staff, aimed at preventing doping at Olympic Games. The meeting, in Osaka, Japan, approved the idea that athletes could be banned from taking part in the Olympic Games if they violate anti-doping rules during the two-year Olympiad before a set Games, if the sanctions imposed on them for the violation is more than six months. In addition they will be automatically suspended from the Games if the first of the two samples they provide at each examination tests positive. The suspension will only be lifted if the B sample tests negative. The IOIC says it is also reserving the right to reduce penalties on athletes and any of their entourage found guilty of doping violations if they volunteer provide information on suppliers, networks or anybody else involved in what an IOC spokesman called "the doping chain." The IOC is also considering the concept of imposing "strong" financial penalties for those caught cheating with drugs, and it tightened rules on what are known as Therapeutic Use Exemptions -- situations where athletes are allowed to take certain drugs for medical reasons.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2491

UBC CONTEMPLATES EXTENDING 2010 MID-TERM BREAK TO COVER OLYMPICS

The student senate of the University of British Columbia is considering the idea of extending its usual five-day teaching break in early 2010 to 10 days, freeing up students and staff who might want to work or volunteer for the Games during the time the 2010 Winter Olympics is underway. UBC has a student population of about 35,000. The proposed calendar doesn't include a break during the 2010 Paralympics, however, because it would have too much of a ripple effect on university operations as well as on student schedules and support services. The proposed mid-term, or "reading break", as its sometimes called, would go from Monday, February 15 to Friday, February 26, 2010. The 2010 Olympics run from Friday, February 12 to Sunday, February 28, inclusive. The proposal says the extra time would "free up transit, reduce traffic, and allow university community members to be freer to participate in the activity" of the Games. The decision would push the end of exams back from the normal end of April 30 to May 1. The analysis says that the break can't be longer than that, because, "The policy for loans is that a student's break in studies can be a maximum of 10 business days, so an 11-day break would make students ineligible for loans in Term 2 2010. Students and other community members wanting to be involved with the Olympics on February 12 [will] need to make individual arrangements for that day." The proposed extension would also slightly shorten the number of exam days for that term, and that has ripple effects on the size of examination locations, and thus "additional large spaces not normally used for final exams be employed for this exam period," at a possible estimated cost to the university of about C$7,000. The extended term would also have an slight effect on leases for student housing.

VANCOUVER OFFERS STRIKING WORKERS SETTLEMENTS THAT INCLUDE OLYMPIC WORK PLAN

The City of Vancouver has given two alternative offers for settlement to CUPE local 15, which represents its civic workers, who have been on strike for four weeks. Both offers include an Olympic Partnership Agreement, which describes how the City wants to work with CUPE employees during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Both offers also include a previously offered 17.5% wage increase over five years. The length of the term is important to both sides. The City has rejected the standard three-year deal as that would end just before the 2010 Games begin, putting the union in a strong bargaining position; nor does it want a four-year deal, as that would put the end near city elections. Other Greater Vancouver settlements have been based on the 17.5 and five-year deals. The first of the two offers, according to a city spokesman, is essentially the settlement which successfully ended the CUPE strike in the District of North Vancouver. The other, also based on the District of North Vancouver settlement, includes a number of new improvements, and makes offers on local issues which the City and CUPE 15 have discussed through the previous year of bargaining. The City has asked CUPE to respond by August 29.

CANADIAN PARALYMPIAN CONGRESS, AGM SET FOR EARLY NOVEMBER

The 2007 Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Paralympic Committee is scheduled to be held on Sunday, November 4, in Ottawa, Ontario. It'll be held on the last day of the organization's annual Congress meeting, which starts this year on November 2. The Congress attracts about 50 of Canada's national representives of Paralympic summer and winter organizations, each representing their sport.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2490 (Feature)
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE LEGAL WORK DONE FOR VANOC, AND WHY WE ONLY HEAR ABOUT TWO FIRMS DOING THE WORK

Public perception is not always an accurate one, and that's the case when it comes to the apparent, versus actual, use of law firms by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

The appearance: Ken Bagshaw, QC, Chief Legal Counsel for VANOC, was for about 40 years, a partner and rainmaker for Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) of Vancouver and its predecessor firms, and he's been with VANOC since his hiring on December 1, 2004. His appointment was confirmed, as it is for all of VANOC's senior management team, by VANOC's 20-person Board of Directors.

The name of Bagshaw's former firm also pops up repeatedly over the years as working for VANOC on all of its intellectual property assignments with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office dealing with VANOC trademarks, as well as on at least 10 of VANOC's formal Requests for Proposals and Expression of Interest documents.

Is this a case of nepotism? No, not so fast: it turns out that this is simply the public tip of what is actually VANOC's iceberg of legal work performed by BLG and many other firms.

Dorothy Byrne, VANOC's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, has held that position for the years stretching back to the early part of this decade when VANOC was in its Bid Committee phase. She arranged agreements between the organization and the federal, BC and host community governments that guided the flow of literally hundreds of millions of taxpayer and privately raised VANOC operational dollars, not to mention a range of other business-government dealings, since.

She's been involved with supervising law firms working with the 2010 organization in all its forms -- during the bid, during the transition to VANOC and during VANOC's early days as the Bid Corp's implementing organization. It's a job that she continued until VANOC's own law department could be created under Bagshaw.

The range of VANOC's legal work is wide, deep and increasingly prodigious, and that may not be surprising with an organization that is in the process of raising -- and spending -- C$1.6 billion in private operational funding, and C$580 million of grants from the BC and Canadian governments for venue and similar legacy capital construction. VANOC is dealing with literally hundreds of organizations.

VANOC expects to spend about C$15.4 million on legal services during its lifetime. The legal work includes general corporate and commercial, construction, engineering, procurement, employment, labour, taxation, intellectual property (IP), real estate and trusts -- with even a smattering of criminal-law advice when protest groups, like the Anti-Poverty Committee, get a little too personal. "The only thing that hasn't come up so far," smiles Byrne, "is family law." You have the feeling she was about to add, "Yet" during the interview, but she didn't.

The Legal function is also involved in VANOC's brand management, it works with VANOC's Commercial Rights Management function on various programs and legislation. It's also responsible for VANOC’s privacy, Freedom of Information and Access to Information management, as well as providing corporate-secretarial services to VANOC's Board of Directors.

"There is quite a long list of law firms that we do business with, and which provide legal advice to VANOC," she says, "They go back to [April] '04. Prior to Ken [Bagshaw] coming on, I was just floundering with the need for legal help, even during that transition period, so we issued an RFP, and secured the services of four different law firms in response, in clearly identified areas of law that I needed help within."

VANOC's general process for Expressions of Interest and Requests for Proposals is stringent, and it has been from the beginning; such an organization can get into too much trouble too quickly if it's not. BLG was one of the original four firms that was successful in getting work through that process, and that was in the area of IP. Byrne told all the selected firms that the work wasn't necessarily for the long term, since the organization was still too new to be making such promises and, even so, VANOC itself would be disbanded and gone by the end of 2010.

"We've continued to hire firms in additional, specific areas of the law that we need help in," notes Byrne. "But that, too, is through an RFP process. Ken has specifically -- and you won't be surprised by this -- not participated in the selection where his firm is in the final stages of being considered for selection."

Byrne says that, for the most part, VANOC has continued doing business with the original four firms, and the others, depending on the specialty needed and the in-house resources VANOC has available at any given time. "The work depends on what's prominent on VANOC's radar screen at the time, and the skill level of in-house counsel at that point in time."

Her phrase, "point in time", is important for VANOC, because its main life span is only eight years and its staffing -- and thus legal expertise -- rises exponentially. During the transition time from bid organization to organizing committee, there were only a handful of people that were working with VANOC. Right now, it has about 700 people on the payroll. By 2009, it will have more than 1,200 paid staff who will be supervising about 25,000 volunteers. By the end of March, 2010, all of the volunteers will have been thanked and released, and all but a skeleton crew of about 50 staffers will have been laid off.

The current skill set is also important. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP of Vancouver has provided advice to VANOC as the 2010 Committee arranged multi-million dollar sponsorship deals, as well as in the area of commercial law. "But," Byrne says, "we now have an in-house counsel who is experienced in the sponsorship area, so we have virtually stopped using Blakes for that purpose."

Farris Vaughn, Wills & Murphy LLP is another Vancouver firm that performs commercial law work for VANOC, "and more-confidential assignments, specific assignments, is what I'd call that work," says Byrne. Fasken Martineau, a fourth Vancouver firm, has done assignments in the area of privacy law. Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, of Vancouver, has done work in what Byrne calls "some complicated land matters." Bull, Housser & Tupper, also of Vancouver, works on aspects of trust law.

And that's not even close to being an exhaustive list of the firms VANOC uses, or has used, or the work done, says Byrne. (We asked for the list of firms now in use so we could reprint it here, but VANOC has declined to provide it.)

But what about BLG and its appearance in, say, all those RFPs, or IP documents? Why does its name tend to make public appearances -- and thus get valuable marketing exposure connected with the 2010 Olympics -- but those of the other firms don't?

A couple of reasons. One is that BLG and every other law firm VANOC uses, like every other contractor and supplier to VANOC, is specifically barred in their engagement or contractual documentation, from using their relationship with VANOC for any promotional purpose without VANOC's prior approval. That's just what is, for VANOC, routine protection of its valuable branding. So, by definition, there's not going to be much in the public record about any law firm and their work with VANOC.

Secondly, IP and RFPs are the two areas of VANOC's law work where there is readily available public documentation. In the case of IP, BLG's name is the agent of record on hundreds of public trademark files, including all of VANOC's so-called Section 9 marks -- the reference is to a trademark issued to a "public authority" under Section 9 of Canada's Trademark Act, a situation that has caused some controversy over the quantity and scope of those granted to VANOC. Trademark registration needs to be publicly available to reduce the chance of transgressions, hence BLG's name is just as publicly available as the agency to receive commentary about it from other firms.

The case of BLG and the RFPs, though, is quite a bit more subtle. Some of the RFPs, which are posted on BC Bid, the BC government's bid-distribution database and, through arrangements with Quebec, in its similar bid distribution system, can run about 100 pages, the wording is stiffly legal and there are a lot of do's, don'ts and or-else's embedded in each one.

Byrne explains: "BLG helped us early on in the development of our RFP documentation. You're going to see their name on [some of] our RFPs only because of that work, so that if anybody responding to those RFPs has an issue with the form of the documentation, they need to know upfront.. that if they've got a complaint about the form of the document, and they want to take legal action against VANOC based on the form of that document, they shouldn't go to BLG, because it has a conflict [of interest]. That's the only reason their name is in there." Byrne says BLG might be also representing VANOC on the RFP's subject matter, "but that's a second issue altogether."

And, yes, BLG is doing other work for VANOC -- employment law -- and that's not so public, perceived or otherwise.

RESOURCES

Contact information for:

Borden Ladner Gervais
www.blgcanada.com/professionals/vancouver.asp

Blake, Cassels & Graydon
www.blakes.com/english/vancouver.html

Farris Vaughn, Wills & Murphy
www.farris.com/contact_us.aspx

Fasken Martineau administration:
www.fasken.com/web/fmdwebsite.nsf/AllDoc/8BCA1ABF21FC918B87256A18007E932E?OpenDocument

Fraser Milner Casgrain
www.fmc-law.com/AboutFMC/FMCOffices/Vancouver.aspx

Bull, Housser & Tupper
www.bht.com/contact.cfm

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2489

CONTRACTOR FINED C$216,000 FOR CONSTRUCTION DEATH NEAR NORDIC CENTRE

A BC Highways Ministry contractor has been fined C$200,000 by WorkSafeBC for lax safety and supervision practices connected with the death of blaster Gary Michael Greer while the company was expanding an access road from Highway 99 to the Whistler Nordic Centre construction site on June 12, 2006. It's the third highest fine in WorkSafeBC's history, but it also levied an additional C$16,000 on Murrin Construction of West Vancouver to pay for the investigation of the death. Greer was temporarily in charge of blasting an outcropping of rock about six kilometres into the Callaghan Valley on the 9.6-kilometre gravel road, but he had left the equipment he needed in a satchel in his car back in Squamish. The project wasn't behind schedule, but instead of driving for more than an hour to get the equipment while other work crews waited, Greer, who appears from the autopsy report to have been somewhat impaired, improvised by using some old broken wire for the blasting line, and attempting to detonate the explosive several times, first with a 6-volt flashlight battery and, when that didn't work, with the battery on a work truck. When it still refused to detonate, he went to the blast holes to work on the line in the detonator area after asking others to manually check and repair the broken and spliced firing wire. It was during this inspection when the blast went off, killing Greer instantly. WorkSafeBC investigators found that although Greer wasn't following normal blasting or safety procedures, a Murrin foreman who was on the scene was directly involved in helping the situation to occur, that the company was unable to supply any of the legal, contractual and necessary paperwork for the blasting that day, couldn't say how much explosive had been checked out of a nearby magazine for the project, or to whom, and had failed for some time to police its own and government-mandated safety standards. In a side comment, a safety investigator even noted "a large burned area" a short distance away from the magazine where all of the project's explosives were stored. WorkSafeBC was once known as the Workers' Compensation Board of BC. The report was obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

VANOC CONTINUES SEARCH FOR WAREHOUSE SPACE SUBLESSORS

Good commercial warehouse space may be hard to come by, but VANOC is having trouble subleasing for a year a large batch of its empty space. Back on June 21, VANOC said it would offer up to 18,580 square metres (200,000 square feet) of space on a short-term basis between August 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009. The space, it says, is in a VANOC warehouse "strategically situated in the Greater Vancouver region close to Vancouver International Airport, major highways linking municipalities in the Lower Mainland and the Canada/USA border." It won't be more specific publicly about the location for, it says, security reasons. So far, it hasn't had any significant takers for this space, so it's rattling the bushes again to see who might be interested in giving it a written expression of interest, based on " a competitive lease rate" and that it intends to be putting "a highly efficient team in place to operate this important facility." VANOC, starting in September, 2009, will begin packing the warehouse full of materials that it will be ordering over the next year to stage the 2010 Games, so the available space after that will depend on VANOC's needs. The sub-lease is being offered on a first-come, first-served basis until September 26.

PARALYMPICS DAY ATTRACTS 42,000

Today is International Paralympics Day, and about 42,000 people flocked to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, to take part in its celebration, the event hosted by the International Paralympic Committee. While that was going on, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, signed an agreement to extend the company's role as an international sponsor of the IPC to the end of 2008. The agreement also extends Samsung as a sponsor of ParalympicSport.TV, the IPC's 24/7 free-of-charge broadband TV channel. Although the IPC deal doesn't include Vancouver, Samsung is already an international sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Dena Coward, VANOC's director of Paralympic Games, said a key ingredient to the success of the Paralympic movement is raising awareness of the Games. "The Paralympic Games are still a new movement, and it is not yet as well known as the Olympic Games," Coward said. "So anything that we do to showcase the Paralympic Movement and Paralympic athletes will make people more aware and excited to attend when the Games are on. The people who go see it are completely enthralled." VANOC is the first organizing committee have representation from the host country's National Paralympic Committee on its Board of Directors, and the first to incorporate both of the words "Olympic" and "Paralympic" in its official title. Vancouver and Whistler are also the first host cities to fly the Olympic and Paralympic flags side by side.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2488

2010 SPONSOR RONA TO DETAIL SUSTAINABILITY PLAN IN OCTOBER

VANOC's renovations sponsor, Rona, based in Quebec, says it expects to make public the main components of its new sustainability plan by the end of October. RONA is currently conducting what it calls "an exhaustive review" of its sustainable-development practices throughout its sprawling Canadian operations. The review, according to a spokesman, is part of its process of developing a strategic plan for sustainable development, and is expected to include its purchasing practices. Rona has a system of tracking some of its sustainability practices to dovetail with requirements by VANOC, which has focused on its own methods of sustainability to neutralize, as much as possible, the carbon footprint of the 2010 Games. Rona was stung by a report released by the environmental group Greenpeace earlier this week in which the organization criticized Rona, among more than 30 other companies, for its sustainability practices over the use of forest products. What particularly hurt was that it helped Greenpeace representatives meet with executives of Canadian forest-product companies during this process. Rona's director of External Communications, Eva Boucher-Hartling, said today that Rona has "a responsible purchasing policy" that applies to all of its products. She also noted the company does not buy any forest products "derived from endangered species", and that it "favours the purchase of products that bear Forest Stewardship Council, Canadian Standards Association, Sustainable Forestry Initiative or ISO 14001 certifications." The company, however, noted that while it buys from Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., Tembec Inc. and Domtar Inc, only 15% of wood qualifies under the Stewardship Council certification, the most stringent, and the company needs far more than that because of consumer demand. She also says that RONA "ensures that all of the goods it procures, whether forest products or other, have been produced in conditions that respect human rights and the environment. Rona applies these principles in its choice of suppliers, sub-contractors and other business partners." And, she also pointed out that Rona began paint recycling programs a decade ago.

ATOS ORIGIN TO START CONSTRUCTION OF VANOC'S INTEGRATION LAB AND DATA CENTRE

A bit more about Atos Origin, VANOC's networks sponsor: The company has finalised its first iteration of the system architecture. Next month, it's expected to start building its Integration Lab, and the first stage of its Primary Data Center. The Integration Lab is used to integrate and test VANOC's information-technology infrastructure, information security systems and software applications. It's also used to train the staff and volunteers -- the number of people are expected to be about 2,200 -- who will run the IT systems throughout all the venues during the Games. The Primary Data Centre is used for storing data and it provides the processing power and storage capacity to run the information systems of the Games. There are also expected to be backups to the Data Centre.

HBC EXPECTS C$5.8 MILLION IN SALES TO BE GENERATED VIA VANOC THIS YEAR

VANOC's corporate retail sponsor, Hudson's Bay Company, expects to generate about C$5.8 million this year through sales of apparel, gift cards and merchandise sales to VANOC and its other corporate sponsors. About C$3 million of that is expected to come from apparel sales, about C$2.3 million from gift cards and the rest, about C$425,000, in merchandise. Those are estimated figures from outside of HBC's normal retail channels.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 22, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2487

NEWS FROM VANOC'S TECHNOLOGY FRONT LINES

VANOC, still without a computer-hardware sponsor, has posted on its website an order for another 37 desktop computers with 80 gig hard drives, and processors running at two gigahertz or faster. A companion order for 25 flat-screen 17" displays is included. They need delivery by September 3. The order is tied to VANOC's social requirements, such as sustainability and aboriginal hiring.
-- Atos Origin, VANOC's supplier of computer network services, is in the process of beginning to create software tools to run on the network, to help support a number of specific operations of the 2010 Winter Games. The software is being developed using such programs as Serena TeamTrack -- which helps co-ordinate application-development teams -- as well as Microsoft applications dealing with SQL databases -- pronounced "sequel", it's a common way of working with databases to get information from them or for updating them. They're also using other Microsoft applications, such as Visual Basic -- another programming language for processing data -- and customized Office templates and documents, as well as Visio and Internet Access. They're also using PHP, a programming language used for developing web-based software applications and dynamic web pages. The company is also setting up its help desk, a call centre that is to expand to help those using desktop computers, laptops, PDAs, cellphones, servers and the network itself. Atos Origin teams began moving into VANOC's headquarters last year. As well, Atos is also establishing a Unix-based section to its network services. The company has also begun establishing standards, policies and procedures for the Games environment for technical staff and volunteers they'll be using, including training material.
-- Meanwhile, Bell Canada, which is providing the telecommunications component of VANOC's technological support services is also expanding its main operations role at VANOC Technical Operations Centre, which is the low-rise building adjacent to VANOC's headquarters, with management staffing of its Special Projects and Applications division now underway. Bell is helping to set up Voice-over-Internet systems for the network. It's also working on developed what are called trunk-radio systems. It's a method in which a number of radio channels are pooled together and, depending on demand, the frequencies are distributed according to traffic levels. In this case, they're using digital trunked radio systems.

VANCOUVER'S NEW FUEL SYSTEMS ORDERS C$1 MILLION IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN TIME FOR 2010

New Fuel Systems of Vancouver has placed an order worth just over C$1 million with a California-based company for electric cars, trucks, mopeds, scooters and other vehicles. New Fuel Systems plans to open retail locations throughout Canada in time to market electric transportation during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. ZAP (OTC BB: ZAAP) of Santa Rosa, California, said today the deal is a distribution agreement for Canada. ZAP, an acronym for Zero Air Pollution, said it has sold more than 100,000 vehicles to customers in more than 75 countries since 1994.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT - PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND AND THE BIGGEST SHOW

"The Olympics isn't just a popular TV show; it is an event watched avidly, across language barriers, by every community of the globe. It is an event that will host thousands of athletes, coaches, trainers and support staff. The grandstands in and around Vancouver will see hundreds of thousands of spectators show up in person to watch nations compete. The people who attend the Olympics will be well-heeled, cosmopolitan, interested in the wider world. That's a scene P.E.I. must not miss. The challenge for our province is to find a way to make itself visible to the Olympic audience. The Island has to be sure it is seen as interesting; exciting even. The Olympic occasion is an opportunity for the Island to sell itself, but it is also an opportunity for the Island to announce itself as a place that is relevant and global-minded... The Island has something special, it needs to find a way to make that intangible quality into a compelling identity. The Vancouver Olympics give us a chance to show that Prince Edward Island is relevant and interesting on its own merits. The MOU signed by Premier Ghiz [and VANOC CEO John Furlong] allows Prince Edward Island a chance to play a role, however small, on the world's most-watched stage. The challenge for P.E.I. will be to seize its moment in the spotlight and leave the audience wanting more." -- Editorial, The Charlottetown Guardian, today

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 22, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2486
WHISTLER CONSIDERS PRICE CONTROLS WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES DURING THE 2010 GAMES

Whistler says that, in general terms, it wants the BC government to provide it with controls over business within its municipal boundaries during the 2010 Winter Games so that "fair and equitable pricing" can be enforced while the Games are underway.

Whistler information officer Diana Waltman says Whistler mayor Ken Melamed is hoping that a meeting can be set up with BC government cabinet ministers "to look at ways in which the municipality can ensure a high standard of customer service during Games times."

She says the municipality is in the process of developing the operational plans for delivering the Games, with the first draft of operational expected to be complete this fall. "Part of the discussion of the various aspects of service delivery and how we might capitalize on the opportunities presented by the Games is an exploration of ways to encourage fair and equitable pricing and excellent customer service on all our services," she says, "so that visitors are left with a positive impression, generating an increase in repeat business."

Waltman says that the municipality is "exploring all its options, and looking at possible legislative authority is one of them. It is taking place in consultation with the business community through the Chamber of Commerce."

She says that actual operation details, such as when the authorities it wants might be granted or when they might be applied, and whether they would contain sunset clauses, have not yet been determined, other than "it would be during the Games period." She says the concept is Whistler council's and that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) was not involved in the request. She also notes the "municipality is in discussion with the business community" over the matter now.

Nor, she says, has it yet been decided that only legislative changes would be required, though she doesn't rule it out. "We hadn't got that far; we are just looking into the possibility of it and... the municipality and provincial staff will review it."

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 21, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2485 (Feature)
2010 EXECUTIVE NOT ATTEMPTING TO MISLEAD OVER THE COST OF THE WHISTLER ATHLETE CENTRE PROJECT

The acting CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) says the organization "did not intend to mislead" reporters when one of VANOC's management team on July 18 said the cost of the Whistler Athlete Centre was C$16 million when there was an expectation internally the cost could well be more than double that.

Dave Cobb -- VANOC's executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications and the person who is covering for CEO John Furlong while Furlong is on holidays -- made the comment during an extraordinary meeting requested by four members of the media who were among the reporters at that July 18 meeting. The reporters -- Jeff Lee of the Vancouver Sun newspaper, Damien Inwood of the Vancouver Province newspaper, Mike Killeen of CTV television and Peter Morgan of Morgan:News:2010 -- were concerned about the veracity of the statement and the subsequent disclosure by a government watchdog agency that VANOC prepared a document -- a risk register report -- seven months earlier that estimated the project budget at C$36.5 million.

VANOC's executive vice-president of Capital Construction, Dan Doyle, at a news conference at VANOC headquarters on July 18 following a VANOC Board of Director's meeting, took the podium in response to a question from Morgan:News:2010 about the status of the budget for the Whistler Athlete's Centre.

Speaking in front of VANOC CEO John Furlong, Communications vice-president Rene Smith-Valde and two members of VANOC's Board of Directors, Doyle said, "At this point, for the scope that we're talking about, the budget is C$16 million. The Resort Municipality of Whistler has made a contribution, so it can have a bigger and better athletes high-performance centre, within the athlete's centre." Morgan:News then asked, "So the cost is C$16 million, then?" Doyle replied: "Our cost is sixteen, to VANOC, yes."

That figure has been consistently reported by VANOC in its Business Plan, released on May 8 and it was consistent with a Venue Development budget summary, prepared in April, detailing the year-by-year projected expenditures on the Athlete Centre as: "C$41,000; 2007: C$7,079,000; 2008: C$6,660,000; 2009: C$2,220,000. Total: C$16,000,000."

However, the second and final review by Partnerships BC at the request of the BC government, in a report entitled, "Report on Capital Planning and Budget For 2010 Olympics Venues", and given in April to the BC Government's 2010 Olympics Secretariat, which oversees the tax-payer funded capital spending plans of VANOC. It reported, "VANOC has indicated that the IOC has requested an additional 800 beds beyond the current scope. VANOC is currently investigating solutions, such as temporary accommodations, to meet this need. VANOC is working to finalize a solution before Fall 2007. The scope increase will result in an additional budget increase. VANOC anticipates drawing an estimated C$25 million from the [C$55.3 million contingency]management reserve to fund the original scope and current estimated costs including the additional 800 beds."

In addition, the Secretariat has access to the risk register reports as they are produced, and they are regularly discussed with VANOC officials by the Secretariat's chief financial officer, Jeff Garrad, and the president and CEO of the Secretariat, Annette Antoniak.

Doyle, late last Thursday, when asked about the C$20 million difference in projected cost versus VANOC's stated budget, agreed that the cost was likely to be closer to the higher figure and that he expected the difference to come from VANOC's C$55 million contingency. But, he said, he didn't want to reveal that in July because he was, and still is, in negotiations with contractors for the project, which is due to start construction this month, and he didn't want the contractor to know the size of his budget while those talks were underway.

The Athlete's Centre, at the core of the Whistler Olympic Village, currently consists of a high performance training building, an adjacent 100-room lodge and a number of neighbouring townhouses. The land on which it's to be built is being leased at favourable rates from the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, which is building the Village.

Cobb told the reporters in today's meeting that VANOC's senior management team isn't as concerned about the cost fluctuations of individual projects as it is about the ceiling of the overall capital budget, which is supplied by taxpayers.

"We have agreed [internally] and we've made very clear publicly that we report on the status of our capital budget and our venue program on a quarterly basis," Cobb said. "We believe that what is of most concern to the public, are three things when it comes to our venue program. The first is whether we are going to need more taxpayer money or not -- in other words, whether we are building the project within the C$580 million. Secondly, are the venues going to be on time within the commitments we've made for athletes training, being able to properly test the venues and train our people, and thirdly, are we going to deliver quality, first-class venues. If any of those things were ever in jeopardy, we would report them to you, because that would be a material change, and have a material impact on our program. We still believe very strongly that we are going to deliver on each of those. In fact, every month that goes by, we get more and more confident that we are going to over-deliver on all of those. We're going to be under-budget, we're going to have a better schedule, and the venues will be even better than people expect... The total cost of the project is, we think, ultimately how we're are going to be judged."

VANOC keeps its contingency, still officially set at approximately C$55 million, in a central account, and Board of Director approval is required to adjust it, whether up or down, as projects are developed. Since Doyle has several scenarios of how the Whistler Athlete Centre might be delivered, the line cost of the project stays the same until the Board approves a particular approach and authorizes additional funding from the contingency to implement it.

"We've always expected that we would spend the entire contingency," Cobb said. "If we spend that entire contingency, you could look at every one of those venues that had a portion of the contingency allocated to it, and say that we underestimated the costs. But the fact is, that we expect to spend the C$580 [million total], and as we go along on the project, we'll determine where that contingency needs to get allocated, we'll go to our Board, and we'll get approval -- or not -- for those allocations. When we get approvals on that from the Board, we report on that in the next quarterly report. Anything before that [quarterly report] is preliminary... until we report in that way, decisions haven't been made. And specifically for the Athlete's Centre, the Board has not yet approved an allocation of the contingency. It has not happened yet. And it's purely speculation that it is going to happen."

Cobb also notes:

That VANOC's reporting of the Whistler Athlete's Centre "investment", which is his phrase, will remain at C$16 million for the time being, but that "it's fair to say that the cost of the Athlete's Centre is going up, but it's going up through an allocation of our contingency." He also notes that he expects management will be going to the Board meeting in September, and asking for the allocation.

VANOC is taking the approach to ensure discipline within the ranks of VANOC's project managers. "We didn't want them to think they had access to that contingency until it was a convincing case."

If there was something that came up that had a greater need for contingency funds than the current potential call by the Athlete's Centre, "we would re-allocate it to where the need is greater. We still have enough flexibility within the program to move money around."

That VANOC auditors internally review risk register reports and other documents on a monthly basis;

That VANOC has treated reporting on the Athlete's Centre the same as it has on any other venue project;

That VANOC intends to have only C$20 million left in the capital contingency budget when the Games begin, to be used to settle, if necessary, contractor claims.

Doyle, whose experience with large government construction projects in the Highways ministry goes back years, says he's been audited more times on the VANOC project than any other project.

Doyle also noted during the meeting:

The Athlete Centre's budget, which so far incorporates housing for up to 360 athletes and support team members, does not include the potential costs for the additional 800 rooms that the International Olympic Committee has requested that VANOC provide in addition to the rooms it its supplying in the combination of the Athletes Centre and the Whistler Olympic Village. He said that if it is reported, it will be part of the Athlete Centre's budget which is covered by VANOC, not the Village's budget which has been negotiated with Whistler Municipality.

"There are pressures on this project. The challenge that we have is that the Board has asked me to get what we can for the budget. That's the reality."

One of the risks for the Whistler projects has been the possibility that this construction season would be plagued by a high forest-fire risk from a string of hot, dry weather. That would have forced VANOC's contractors to potentially shut down work until the risk abated, a common practice during that type of weather in BC. That would also have meant additional costs for VANOC as it pushed contractors to catch up the schedule delays. However, he says, the risk was mitigated, so far, by this year's relatively cool, wet summer and he expects that to free up some additional contingency funds.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 21, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2484
WHISTLER ASKS BC GOVERNMENT FOR "EXTRAORDINARY POWERS" TO REGULATE BUSINESS DURING THE 2010 WINTER GAMES

The Resort Municipality of Whistler has asked the BC government for what a government cabinet minister calls "extraordinary powers" to regulate business activities during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The request was made during a secret meeting of the Municipality's city council in May, and a detailed request for what appears to be legislative amendments was written by Whistler mayor Ken Melamed on May 29 to Ida Chong, the BC minister of Community Services and minister responsible for Seniors and Women's Issues.

In response, Chong, told Melamed last month that while she "appreciates the considerable thought you have given to ensuring an optimal visitor experience when Whistler is showcased to the world during the Games", she notes that the "amendments you have requested would extend extraordinary powers to the Resort Municipality of Whistler."

Even so, she's asked her staff to analyze the request, and she also copied Whistler's request to some specific cabinet colleagues: Colin Hansen, the minister in charge of the BC government's responsibilities for the Games; Rick Thorpe, the minister of Small Business and Revenue; and Stan Hagen, the minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts.

However, a spokesman for the Municipality says she won't release the details of what the Municipality is requesting. Information officer Diana Waltman says in a carefully worded e-mail today to Morgan:News:2010, "The letter from the mayor to the minister contains a resolution adopted by Council in a closed meeting under Section 92B (Consideration of Information Received and Held In Confidence Relating to Negotiations between the Municipality and the Provincial or Federal Government or Both, or between the Provincial or Federal Government or both and a Third Party), also Section 91I, (the Receipt of Advice that is Subject to Solicitor-Client Privilege), and therefore, under the Freedom of Information Act, cannot be disclosed."

Chong says that during the analysis, her staff will contact the Municipality "to request more information about the nature and progress of your consultations with... [VANOC] and with the Whistler business community." She adds that, "If legislative amendments to provide these additional powers are to proceed, I would expect there to be a review to determine whether the change is in alignment with government of British Columbia objectives around the management of the Games, and the economic development opportunities that are associated with hosting them."

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 21, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2483
OUR FIRST LOOK THE NEW WHISTLER ATHLETE CENTRE LODGE AT THE CENTRE OF THE WHISTLER ATHLETES VILLAGE

The new Whistler Athlete Centre, to be delivered by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and expected to begin construction this month, is actually several components that work together, rather than just one building.

It includes a High Performance Centre, but it also incorporates a 100-room, hotel-like building that's referred to as a lodge or a hostel by officials because of the type of reservation arrangements it will provide. The building is adjacent to the Centre.

The whole Centre project also includes a set of nearby townhouses that are to be used by athletes or supporting officials who are staying in the area while training. They include 15 two-bedroom townhouses, five three-bedroom townhouses and five four-bedroom townhouses, so that the whole project is expected to house 360 athletes during Games time, according to the Whistler Olympic Village Business Plan.

Here's what we've learned about the Athlete Lodge component, which is to be linked to the High Performance Centre with a roofed pathway:

The architect for the three-storey building is Mike Huggins, a partner with Burrowes Huggins Architects, a 17-year-old firm from Vancouver. The landscape architect is Tom Barratt, president of Tom Barratt Ltd., which has been involved with the 2010 Games since the Bid process; Mark Cutler and Sean Rodriques are in charge of the project for VANOC, and Neil Godfrey and Craig Marcyniuk are in charge of the project from the 2020 Whistler Development Corporation, which is in charge of constructing the surrounding Whistler Athlete Village for the subsidiary of the Resort Municipality of Whistler. [See RESOURCES, below, for contact information.]

The building is to house a maximum of 200 athletes, two to a room, with each cluster of four rooms will have two bathrooms. There are to be rooms for the disabled, at 15 square metres (160 square feet), while standard rooms are 12 metres (130 square feet). The building is to be constructed using Britco modules in a 4x4 pattern; the modules are expected to be manufactured at Britco's factories at Agassiz, about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver, and Penticton in the province's mid-southern region, and assembled in Whistler. Britco is headquartered in Langley, on the eastern outskirts of Greater Vancouver.

There's to be a common room and a common laundry on each floor, with about 45 ski lockers in the building.

The Lodge is oriented so that its main entrance, which is to have a gabled look, will be at the north-east end. There's no parking on the Lodge site itself, but there are 40 stalls in a parking lot located across the street from it. There are still planning discussions going on about this aspect.

The exterior is expected to be wood, with cement-like areas and it will have the same roof line and roof colours as the High Performance Centre, to reinforce the relationship of the structures.

There are a number of sustainability aspects to the project, supervised by Robert Brown, the founder of Resource Rethinking Building of Vancouver, a consulting firm, as VANOC is building the lodge to LEED Silver standards, but it is not expected to be certified. The primary goal is to reduce the demand through high-efficiency fixtures or through the use of materials. The building will be using the Olympic Village's energy-district system, which involves heat being supplied by a nearby wastewater processing facility that's to be significantly upgraded before the Games. The goal for water usage in the building is 40% less than that of a similar building constructed without sustainability practices.

The lodge includes a 40-seat restaurant, covering an area of about 93 square metres (about 1,000 square feet). VANOC has not yet decided whether the restaurant will be in operation in time for the 2010 Games, but the possibility remains.

It's to be delivered by October, 2008, so that it can be used for 2010-bound athletes for training during the 2008/2009 winter and for test events.

RESOURCES
Mike Huggins,
Partner
Burrowes Huggins Architects
Suite 205 - 1628 West 1st Avenue
Vancouver BC V6J 1G1
Phone: 604.730.8100
Fax: 604-730-8107
Web: www.bha.ca

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Tom Barratt
President,
Tom Barratt Ltd.
8605 Drifter Way
Whistler BC
V0N 1B8
Phone: 1.604.932.3040
Fax. 1-604-932-8959
Website: www.tblla.com

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Britco Corporate Office
21690 Smith Crescent,
Langley, BC V2Y 2R1
Tel: 604.888.2000
Fax: 604-888-2086
www.britco.com

--

Robert Brown,
President
Resource Rethinking Building Inc.
450-319 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1T4
Phone: 604.678.9024
Fax: 604-678-8884

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 20, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2482

22-STOREY OFFICE TOWER PROPOSED ADJACENT TO 2010 HOCKEY VENUE

The ownership of the 2010 venue that is expected to be used for the Winter Olympic's major hockey tournaments, General Motors Place, is being contested in court, but that hasn't stopped the current owner, Francesco Aquilini, from completing plans for a 22-storey office tower adjacent to it. The proposed site is at the corner of Griffiths Way and Expo Boulevard and is now being used as GM Place's service and broadcast entrance. The application to Vancouver City Hall is proposed by architect Peter Busby, and the property's marketer is Don Vassos of CB Richard Ellis. Aquilini, who bought Orca Bay, the company which owns GM Place during a controversial sale in 2004, is fulfilling the original terms of the zoning for the building, which opened in 1995. The zoning allowed for an office building. There's no word yet on the timing of the construction, nor how the current strike of city-hall employees will affect processing the new application, which involves a number of steps. [See map, in RESOURCES, below.]

SPORTSFUNDER LOTTERY GAMES SUPPORTED BY NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

BC Lotteries, a VANOC sponsor, has begun a TV advertising campaign to support its SportFunder umbrella of lottery games, following a marketing review earlier this year about why it was underperforming expectations during its first year of operations. The SportsFunder games, besides helping to fund low-income programs for children who want to play sports in BC, also provides a revenue stream from royalties based on game sales to the 2010 Winter Olympics, and both BC Lotteries and VANOC are hoping they will generate about C$20 million during the lifetime of the agreement, which lasts until December 31, 2012 as part of BC Lotteries's tier-3 sponsorship. Part of the marketing review also revamped the SportsFunder logo, which is in used. The new advertising doesn't mention the Olympics or VANOC, except for briefly running the 2010 logo adjacent to the lotto logo at the end of the commercials. Mostly the advertising copy focuses on the funds supporting sports for children.

HBC LAUNCHES WEB CONTEST TO WIN HATS, COLLECT CONTACT INFO

The Hudson's Bay Company, VANOC's tier-1 retail sponsor, has started a web-based contest for people to win "one of 10 Vancouver 2010 Olympics hats." The Bay claims the contest will "Support our athletes and [you'll] look great while you're doing it." The baseball-style hats with a 2010 logo are estimated to be worth about C$30 each and, no, you can't take the cash instead. The contest, which started August 15 and runs until September 14 does not require any purchase to enter. It's only open to adults "residing" in Canada; friends and family of employees of HBC or its affiliates, such as Zellers, or its licensees, are barred from entering, and a math question is required for a winner to answer to keep it from becoming a lottery. The randomized draw will be held September 18 in Toronto. Those selected will have two weeks to acknowledge a letter letting them know they won; if they don't, another draw is done until all the hats are given away. The concept, judging from the entry form, appears to be simply aimed at collecting mail, phone and e-mail contact information from the participant, with some age-related geographic-related demographic information. Such information is protected by Canada's privacy laws in the way it's handled after collection. [See link in RESOURCES, below.]

RESOURCES

A satellite map of the location of the proposed office tower next to GM Place:
tinyurl.com/yqyreh or:
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Griffiths+Way+and+Expo+Boulevard,+vancouver,+bc,+canada&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=69.738802,108.632813&ie=UTF8&ll=49.277731,-123.11024&spn=0.003598,0.00663&t=h&z=17&om=1

BC Place Stadium, the larged domed building in the lower left of the image, is where VANOC is expected to be holding the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, along with the nightly medal awards ceremonies. Two clicks of the map button that moves the map northward will show the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in the centre left. The portion of Cambie Street adjacent to the theatre will be blocked off so it can be combined with the parking lot across Cambie street, so it can become the location of the Olympic Live Sites plaza and aboriginal pavilion during the Games.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 20, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2481
PARTNERSHIPS BC REPORT FRETS ABOUT VANOC'S WHISTLER ATHLETES CENTRE AND THE HILLCREST CURLING VENUE RISKS TO BUDGET AND SCHEDULE

A report commissioned by the BC government by its Partnerships BC agency to review the 2010 Olympics construction schedule for risk indicates Games management is in firm control, but the report flags the Whistler Athletes Centre and the Hillcrest curling venue as facing moderate risk and significant challenges.

Partnerships BC's unsigned report, the second of two in the past nine months, was presented to the provincial government last April, but only released today, and many of the things it was worried about then have changed as a result of decision-making by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) in the last six months.

In essence, Partnerships BC says it's not worried about VANOC's ability to manage the capital construction budget of C$580 million, plus C$6.8 million in value-in-kind contributions from VANOC's corporate sponsors, primarily Rona. It says VANOC's people in charge of the budget are experienced and the control and risk-mitigation systems and planning that are in place are up to the job.

But the agency's report says that in April it was worried about the risk and budget challenges of the two venues, saying that it rated them as the Whistler Sliding Centre as being in the "moderate" range. The rest of VANOC's venues, it noted, had low levels of risk and budget issues -- at least as far as the BC government's money was concerned. The BC government is paying for half the actual dollar cost of the venues VANOC is constructing or renovating; the Canadian government is paying for the other half, but Partnerships BC is only concerned about the BC government's part of the budget.

The preliminary scope for the Centre involved for a high performance workout area, a lodge to house 200 athletes, and townhouses to house 150 athletes and coaches during the Games. However it noted that last year, the International Olympic Committee requested VANOC provide additional 800 beds. VANOC discussed that problem publicly at the time, saying that it intended to talk to the IOC, as well as the BC and Canadian governments, about who was to fund the considerable increase. But what's news is the dollar value of the request which VANOC has never acknowledged.

The report, back in April, said that VANOC was "currently investigating solutions, such as temporary accommodations, to meet this need" and that "VANOC is working to finalize a solution before Fall 2007." It then adds, "The scope increase will result in an additional budget increase. VANOC anticipates drawing an estimated C$25 million from the management reserve to fund the original scope and current estimated costs including the additional 800 beds." That would bring the total cost of the centre by Partnership BC's assessment, to as much as "C$36.5 million, including project contingency."

VANOC, as of last March 31, had a total contingency of C$55.3 million.

VANOC's executive vice-president of Capital Construction, Dan Doyle, and his project managers, were questioned closely by Morgan:News:2010 last month about the project, and he confirmed that he was confident the project would be brought in for VANOC's budget of C$16 million, as noted in VANOC's business plan, released last May, plus C$3.5 million in additional contributions this year from Whistler for an expansion to the Centre's gymnasium, and that included all required accommodation.

The scheduled completion date of the third quarter of 2008 for the 350 beds and the High Performance Centre are on a hard deadline, because the facilities will provide accommodation for athletes training in advance of the Games. The date required for the additional 800 beds is the third quarter of 2009.

The report says, "The schedule for this venue is aggressive and will be complicated by factors specific to the Whistler construction environment.... The scope of the project is also complicated by its co-location with the Whistler Village, which is being developed through a third-party agreement."

The construction environment, the report notes, includes a building season in Whistler that is shorter than other locations in B.C. and the relative remoteness and access to the site is an additional risk. As well, "Labour availability and productivity is an acute problem for all construction projects in B.C., and is especially acute in a remote area with limited labour supply."

However, the report acknowledges that VANOC and the Whistler corporate subsidiary charged with building the Olympic Village which surrounds the Athletes Centre have a number of tools at their disposal to deal with the construction-environment problems and knows how to use them.

Partnerships BC also says the Whistler Sliding Centre faces "moderate" risks to its construction schedule and budget. That's because, it says, "There is a large number of contractors working on the site, and this could lead to issues with contractor coordination which may result in claims related to delays and/or quality of integrated work. In addition, quality-control issues with respect to the track are likely to continue to be complex. The tolerances and quality requirements of the track require highly skilled workers who can lay concrete over a steel frame and refrigerant tubing... The back-end commissioning of this site, including timing mechanisms, broadcast media requirements and refrigeration, is extremely complex; however, VANOC believes the schedule has enough float to allow for testing and rework."

The agency says it did its own risk analysis of the Sliding Centre and decided that "there is a
strong likelihood that specific risks may result in claims on the project budget after completion." It looked at five areas of risk: cost of materials; fire hazard; adverse weather affecting construction seasons -- such as the heavy and late snow pack at the end of this past winter which held up construction for a time until snow clearing was completed; contractor coordination on site; and approval of the structure by the IOC and the international and national sports federations, a process called homologation. That process in the past has resulted in construction changes, which could be expensive, as the project nears completion.

For the first three risks, however, VANOC has been careful to include those groups in its planning for the centre. Partnerships BC said its analysis "resulted in a reduction of the expected value of the risk, compared to VANOC’s analysis" of the material, fire and bad weather issues. but for contractor co-ordination and homologation, Partnerships BC concluded "the expected value of the risk is significantly higher."

However, it also noted that the Centre is due to be completed by December.

The issue Partnerships BC has with the Hillcrest Curling venue is primarily due to the fact that construction has only just got underway, but VANOC has been pushing along on nailing down contracts for the project, and although it appears it's expected to eat into about half of the contingency, according to our reports this summer, Doyle was convinced last month it will be brought in within VANOC's total budget of C$38 million, which includes a project contingency.

The report also makes a batch of recommendations, none of which have much practical significance to VANOC. For instance, it urges monthly meetings between VANOC senior executives and its venue project managers. Doyle meets with those managers weekly.

As for other venues, Partnerships BC says:

The Vancouver Athletes Village and the Whistler Athletes Village both have extremely tight "floats" of about four months to have the Villages completed and delivered to VANOC by November 1, 2009. The float is the amount of time within the schedule that the project can slip and still be delivered on time.

The Whistler Nordic Centre, as of April, was behind schedule, although the report notes that VANOC's project managers were convinced they could make up the time for a December delivery. The report adds, however, "The schedule delay could lead to contractor claims after the project is completed."

The Richmond Oval: It's not worried about BC taxpayer risk to the amount VANOC is contributing to the project, C$63.1 million. Most of the project has been tendered, and it's doing well on getting to its scheduled delivery of October, 2008.

RESOURCES

Here's the link to the PDF of the Partnerships BC report (268 KB):
tinyurl.com/38lxd9

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 16, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2480

VANOC CONTRACTS WITH SEVERAL TRANSLATION FIRMS FOR OVERFLOW WORK

VANOC has set up contracts with six firms to provide more help with overflow translation work between now and the end of 2010. The companies include the Montreal office of New York's New-Global Corporation, the Vancouver office of Montreal-based Ad-Com, Toronto's Canada News Wire Group and its Vancouver office, New Brunswick's Lexi-Tech, Ottawa, Ontario's Masha Krupp Translation Group and a small operation, Translatech of Winnipeg. Earlier this year, VANOC also set up a similar contract with Language Fusion, a small company in Washington state's Vancouver City. Mostly, the work is expected to be translating English to French as needed, with a small portion going in the reverse direction, and VANOC may also have some call for translating other languages, such as Chinese and Punjabi. The type of translation is to include newsletters, feature stories, backgrounders, fact sheets, biographies, technical reports, information books, brochures, sport-specific documents and the VANOC website. VANOC was looking for a veteran translator contractor who is good at writing in national news style -- CNW Group provides that -- but there will also be a variety of writing styles, including narrative and technical reports, newsletters, web, speeches, presentations and audio and video scripts. [For contact info for the translation services, see RESOURCES, below]

US CURLING GROUP CONSIDERS THREE CITIES AS A POTENTIAL HOST FOR 2010 OLYMPIC TRIALS

The national American curling sports federation, the United States Curling Association, has shortlisted the cities of Bismarck in North Dakota, Denver in Colorado and Rochester in New York State as the potential location for its the 2009 national championships and Olympic trials. The winning men's and women's teams at the trials will represent the United States at the 2010 games in Vancouver. Association representatives are scheduled to visit each city this weekend to look at facilities and associated hotels and talk about the size and expertise of its pool of volunteers. A decision on which city will be chosen is expected to be made by the Association's executive board meeting in mid-September.

SECURITY EXECUTIVE CHANGE GETS WIDE-SPREAD PUBLICITY

The news about the head of the Vancouver 2010 security stepping down ricocheted quickly across Canada, the United States and Europe as the major daily media in all three areas ran stories about it picked up from national news-wire agencies. RCMP chief superintendent Bob Harriman, who has run the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU) for nearly five years is staying in the position until a replacement is named. VISU, which includes the military and police officers from various VANOC-related cities, began reporting to a new Security Committee comprised of senior officials of the BC and Canadian governments earlier this year, and has finally begun to go through the major budgeting process of how much and how extensive Games security will be, with the Security Committee vetting the proposals. The first major version of that budgeting process is expected to be finalized late this year. An agreement signed late last year confirmed the Canadian and BC governments will each cover half the costs of agreed or arbitrated venue coverage from 2004 onwards.

RESOURCES

New-Global Corporation
434 Rue Saint-Pierre, Suite #300

Montreal, Québec, Canada H2Y 2M5
Toll-free telephone: 1.866.777.9449

Fax: 212-202-7812
E-mail: <sales@new-global.com>
Website: www.new-global.com

--

Ad-Com
Suite 509, 1331 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC, V6E 4P1
Telephone: 778.329.2488
Fax 778-329-2487
E-mail: info@ad-com.com
Web: www.ad-com.ca/trans_en.htm

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Canada News Wire
Suite 2640, 650 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC, V6B 4N8
Telephone: 1-877-269-7890
Fax: 1-877-269-5044
E-mail: info@newswire.ca
Web: www.newswire.ca/en/

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Lexi-tech International
10 Dawson Avenue
Moncton, New Brunswick, E1A 6C8
Telephone: 506.859.5200
Fax: 506-859-5205
E-mail: <info@lexitech.ca>
Web: www.lexitech.ca

--

The Masha Krupp Translation Group
1547 Merivale Road, Suite 500
Ottawa, Ontario, K2G 4V3
Tel: 613.820.4566
Toll free: 1.888.800.6584
Fax: 613-596-4460 or 613-596-3272
Email: <translation@mashakrupp.com>
Web: www.mashakrupp.com

--

Translatech
10 Southwalk Bay
Winnipeg, MB R2N 1M7
Telephone: 204.261.7859
Fax: 204-261-7920

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 16, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2479
DOMINION FAIRMILE CONSTRUCTION TO COMPLETE COLISEUM VENUE RENOVATIONS

A contractor review panel has chosen Dominion Fairmile Construction of Vancouver to be the general contractor for this year's renovations work at the Coliseum in east Vancouver, after it sifted through proposals in a formal process that began last March.

The panel included representatives from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), the Pacific National Exhibition, which owns the Pacific Coliseum, and the City of Vancouver, which supervises the PNE. The contract is the final part of VANOC's work on the venue, which is to be used for short-track speed skating and figure skating.

The agreement is expected to take until December to complete, in part because the work is to be done between events at the Coliseum, or while they are on, depending on the Coliseum's specific schedule and the requirements of the event. The work involves extensive renovations to the building's washroom facilities, change-room showers and concession stands. It includes new plumbing, fixtures, tiling and counters. The contractor is also expected to install new dehumidification units, new field-of-play lighting that will come with a steel catwalk system, and new or improved viewing areas to accommodate people in wheelchairs. The construction of a new elevator to service all floors within the building has also been included.

As usual, neither VANOC nor Dominion have released the value of the deal, however VANOC said last month the total cost of improvements, which have taken place since 2006, are expected to be about C$22.9 million, down from C$23.7 million it estimated in its official business plan released last May. The total cost included replacing about 16,000 seats and expanding the ice surface to international size from NHL dimensions, along with related ice-plant improvements.

DFC is a company, which VANOC CEO John Furlong one called "formidable" in a 2005 speech, that has ended up with a range of involvement with the 2010 Games. It was one of the 20 members of the 2010 Construction Leaders Task Force formed in July of 2003 to provide managerial advice to VANOC on issues such as construction labour supply, costs and tendering. Its parent company, Dominion Construction, supplied VANOC's first capital construction executive vice-president, Steve Matheson, who is now the BC regional manager of Pivotal Projects after being replaced more than a year ago by Dan Doyle. DFC is also managing the construction of the sports complex in Richmond, budgeted at C$178 million, that is to be the venue for the long-track speedskating. VANOC's contribution to the building was capped some years ago at C$60 million.

RESOURCES
Wayne Henderson, P.Eng.
Senior Vice President - BC Division
or
Gwen Graham
Operations Manager - BC Division

Dominion Construction Company Inc.
Broadway Tech Centre
Suite 130 - 2985 Virtual Way
Vancouver, BC V5M 4X7

Phone: 604.631.1000
Fax: 604-631-1100
Website: www.dominionco.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 16, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2478

VANOC TO BOLSTER DEPARTMENT FOR MARKETING BY NON-COMMERCIAL SPONSORS

VANOC is expected to begin strengthening over the next few months the section of its Sponsorship department that deals with handling the marketing planning for its non-commercial sponsors. The division, called Non-Commercial Partnerships, is expected to deal with all the levels of governments -- civic, provincial and Canadian -- as well as the formal aboriginal groups with which VANOC deals. But it also includes various tourism agencies, which in Canada are usually set up as agencies that act on behalf of a community, such as Tourism Vancouver or Tourism Whistler, or a region, such as Tourism BC. The work, within VANOC, includes setting up protocols with other divisions in the expanding VANOC bureaucracy, such as Legal, Communications, Corporate Strategy & Corporate Relations, Government Services Integration as well as Government & Partner Relations. The new department will also be charged with balancing VANOC's 'Canada's Games' concept with the requirements of VANOC's Brand Protection as the non-commercial organizations do their best to exploit their operating agreements with VANOC. It is expected, for instance, to enforce brand protection and VANOC's marketing guidelines by taking the various marketing concepts presented to it by the organization and agencies through a stringent approval process.

PROCESS TIGHT FOR HANDLING VANOC'S VIK RELATIONSHIP WITH RONA, ET AL

We've had an inside look at how VANOC controls the way it does business with one of its major corporate sponsors, Rona, the national renovations-supply company. Rona signed a tier-1 sponsorship sheet with VANOC in May, 2005, after about six months of negotiations, at a value to VANOC of C$68 million, primarily to supply materials (value-in-kind, or VIK) for VANOC's capital construction program in exchange for major marketing rights for Rona to 2012 (who hasn't yet done much with them). VANOC accounts for the VIK as though it were buying the materials at standard retail rates, while Rona has, in essence, set up a VANOC-related notional store. Rona, it turns out, is a portal for a number of other companies to do business with VANOC under the Rona account, which is supervised by Rona's Olympic Program director Russ Jones and Brad LeGrow, Rona's Commercial Account Manager for Olympic Programs, both of the company's Greater Vancouver office. For instance, the deal allows VANOC capital contractors and sub-contractors to buy, either in bulk or off the shelf of any store owned by Rona or its operating subsidiaries, Mountain Building Supply and Curtis Lumber. Rona also has a number of strategic agreements with related suppliers that allow VANOC contractors and subcontractors to do the same. These include electrical supplier EB Horsman, wall and ceiling supplier The Winroc Group, plumbing supplier Universal Supply, ICI Paints, flooring supplier Shaw Industries, and Crossley Carpet Mills. In all cases, there is an exchange of paperwork and purchase orders that allows VANOC and Rona to each ensure there's a proper flow of command and control over purchases that relates to the contractual agreements and budgets. In the case of Rona or firms directly operated by it, VANOC assigns "payments" directly to the firm. In the case of Rona's strategic-arrangement firms, they bill Rona, who then pays them for the materials, with Rona handling their reporting functions to VANOC. Although the deal is heavily weighted toward doing business with Rona, et al., it's not automatic. Contractors get quotes from Rona as they normally would when doing business with suppliers, and it's up to VANOC whether to authorize the purchases. It's not until VANOC signs off on the arrangement that purchases -- which include 10% holdbacks, BC sales taxes and delivery -- can proceed with credit limits up to VANOC's approval.


RESOURCES

Rona:
www.rona.ca

Mountain Building Supply contact info:
www.mountainbuilding.com/

Curtis Lumber:
www.curtislumber.ca/

EB Horsman:
www.ebhorsman.com/

The Winroc Group:
www.winroc.com/main/main.html

Universal Supply:
www.universalsupply.bc.ca

ICI Paints:
www.icipaints.com

Shaw Industries:
www.shawfloors.com

Crossley Carpet Mills
www.crossley.ca

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 15, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2477

SENIOR VISU OFFICER TO LEAVE POST

The officer in charge of VISU, the police and military unit led by the Canada's national police force to provide security to the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, is moving out of the job, but a spokesman says RCMP chief superintendent Bob Harriman was neither fired nor quit. Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre, the communications spokesman for the Greater Vancouver Division "E" of the RCMP, said is a prepared statement, "At the end of July, chief superintendent Harriman and senior management within the RCMP had mutual discussions about chief superintendent Harriman’s future endeavors and, to add to his already accomplished career, reached a mutual agreement that it was time for him to move onto other opportunities within the RCMP. Chief superintendent Harriman spent five years with the Integrated Security Unit, and laid a solid foundation during that time. This is part of a natural progression of his career. Within the RCMP, it is common for senior managers involved in complex files to move on to other challenges after three to five years. A successor to chief superintendent Harriman has not yet been named. This transition will occur over the new few months." Lemaitre says it was that the mutual decision, coming after a 2005 report was released that talked about how VISU was unlikely to be able to stay within the C$175 million budget prepared as part of the Vancouver bid for the Games, was "purely coincidental." RCMP deputy commissioner Gary Bass says Harriman will remain at his post until a replacement can be found. It's understood that he will also remain there until a new position is found for him in the RCMP.

VANCOUVER CIVIC STRIKE SETTLEMENT EXPECTED TO INCLUDE OLYMPICS WORK ISSUE

Work schedules during the 2010 Olympics is one of the issues that is expected to be resolved whenever a new contract is negotiated between the City of Vancouver and the three labour unions that represent its workers. Those workers are are now into the fourth week of a strike which has severely limited or curtailed all non-essential services provided by the City, and the sides seem to be settled in for a a lengthy dispute. The unions are said to be willing to discuss and sign an agreement over job distribution related to the Olympics, but say that job-security issues must be negotiated first.

CARMANAH INSULATES 2010-RELATED BATTERIES FOR WHISTLER WEATHER STATIONS

We've reported, on a number of occasions, about the sophisticated weather-reporting network the federal government has set up on behalf of the 2010 Winter Olympics. A minor squib about the Whistler aspects: the insulated boxes for the solar powered batteries that are used to run some of the stations are from a Victoria, BC-based company called Carmanah Technologies Corporation (TSX:CMH). The boxes protect the batteries in remote and often sub-zero climates on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

RESOURCES

Carmanah Industries:
www.carmanah.com

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Our last report on the weather station status
'...Canada only halfway in constructing 2010 weather network...'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2251; Published on Thursday, April 12, 2007]

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 15, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2476

VISU UNDER PRESSURE TO FINALIZE MAJOR PORTION OF ITS BUDGET

The Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU) -- which is led by Canada's national police force, the RCMP, and which is responsible for providing security to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games using police and military personnel -- is now feeling the bureaucratic pressure to develop its budget for the Games so national funding can be assigned. The Canadian government's budget cycle begins each fall in the third quarter of the government's fiscal year, so that departments can get their requirements to Treasury Board approval in time for them to appear in the usual spring budget. One of VISU's major expenses areas is labour, and it still has to nail down just how many officers and other personnel it needs to patrol the Games. In order to do that, it needs to develop ways to keep track of shift scheduling by computer, but not just any off-the-shelf method will do. For this kind of work, the scheduling has to take into account a range of constraints that should be familiar to many Human Resources officers, such as personnel coverage requirements at each of VANOC's 100 or so venue and operational areas, at different times for each day, based on the venue's events. It has to take into account a logical grouping of the venues so that personnel and support for them can be efficiently used. The scheduling needs to include time for training, overtime rates, salary rates, hours per shift, and travel time to and from temporary residences and, we understand, the target date for getting this together is October 1, or as near as possible to that deadline. And what may not be familiar to many HR specialists is that all of this has to be done, for security reasons, in secret, which means that those who are doing the work and assembling the data, have to have Canadian government or RCMP "Secret" security clearances. VISU hasn't yet decided whether to do the work in-house, which means moving people away from other things of importance to do this, or whether to hire consultants to do it, so it's asking around about whether there are consultants with the proper clearances who can do the work. It'll probably make a decision on that choice next week.

EMERSON REMAINS AS FEDERAL MINISTER FOR OLYMPICS FOLLOWING CABINET SHUFFLE

The minister in charge of the Canadian government's responsibilities for the 2010 Winter Olympics remains David Emerson, following today's major cabinet shuffle by Primer Minister Stephen Harper. Emerson, who represents the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway was elected as a Liberal when the Conservatives came to power, but was immediately drafted by Harper to help him with international trade and the Olympics. Emerson retains both responsibilities under the new cabinet. Secretary of State for Sport, Helena Guergis, also remains in her portfolio. However, Harper has replaced Canadian Heritage Minister Lisa Frulla with Josée Verner, the chair of the Quebec Caucus for the Conservative Party, as his new minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. She was formerly the minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages. The Heritage ministry funds major sport organizations in general, including the Canadian Olympic Committee, which said today it's looking forward to working with Verner.

CBC REACHES FOUR-YEAR DEAL FOR SKATE CANADA BROADCASTING

Although CTV has paid for host-broadcaster coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics by outbidding the competition, rival CBC, Canada's public broadcaster, today finalized negotiations on a four-year deal with Skate Canada to televise Canadian figure skating championships and Skate Canada International events. Skate Canada is the national sports federation for various types of skating. That allows CBC to show the Canadian team as it prepares for the Olympic Games. Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports says, "Along with our alpine skiing and Grand Slam Curling coverage, this marks the third important winter sport we're committed to broadcasting through the 2010 Olympics. This ensures our viewers will be able to follow Canada's athletes on CBC as they continue to compete and prepare for the Olympic Games in Vancouver and beyond."

RESOURCES
Emerson's official background and photo:
www.pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp?id=4

Verner's official background and photo:
www.pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp?id=21

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 14, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2475

DOW CANADA TO SELL WESTERN CANADIAN DISTRIBUTION OPERATION, BUT NO EFFECT ON VANOC

Dow Canada says that it's impending sale, announced today, of its business facilities in western Canada to Univar Canada, has no effect on its contractual relationship with the 2010 Winter Games. Dow Canada is an official supplier to the Games, primarily providing liquid materials for such uses as cooling for rinks and HVAC systems, and heating, in exchange for marketing rights. The sale of Dow Canada's caustic-soda business and its facilities to Univar includes Dow Canada's West Coast Distribution Centre terminal assets which consist of marine, rail and truck facilities in North Vancouver, as well as related equipment, all for an undisclosed amount. The decision, according to Dow Canada vice-president Philippe Raynaud de Fitte, is a ripple effect of the company's decision to close its chlor-alkali production at Fort Saskatchewan last year. Jeannine Sohayda, a spokesman for Dow Chemical's head office in Michigan, says that it's possible, though she has no specific details, that Dow Canada may hire Univar to help distribute materials to VANOC at some point if it felt it were necessary. The sale still needs regulatory approval, expected by Dow Canada later this year.

VANOC WORKING ON DEVELOPING OLYMPICS MEDICAL DATABASE

An interview between veteran Vancouver Sun Olympics reporter Jeff Lee and Dr. Jack Taunton, VANOC's chief medical officer, indicates VANOC is hoping to be the first winter Olympics to fully use an expensive medical database system to keep track of athletes medical visits. A pilot project of the Canadian-designed, Internet-based system was given a run at the 2006 Torino winter Olympics, and the first summer Games to use it is expected to be the Summer Olympics in Beijing next August. Lee writes, "In the past, Olympic Games haven't kept computerized records, to the point that, in some cases, treating physicians don't even know the blood type or medication history of athletes that come into an emergency ward. During the 2006 Turin Winter Games, for example, officials know they treated 1,198 individuals involved with the Olympics at local hospitals. But they couldn't say how the cases were resolved. All they knew was that roughly 54% came from the volunteer workforce, 25% from athletes and 12% from media." And he quotes Dr. Taunton as saying, "In Torino, there were 1,198 cases that went to local hospitals. In Salt Lake, there were 444 -- a big difference. But we can't say exactly why that is the case." The records system, which has various levels of security, was developed with the help of Montreal-based Presagia Corporation, whch is also working with Vancouver Coastal Health Agency, which supervises the public medical system in which VANOC operates. Protocols for its use are being discussed now, according to the report. But because of the cost and information-support aspects, only about half a dozen countries are expected to be using it at the 2010 Games. Lee says Dr. Taunton's aim is to treat as many as possible within VANOC's two polyclinics, one at each Olympic Village in Vancouver and Whistler. Lee writes that, "With the help of General Electric, one of the IOC's top sponsors, VANOC is outfitting the two clinics with new magnetic resonance imaging [machines], digital X-ray [equipment], a CT-scanner and portable, as well as stationary ultrasound machines. In addition, VANOC is installing two medical laboratories."

BC OLYMPIC SECRETARIAT CONSIDERS CHINA BUSINESS WORKSHOPS

The BC Olympic Secretariat, which co-ordinates the BC government's responsibilities to the 2010 Winter Olympics and its marketing rights, expects to host workshops for business people in British Columbia on doing business with China as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing approach. It's looking now for consultants who have business experience in China to help with the workshops so they can be added to a pool of facilitators on which the Secretariat can draw when it comes time to launch the workshops. Besides knowledge of BC, Canadian and Chinese business practices, the consultants also need to know about importing and exporting. The BC government expects there will be increased busuiness done between British Columbia and China both directly in connection with the 2008 Games and indirectly as a result of the Summer Games being a focus in BC. The BC government is setting up a pavilion in Beijing to help with the process during the lead-up to the summer games and while they are running.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 13, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2474

The 2010 brand doesn't automatically sell itself; sometimes you need a little marketing. Our three moguls today illustrate that in different ways.

SECOND ABBOTSFORD 2010 LEGACY NOW CAMP UNDERSUBSCRIBED

A report in the Daily News of Abbotsford, a city to the east of Vancouver, demonstrates it in one way. The Central Abbotsford Community School, writes reporter Kristine Thiessen, offered free summer camps for children, but, she notes, "Only three students have filled the 25 spots open for the final 2010 Legacies Now Arts Camp (also called The Ultimate Arts Camp) at the end of August, even though the camps include activities like drama, art, and dance, a high leader-to-camper ratio, and free lunches." And she quotes executive director Jami Savage as saying, “We thought if we promoted it too much, we’d be absolutely bombarded." The day camps are the result of a partnership between the school, its school district, the provincial government and 2010 Legacies Now. The Kiwanis Club of Clearbrook donated the art supplied and, she report, there are "four highly skilled camp leaders: two recent high school graduates experienced in drama and dance, a professional actress and an instructor of visual arts." Karen McDonald, who speaks for 2010 Legacies Now, notes that the camps are usually well attended, that this summer marks the first time the school district has been funded for camps in Abbotsford, and that a successful one was held earlier this summer. She adds, "We have every confidence the organizers will fill the next camp with the participants it's designed for -- children who might not otherwise have an opportunity to have this type of summer experience."

2010 LOTTERY PROGRAM RAN AT HALF SPEED DURING LAUNCH YEAR

Another example of low connection between product, 2010 and the goal is the BC Lottery Corporation's SportFunder lottery. We've learned that it had to be retooled because it was only generating about half as much money for sports and the 2010 Games as expected during its launch year. The SportFunder was set up to generate up to C$15 million for the 2010 Winter Olympics through a sliding royalty system on specific game play, and to generate up to C$20 million for BC amateur sports, all by 2012, when VANOC's marketing relationships end. Michelle Bodnarchuk, category manager for SportsFunder, notes the program launched in February 2006 with public relations and advertising, but, "As time passed, after introducing a couple of different products, we recognized awareness [of SportsFunder] was lower than we had hoped. We conducted focus groups last February to talk to our players, and we learned people didn’t know about SportsFunder." They also tried promotion through a number of sponsorships and events marketing during the launch year, such as the Canada Cup in Surrey, BC Summer Games in Kamloops, Vancouver Island Exhibition in Nanaimo, the Canadian Olympic Committee golf tournament in Whistler, the "Countdown to 2010" celebrations in Vancouver and Richmond last February, and the Special Olympics BC Winter Games in Kelowna. Morgan:News:2010 estimates, from information provided to us earlier, that SportFunder was projected to net (after prizes, the BC government's cut and administration) about C$7.5 million annually, and, after VANOC's cut, roughly C$4 million per year was to flow to sports groups through programs of the BC government's Ministry of Tourism, Sports and the Arts. However, we've learned that in the first year, from February 2006 to February 2007 of the program, only C$2.1 million was available for amateur sports. VANOC's cut, and revenue figures, are not available, but are expected to be similarly well below projections, at about C$1.6 million. One thing the Lottery corporation did as a result of the focus groups, it says, was to redesign its Sportfunder logo, a process that seven months.

ICBC LAUNCHES CONTEST WITH CAR PRIZE TO SUPPORT 2010 LICENSE PLATE SALES

Then there's the proactive method: ICBC, the BC government crown corporation that provides basic vehicle insurance in British Columbia, is an official supplier to VANOC, and it launched a program last spring that allowed BC motorists to buy a special VANOC license plate, with proceeds to the 2010 Games. So far, it's sold 45,000 of them for a $10 surcharge on the annual license renewal fee of $25, and it says it's averaging sales of about 400 of them per day. But sales aren't reaching targets -- Jeff Schulz, ICBC Vice President of Strategic Marketing, says, "This promotion will help us reach, and hopefully exceed, our sales goals." -- so, it's now offering a contest in connection with the plates in which people who buy the plates can enter between now and December 31 to win a grand prize of a 2008 Pontiac Vibe, as well as weekly prizes. The car has been donated by the Pontiac Dealers of BC association. To enter, participants have to put their 2010 plate number into a form on a website set up by ICBC. The game is supported by newspaper advertising.

RESOURCES

The website where people go to enter the ICBC 2010 plates contest:
www.ShowYourSupportToWin.ca

ICBC's page about the 2010 plates:
www.icbc.com/registration/reg_spec_lic_plates_opp.asp

Pontiac's Vibe:
www.pontiac.com/vibe/index.jsp

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 13, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2473

VANOC'S CULTURAL OLYMPIAD EXPANDS

The 2010 Cultural Olympiad, for which VANOC has assigned a total budget of C$20 million to be spent over the next three years, most of it in 2010 during the lead-up to the Games, is wider than first explained by VANOC officials. It now includes, besides the arts festivals and live-sites cultural aspects earlier discussed: a national touring program, a youth arts festival, and a culinary festival.

2010 TORCH RELAY EXPANDS

The VANOC Torch Relay, a separately sponsored event supervised by VANOC, is now expected to involve 140 torchbearers per day over its three-month run that ends on February 12, 2010, and move through "more than 400" communities.

USOC HIRES NEW CHIEF MARKETER TO HELP PREPARE FOR ROLE AT 2010 GAMES

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has hired Rick Burton, 49, as its new chief marketing officer. Burton, who starts the job October 1, was commissioner of the National Basketball League (NBL) in Sydney, Australia, for the last four years and, before that he was the executive director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center in the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. He is expecting to be based at the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Burton has been in the sports and entertainment industries for the past 30 years. He's expected to direct the USOC’s Sales and Marketing division, and to develop and implement corporate sponsorship programs, provide maximum return-on-investment to the USOC’s family of corporate sponsors and create revenue streams to support the USOC’s digital media plans. Burton says he'll also help the organization as it is "preparing for Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010." Burton has contributed articles to Sports Business Journal and the New York Times. His academic research on sports business and sports marketing has been published in several scholarly journals, including Sport Marketing Quarterly, Marketing Management and The International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. He has also been principal moderator at SportAccord, the largest annual conference in the sports industry which brings together leaders from the International Olympic Committee, the International Federations, games organizing committees such as VANOC, broadcast rightsholders and corporate sponsors for a forum on opportunities and issues connected with the sports industry.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2472
PROVINCIAL MOUs SINGNED TODAY WITH VANOC EACH HAVE COMMON AND SPECIFIC ASPECTS

Here are some of the key phrases in the Memorandum of Understanding, signed today between VANOC and four Canadian provinces:

All four will promote the 2010 Games within their jurisdiction, and each will, in the words of New Brunswick's MOU, to "... work jointly with VANOC to promote a volunteer and recruitment program, which could result in a selected number of public-service employees traveling to Vancouver to volunteer at the 2010 Games. These individuals will work in areas where the local host jurisdiction does not have the required expertise or sufficient numbers to meet the demand...". They also agree to set up working committees of officials in both VANOC and each province to "develop specific agreements in each area of cooperation to which detailed roles and responsibilities, costs, and a timeline for implementation..."

Prince Edward Island and VANOC: "...Will collectively and individually explore opportunities to advance culture, tourism, economic development and sport initiatives that the Games may present"; "...will work with VANOC to develop vehicles for the effective promotion of the games and the Olympic ideals during the Canada Summer Games" its hosting in 2009; "...the 2009 Canada Games represent an excellent training platform in the delivery of multisport games and will result in an inventory of trained staff and volunteers. The Province and VANOC will work together to maximize the opportunities that this training and experience will present..."; "...agree to cooperate on the recruitment of youth in concert with VANOC’s youth strategy for volunteer and paid positions from Prince Edward Island who will support, under terms to be determined, VANOC during the delivery of the Games"; "will work together with VANOC to recruit employees of the Province, who will support, under terms to be determined later, VANOC during the preparation for and delivery of the Games"; "to cooperate and collaborate in events and activities taking place to promote the Games within the Province, including, but not limited to the Torch Relay..."; and "The parties agree to assign officials to a working group or groups to develop specific agreements for the projects agreed to which detail roles and responsibilities, costs, and timelines for implementation"; the deal is to be reviewed at least every six months.

New Brunswick and VANOC: "...will continue to examine areas of collaboration relating to New Brunswick artists, arts organizations and performing artists. In addition, New Brunswick will work jointly with VANOC to identify opportunities for aboriginal cultural performers"; "...New Brunswick has extensive expertise in the development and delivery of services in both official languages, [so] the parties will explore the opportunity to cooperate in fulfilling the linguistic component of the Vancouver 2010 mission"; "...The parties will also explore the opportunity to recruit bilingual volunteers to assist VANOC in fulfilling the linguistic component of the Vancouver 2010 Games"; "...New Brunswick will work with VANOC to examine the possibility to showcase La Francophonie canadienne and the Acadian culture to the world"; "...New Brunswick will promote the Canadian School Portal [a VANOC website still under development] for the 2010 Games among New Brunswick’s Francophone and Anglophone schools and will use existing programs to plan activities using the 2010 Games as a theme"; "... New Brunswick agrees to work with its sport community to promote opportunities for athletes as role models, coaches, officials and volunteers to gain developmental experiences associated with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the test events leading up to the Games"; and "New Brunswick will support and participate in strategic tourism-destination marketing activities being lead by the Canadian Tourism Commission through the opportunities presented before, during and after the Games."

Manitoba and VANOC: "...Establish a Manitoba House / Pavilion in Vancouver during the 2010 Games with a facility to showcase cultural performers, athletes and host the general public and dignitaries..."; "...become a Contributing Province of the 2010 Games..."; "showcase arts and culture that reflects the diversity of peoples, ideas and customs that provide the backdrop for Manitoba's vitality in various fields, particularly the performing arts, visual arts, literature, new media, cultural industries..."; "...identify initiatives to profile Manitoba, including our communities, companies and institutions at the 2010 Games to enhance tourism, immigration, trade and investment, and other related economic development benefits..."; and "...identify and promote infrastructure / early training sites with the potential for team training for Olympic and Paralympic teams in preparation for the 2010 Games with an emphasis on early season training and acclimatization."

Labrador & Newfoundland and VANOC: "...develop programming showcasing the talent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians..."; "...provide logistical support within the province and to assist in providing key contacts and building a network for VANOC in Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure the success of" the Torch Relay; and "...explore venues to promote Newfoundland and Labrador trade and business opportunities..."

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2471

CONSTRUCTION STARTS ON REPLACEMENT OF MAIN US/CANADA OLYMPICS BORDER CROSSING

A ground-breaking ceremony took place at the Peace Arch border crossing near Blaine, Washington State, this week. It marks the start of work to replace all of the facilities of the existing main land-based border entry location between the western United States and Vancouver in time to handle the increase in traffic predicted for the 2010 Winter Games. The architect on the project is the Pennsylvania-based firm of Bohilin Cywinski Jackson, which also has an office in Seattle [see RESOURCES, below]. The project is supervised by the US General Services Administration's Northwest/Arctic Region, which is headquartered in Auburn, Washington State.

IOC TO DECIDE THIS YEAR ON WHETHER TO LOOSEN ATHLETE BLOGGING RULES

The International Olympic Committee's executive board is expected to make a decision later this year on whether athletes will be able to blog during next year's Beijing Summer Olympics. Athletes were barred from blogging at last year's Torino Winter Olympics, for a variety of reasons ranging from IOC officials worried about rivalries between national competitors spilling into blogs, to the use of video and other recordings taken at the Games and undercutting the IOC's lucrative national broadcast-rights auctions. The IOC's Press Commission earlier this year, however, generally followed the advice of one of its committees and suggested blogging could be allowed under a regime of rules that essentially maintained blogs as personal diaries or journals, and made similar recommendations to the IOC's executive for a vote.

MUNICH MULLS 2018 WINTER OLYMPICS BID

Munich, Germany, is expected to be approved for a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics in December, according to reports. German winter sports federations agreed today to propose to the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) that Munich will stage all ice events, the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen all of the snow sports and the sliding events are to take place in Koenigssee. Sochi was elected last month to stage the 2014 Winter Olympics. The 2018 host city will be elected by the IOC in 2011.

RESOURCES

A photo of a model of the new Peace Arch border crossing:
images.bcj.com/news/lg/lg__e83y2ssmte.jpg

The website of the architect on the project, Bohilin Cywinski Jackson:

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www.BCJ.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2470
FOUR PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS SIGN MOU TO WORK WITH 2010 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ON TOURISM, SPORT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has reached four separate memoranda of understanding with four more provincial governments of Canada to work on provincial aspects of the Olympics leading up to and during the 2010 Winter Games.

The agreements were signed VANOC's CEO, John Furlong, and by the premiers of each province: New Brunswick's Shawn Graham, Manitoba's Gary Doer, Newfoundland & Labrador's Danny Williams as well as Robert Ghiz of Prince Edward Island.

According to the MOUs, each province is aiming to work with VANOC on sport development, culture, volunteerism, tourism and economic development. Some of the work is expected to help support the movement of the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay programs as the torches move through their provinces.

The MOUs were signed on the final day of the annual Council of the Federation meeting, held this year in Moncton, New Brunswick, where all the premiers of Canada's provinces and territories are assembled. There are four provinces that have yet to sign similar arrangements: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Furlong had been working on an MOU with Ontario at the same time as the Quebed deal, but those talks stalled. A VANOC spokesman says, however, that "discussions are ongoing with the remaining provinces to identify areas of collaboration."

These are the first provincial MOUs signed since a protocol was reached between VANOC and Quebec in October, 2005. However, MOUs were signed last February between VANOC and the three ministers responsible for Sport and Recreation in Canada's territorial governments that are located along the width of Canada's arctic: Glenn Hart of the Yukon government, Michael McLeod from the Northwest Territories and the Louis Tapardjuk of Nunavut.

Furlong and his officials have been working on the latest deals for more than a year. They started during unheralded meetings May 30, 2006 between Furlong and the premier of Newfoundland & Labrador, Danny Williams, and with his minister of Tourism and Recreation, Tom Hedderson.

"The Olympic and Paralympic Games represent an opportunity for all of Canada to be showcased on the world stage and we invite Canadians, wherever they live, to play an active role," said Furlong. "The 2010 Winter Games will be Canada's Games... we are well on our way to fulfilling our goal of including every region of the country in this remarkable endeavour."

New Brunswick's Graham, who is also his province's minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport, said, "We have agreed to work with the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee on various initiatives, which will ensure that New Brunswick's unique culture and the skills of our people can contribute in a positive way to the successful hosting of Canada's Games."

"These Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games will enable our province to advance Prince Edward Island culture, tourism, economic development and sport initiatives throughout Canada and internationally," said Ghiz. "We will also be in a good position to support the Olympic movement and to promote the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games when we host the Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island in 2009."

Newfoundland premier Williams, said that "Through this Memorandum of Understanding our residents will have the ability to be volunteers at the Games, our province will be showcased at various events and the Torch Relay will visit Newfoundland and Labrador. The MOU also enables us to pursue various opportunities for economic development in the context of the Games, including promoting our province as a tourism destination."

RESOURCES

A photo of the premiers meeting at the Council:
www.gnb.ca/cnb/TeleVox/Photo/2007aug10_5.jpg
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Our story about Quebec's "Framework Agreement":
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1220
NEW QUEBEC FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT EXPECTED TO BE "FIRST... OF MANY SUCH AGREEMENTS"
www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2005_10_01_Bronze.htm
(Use your browser to find the story number, 1220, when the page loads)

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2469
POLL CLAIMS 70% OF BC RESIDENTS WANT THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO TAKE OVER RESPONSBILITY FOR THE 2010 GAMES

The controversial author of a poll of 1,650 British Columbians is claiming that 70% of them would like the Canadian government to "take over total responsibility for the 2010 Winter Olympics from the BC Liberal government."

The poll, taken in July, is said by Glen Robbins, president of Robbins SCE Research of Coquitlam, a part of Metro Vancouver, to have a margin of error 1.5% margin of error, 19-20 times out of 20. He also reported that 24% of respondents answered "No" to the question, while 6% were undecided or had no opinion.

Robbins reports -- and we quote: "An overwhelming majority of British Columbians want the Conservative Federal Government to take custody of the 2010 Olympic Games and to reimburse BC for its costs to date. "Its simply too big a bite for us economically" says one woman respondent. Robbins callers announced that at no time in their careers (and to those on the blind as well) have respondents answered so 'quickly and decisively.' Only Whistler BC went against the trend toward the Federal Government taking over the Olympics (54%-No), while many Whistler residents who answered "Yes" stated they 'weren't interested in the Olympics.'

Robbins says the cost of the poll was paid by a member of the BC conservative businessman, Jim Van Rassel, who Robbins identifies as a "sponsor and researcher" has sponsored other polls on political issues by Robbins.

BACKGROUND

Here is the full question and percentage answers to the Robbins poll as reported by Robbins. The following question followed anothre question given to the same respondents about the "boondoggle", as the question put it, of the BC Liberal government's handling of construction costs on the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre expansion:

"The BC government is currently responsible for the production of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games for Vancouver/Whistler. BC taxpayers are liable for any cost overruns. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country would invest $12 billion to fund the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, a city located near the Black Sea, not dissimilar to Whistler/Vancouver as a location. Our questions is this: Russia is a large country like Canada with a population of 150 million, while Canada has a population of 33 million and British Columbia has a population of 4 million. The Russian government is taking total charge of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games with the entire country responsible for any cost overruns or liabilities. In your opinion should the Federal Government of Canada take over total responsibility for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics from the BC Liberal government including reimbursing the province for any costs incurred to date?"
Yes - 70%
No - 24%
Undecided/No Opinion - 06%

--

Robbins reports that the poll involved: "A random sample of 1,650 British Columbians throughout the entire province including: Vancouver (pop-578 K), Surrey (pop-394 K), Victoria (pop-330 K), Burnaby (pop-202 K), Richmond (pop-174 K), Abbotsford (pop-123 K), Coquitlam (pop-114 K), Kelowna (pop-106 K), Delta (pop-96 K), Langley Township (pop-93 K), Kamloops (pop-92 K), Prince George (pop-83 K).
This poll was conducted between July 13-19, 2007."

RESOURCES

Robbins extensive commentary on the polling questions and results is here:
www.robbinssceresearch.com/polls/poll_403.html

Robbins contact information on his website resolves to private residence in Coquitlam.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2468

AUSTRALIAN TALKS FOR 2010 BROADCAST RIGHTS EXPECTED TO RESUME SHORTLY

Negotiations between the International Olympic Committee and Australia's broadcasters over the auction of broadcasting-rights packages to the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games for the continent are expected to resume later this year. The IOC was forced to bring talks to a halt two years ago while the Australian government reworked broadcasting ownership-structure laws and regulations. There are three main metropolitan networks, the Seven Network, Nine Network and Network Ten. The country also has three national public broadcasters: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Special Broadcasting Service and the National Indigenous Television. Seven and Nine are seen as the top contenders for the 2010/2012 Olympic broadcasting rights. Seven paid a then-record A$75 million for the rights to the IOC's package of the 2006 winter Olympics in Torino and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing some years ago. (That's the equivalent of about C$68 million at today's exchange rates.) Roughly half of the money for the rights goes to the IOC, with the remaining half split so that the Summer Games in London would receive about two-thirds of the remainder half, while the 2010 Games would receive about one third. The IOC, which has been negotiating rights in other countries while waiting for the Australian market to reorganize, has been getting an average 30% premium for the 2010/2012 rights over the amounts paid for the 2006/2008 package. That suggests the bidding in Australia could top C$100 million. However, there were also indications during the first round that the IOC wasn't getting the premium for the 2010/2012 package that it had hoped. The package of rights, besides accreditation at the 2010 Games and the privileges assigned to the notion of being in that select pool, include the rights to free-to-air broadcasting, pay TV, the Internet and wireless digital devices, such as cell phones. The IOC has not yet provided revised bidding guidelines for Australia, which need to happen before negotiations begin. Given the fact the management distraction of supervising their investment in the Beijing Summer Games, which are only a year away, the IOC is hoping to finish talks by the end of this calendar year.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT -
GM'S DECISION TO START WITHDRAWING FROM US OLYMPIC TEAM SPONSORSHIP

"GM's pullout will leave the [US Olympic Team] down some US$5 million, or 7.5%, of its rights income per annum. [American broadcast rights holder] NBC will now have as much as US$100 million per Olympics in ad revenue to go find another buyer for, in order to help make back the billions it is spending on televising Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. Just losing a sponsor, even a big one like GM, is no clear sign that the sky is falling in. But sports professionals everywhere will be looking to see if this is the start of a trend away from long-term commitments and away from the traditional sponsor-an-event-and-buy-TV-airtime model. Four years ago, the ink had long since dried on the key U.S. TV deal for 2012. Today, nothing looks certain for 2016. The Olympic Games and the Wimbledon tennis championships share a rare position of not selling advertising via hoardings in stadiums, on uniforms and on equipment, forcing all the [marketing] action to take place during ad breaks that are fast losing their effectiveness. How much longer will the model hold? More importantly still, where are the ideas for replacing it?" -- Mark Dolley, a veteran Olympics racer, policy wonk researcher and author, from his blog "WhoSportWhat?".

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 8, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2467
2010'S TRANSPORTATION-MANAGEMENT STRATEGY TO BE DETAILED IN GREATER VANCOUVER AND WHISTLER

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has begun a significant expansion of its transportation department in the Greater Vancouver and Whistler areas.

It has begun to considerably expanding the team of paid staff necessary to develop the details of its general transportation strategy in the Greater Vancouver and Whistler areas for Olympic athletic teams, corporate and government sponsors, the media and spectators to and from its venues.

Transportation affects virtually everything that VANOC does leading up to the test events and the actual Games at all of its locations, from competition venues -- where people and equipment have to be in place at specific important start times -- and the non-competition venues, such as moving teams into and out of the athletes villages under guard, moving equipment and supplies between venues, moving the thousands of media covering various events between venues and media centres, or dealing with the transportation and equipment requirements of VANOC government and corporate sponsors and their staff. All that, of course, has to deal with public traffic between and around all of those locations, even when the roads are already dealing with rush hours.

The expansion of VANOC's transportation-operations departments includes setting up a computer-based transportation modeling office, in which the flows of vehicles -- everything from buses to limos -- are overlaid on a traffic map of the areas, with data from transportation and parking studies VANOC has commissioned in the past couple of years, coupled with related data from all of the cities and municipalities involved. It's expected that most, if not all, of VANOC's vehicles will have GIS systems aboard so that transportation managers at VANOC are able to adjust to delays. The computer modeling is also expected to help support traffic movement.

The amount of primary work involved is expected to take right up to Games time to get all the details sorted out, but it will keep evolving throughout the Olympics and Paralympics, in part because some of the conditions that drives the transportation demands will keep moving, even during Games time. The strategic details are expected to involve requirements before the Games, such as during official VANOC test events, as well as during the Games themselves.

One portion of the Fleet Operations department, for instance, will focus on dealing with the bus systems that VANOC will be using, which are likely to involve a bus management contractor. This work handles the design of temporary bus yards and depots, and all the support operations for the fleet of buses used.

The work involves detailing how bus systems are to be used, along with parking operations, traffic management as the buses move through the various cities and municipalities, and working with the RCMP and other security forces, as well as various bureaucracies, since they're all involved in security aspects of VANOC traffic.

There's also a human-resources component to the work. For instance, VANOC is expected to be supervising how staff are hired and to whom they report, sometimes coordinating individual work assignments, setting project goals, evaluating transportation-employee performance and even figuring out training requirements.

The work also involves the complexities of aassigning capacities, rights and obligations for transportation vehicles and parking areas to various groups that are important to VANOC. Keeping an eye on the schedules, which may also be moving if they're affected by weather, for example, of various events -- and not just competitions -- is also part of the process.

VANOC intends to use a wide range of vehicles -- some provided by or supported by sponsors, and some contracted -- to move people who are involved with the Games. VANOC also has a number of social goals that come into play in this kind of a setting that's heavily dependent on fuels and labour: environmental performance, hiring from low-income communities in east Vancouver and aboriginal participation.

Those goals, in may seem surprising after that recitation, include maximizing revenue, as some of the users will be expected to pay for their transportation.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 8, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2466

CREEK GRAVEL TO BE USED FOR FILL AT WHISTLER OLYMPIC VILLAGE

Some of the gravel fill used at the 2010 Whistler Olympic Village and at the construction site of the near by waste processing station that will provide the Village with heat will be coming from nearby Fitzsimmons Creek. Whistler municipality plans to remove up to 72,800 cubic metres (2.6 million cubic feet) of gravel from the Creek this month to reduce the possibility of the Creek flooding a skateboard park and golf club area. The BC Ministry of the Environment has approved the work, which is expected to require 10,000 truckloads carried by 30 trucks loaded by four excavators. The golf course was partly flooded in July. It's the second windfall for the Olympics-related construction program this year. Earlier, a severe, short windstorm in Vancouver's Stanley Park caused a number of trees to be blown down and later planning by Parks Board officials gave VANOC' venues second priority for the wood generated by the clean-up to be used in construction.

VANOC ENCOURAGES ABORIGINAL BUSINESSES TO LIST IN DATABASE

VANOC's manager of Aboriginal Participation, Hilary Dunn, has written an open letter to aboriginal businesses across Canada urging them to list themselves in a corporate database run by the BC government's 2010 Commerce Now department. The letter says, "VANOC has developed a sustainable and aboriginal purchasing policy which seeks to ensure that sustainable and aboriginal participation considerations are taken into account during the acquisition of goods and services. To help advance VANOC’s sustainable and aboriginal purchasing goals, a 2010 Business Network has been launched by the 2010 Commerce Centre. The Network is an online supplier directory created to help 2010 buyers establish relationships with BC businesses to quickly and easily find the goods and services they need." Dunn adds that, "a distinct section has been created to highlight aboriginal and sustainability characteristics and activities of individual companies. VANOC will be seeking to contract with firms that demonstrate strong aboriginal and sustainability features, a competitive advantage to the Aboriginal business community." The database is to be promoted to VANOC suppliers and sponsors.

SNOHOMISH BUSINESS INFO MEETING ON 2010 GAMES SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER

A business information meeting about the 2010 Winter Olympics and the prospects it can bring economic benefits for Snohomish County in Washington Stage, the area south of Vancouver, is tentatively scheduled for October 17. Katie Kuciemba, a coordinator for SnoGold, a group organized by Snowhomish county executive Aaron Reardon, that has a number of community leaders working to help the area benefit financially from the 2010 Games, says she's still working on a time and place for the session. Kim Bedier, director of the Everett Event Center and a member of the effort's executive committee, reports that tourists going through the area as they head to or from the Games are expected to be part of the target market, along with Canadians leaving the Greater Vancouver or Whistler area to avoid the impact of the Games, Snohomish businesses considering the idea of establishing a location in the main areas of Vancouver, Richmond, West Vancouver or Whistler during the Games, and teams looking for a place to practice in snow conditions that are similar to those of Whistler or Cypress Mountain. Efforts by Snohomish County to promote itself for the 2010 Games could pay off well after the games are done, is part of the marketing theory. When the information about the location and time of the meeting is ready, it is expected it will be posted on the SnoGold website [see RESOURCES, below].

RESOURCES

Snowhomish 2010 information:
www.snogold2010.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 7, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2465

VANOC TAPS SEVERAL TRADES CONTRACTORS FOR HILLCREST CURLING VENUE

VANOC has awarded several contracts to trades for construction of its Hillcrest curling rink venue in Vancouver. The contract for reinforcing steel went to Heritage Steel of Langley, a city just to the east of Vancouver. The company is a rebar fabricator and supplier, and also provides construction-grade wire mesh. Meanwhile, it has also hired Houle Electric and Keith Plumbing and Heating of North Vancouver to help it with electrical and mechanical designs. It's also hired Munters Canada of Missisauga, Ontario, for dehumidification equipment at both Hillcrest and the Pacific Coliseum, another venue, in east Vancouver, and Con West Contracting, also of Langley, for earthmoving in bulk and in detailed work for excavation and backfill. [For contact information, see RESOURCES, below.]

GM TO DROP US OLYMPIC TEAM FROM SPONSORSHIP ROSTER, BUT VANOC OK

General Motors says it's Canadian division will continue to sponsor the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, with marketing rights to the Canadian Olympic team through to 2012, but that it will not renew its corporate sponsorship of the US Olympic team after their contract ends in 2008. The company, whose Chevrolet division will continue to sponsor the American snowboarding team for the time being, said the move is a result of changes in GM's marketing strategy and came after GM evaluated the return on its advertising investment. "We have other avenues to be able to reach this same audience without bearing the expense of being an official sponsor of the US Olympic team," spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said. GM, Carney said, is continuing to look at spending its advertising dollars in the most efficient way, including the move to digital formats from traditional print, television and radio advertising. GM signed a 10-year, US$1 billion sponsorship agreement in 1997 to buy rights as the official vehicle-maker for the US team. The deal was extended in 2004 for a year to cover the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The company has been involved with the US Olympic Committee as one of its sponsors since 1984. The Sports Business Journal reports the carmaker made US$700 million in payments to the US Olympic Committee and to the television broadcaster with the American rights to the 2010 Games and other Olympics, NBC, and US$60 million to the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 in cash and value in-kind through vehicles and promotional support.

OFFICE CHAIRS, WALLS PART OF VANOC SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS

A couple of examples of how VANOC is using one of its corporate supplier-sponsors, Haworth Ltd., US-based manufacturer of office interiors, has reportedly helped VANOC meet its measurable sustainability goals, are found in VANOC's headquarters. "The Zody chair on display in our boardroom is a great example of the technology and innovation provided by Haworth," says Ken Baker, consulting director of environmental sustainability at VANOC. "It's 98% recyclable and free of PVC, chrome and CFCs. Meeting VANOC's needs for eco-efficiency, it is manufactured with 100% wind-energy offset, using up to 51% recycled content." Haworth's adaptable workspaces also help. Their moveable walls, under the tradename LifeSPACE, are fairly easy to reconfigure or move to another location. After the Games, said a VANOC spokesman, "these walls will be used by other companies." VANOC is planning auctions, in some cases, of its assets after the Games.

RESOURCES

A photo of a Zoby chair:
http://www.haworth.com/haworth_admin/images/61326_N-Main.jpg>

Lifespace walls:
www.haworth.com/haworth/images/1003X451.jpg

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Some of the recent Hillcrest contractors:

Martin Gobin
President
Heritage Steel
19797 Telegraph Trail
Langley, B.C. V1M3E6
Phone: 604.888.1414
Fax: 604-888-5344
Web: www.heritagesteel.com

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Keith Plumbing and Heating
#1 - 40 Gostick Place
North Vancouver BC V7M 3G2
Phone: 604-980-4891
Fax: 604-980-4756
E-mail: KPH@KeithPlumbingandHeatingCoLtd.com
Web: www.keithplumbing.com

--

Dennis Carlow
Branch Manager
Vancouver/Lower Mainland
3735 Myrtle Street
Burnaby, BC V5C 4E7
604.434.2681
E-mail: dcarlow@houle.ca

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Munters Canada
Munters. Inc.
6810 Kitimat Road, Unit 16
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, L5N 5M2
Tel: 1.905.858.5894
Fax: 1.905-858-9130

--

Con-West Contracting Limited
20075 100A Avenue,
Langley, BC, Canada, V1M 3G4
Phone: 1.604.882.5067

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 7, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2464
I-CABLE AWARDED BROADCASTING RIGHTS FOR 2010 GAMES, AND OTHERS, IN HONG KONG

The International Olympic Committee has awarded I-Cable Sports (SEHK: 1097 NASDAQ: ICAB) exclusive Internet and mobile exhibition broadcast rights in Hong Kong for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and for two summer Games, the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the London 2012 Games, all for an undisclosed amount.

The IOC announcement, according to Hong Kong's Variety Asia, "triggered a rare moment of unity between rival free-to-air broadcasters Television Broadcasts and Asia Television, who issued a joint statement condemning the decision. The two operators claim that by awarding the Games to the pay-TV operator, the Committee has acted against the charter and has limited the IOC's audience reach."

The IOC was as ready for the allegation as the two broadcasters were ready to issue it.

The IOC rejected the contention, saying that it assessed i-CABLE on "its capacity to reach the broadest possible audience on a variety of broadcast platforms and their commitment to promoting the Olympic Games and the values of the Olympic Movement. i-CABLE also demonstrated a clear ability to meet the highest standards in internet and broadcast quality and security," according to a spokesman.

IOC President Jacques Rogge added that, "Our aim is to ensure that as many people as possible are able to enjoy the Olympic Games on all broadcast platforms and we look forward to working closely with i-CABLE to make this possible in Hong Kong."

IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrion, who led the negotiations, noting that some of the 2008 Games will take place in Hong Kong, said, "As a result of this deal there will be comprehensive coverage of the Winter Olympic Games in a variety of platforms in Hong Kong. i-CABLE has demonstrated a passion for the Olympic Games and the values of the Olympic Movement as well as a clear commitment to offer increased multi-platform coverage of the Games to sports fans across Hong Kong."

I-Cable Sports is a subsidiary of i-CABLE Communications Limited, whose president and CEO is Stephen T. H. Ng. The eight-year-old company began as an Internet service provider, and that's still one of its core businesses. It is also the holding company that runs one of Hong Kong's pay television providers, Wharf Cable, which holds 73% of the shares of Hong Kong Cable, nicknamed Cable Television.

Over the air broadcast rights for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were acquired earlier by Asia Television Limited and Television Broadcasts Limited through the Asian Broadcasting Union.

RESOURCES

I-CABLE:
www.i-cablecomm.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 7, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2463
BC TRANSIT ORDERS C$46.4 MILLION WORTH OF HYDROGEN BUSES FOR 2010 GAMES IN WHISTLER

British Columbia's governmental transit authority, BC Transit, has awarded a C$46.4 million contract to create the world's first fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses, with delivery by the end of 2009 so they can be used as demonstration vehicles in Whistler during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

BC Transit says it will also set up the hydrogen infrastructure so it can be integrated into the regular operations of the Whistler urban transit system. The fleet operation will allow BC Transit's pilot project to monitor and evaluate the operations, maintenance and fuelling over a sustained period, as the buses are projected to have a 20-year life span. The organization is a provincial crown agency that provides planning, marketing, fleet and funding support for all 77 transit systems in British Columbia outside the Greater Vancouver area.

The award for making the buses went to a consortium of three specialty companies: New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg has been supplying buses for years to British Columbia's transit systems, will produce it's low-floor, 12.5 metre (41-foot) model; ISE Corporation of San Diego, California, will make the hybrid electric drive system with Siemens drive motors h for the buses, and Ballard Power Systems of the Metro Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, a veteran player in research on such systems, will provide the 130-kilowatt fuel cell modules. The power will be stored aboard the buses using Cobasys nickel metal-hydride batteries.

Kevin Mahoney, chair of BC Transit, says, “The fuel cell buses will provide the cleanest and most efficient propulsion technology in the long term." And John Marinucci, President and CEO of New Flyer, adds, "These transit vehicles will be more durable and efficient with a greater range of operation when compared to previous generations. We believe these highly-innovative, zero-emission vehicles will play a critical role in the future of transit.

The delivery is divided into two phases: phase one is for delivery of one bus to BC's capital city of Victoria, where BC Transit's headquarters is located, for evaluation in 2008; phase two is for delivery of up to 19 buses to Whistler in 2009. Ballard says the contract has a potential value of up to C$15.5 million for Ballard. BC Transit says that following the Games, the buses will be put in service for the balance of their life spans.

The direct hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Hydrogen is combined with oxygen in the cell to produce electricity, heat and water. The difficulty is that, despite years of research, it is only barely viable commercially, and the research work on the project has required considerable amounts of investment, including subsidies from the BC and Canadian governments. The federal government said earlier this year that it would provide C$45 million for the environmentally friendly buses, and to help construct the needed hydrogen fueling stations.

New Flyer’s Income Deposit Securities are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol NFI.UN.

RESOURCES
Here's a look at ISE's "Thundervolt" drive system that is to be used on the buses:
www.isecorp.com/ise_hybrid-electric-technology-benefits/thundervolt_drive_system/

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 3, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2462
CANADIAN MINT, IOC AGREE TO ADD GOLD AND SILVER BULLION IMPRINTS TO LIST OF VANOC-BRANDED COINS TO BE SOLD NATIONALLY, INTERNATIONALLY

The Royal Canadian Mint, a supplier sponsor of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), says it has now reached agreement with the International Olympic Committee to add gold bullion printings to the list of coins for the 2010 Winter Games that it can market internationally.

The Mint says it's the first such arrangement with the IOC of its kind, however bullion coins were also produced under license by the Mint in 1988 during the Calgary Winter Olympic Games. Nor is the concept of upcoming bullion sales news. The Mint and VANOC spoke of the fact that it was their intention to produce bullion coins as part of the extensive Olympic series when the Mint first became a VANOC sponsor more than a year ago.

More importantly to the Mint and to VANOC, however is the fact that most of the Mint's main distribution muscle is now activated in the Olympics program. "The Royal Canadian Mint will be able to promote the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games across three of its major business lines: gold and bullion, Canadian circulation coins and numismatics,” said Ian Bennett, the Mint's president and CEO.

The Mint intends to produce a series of VANOC-branded gold and silver maple-leaf bullion coins over the next three years. The designs will be made public in August, with the first issues of the coins expected to be released in September or October. Two more annual issues, in 2009 and 2010, are expected to occur as part of the series.

The designs are part of an agreement with VANOC to produce a total of 17 circulation and 36 numismatic coins and 15 gift products. The Mint had earlier reached agreement with the IOC and VANOC to produce circulation quarters with VANOC brands and sports figures on them, some of which have already been released. The rest will be produced and released between now and 2010. The Mint is supporting the coins with advertising and public-relations strategies to drive awareness and sales of the Vancouver 2010 coin program. Television creative, print advertising, direct marketing programs, e-commerce and web programs are all being used.

The circulation coins are also offered for sale in coin-collector kits and on cards at the Mint's retail shops, and through branches of other VANOC corporate sponsors, the Royal Bank and fuels producer and retailer PetroCanada -- it also expects to be involved with yet another VANOC sponsor, the Hudson's Bay Company, in a retail program -- with royalties from all of those sales, and all sales through the Mint, going to VANOC.

The precious metals are provided to the Mint by yet another supplier sponsor arranged by VANOC's revenue chief, Dave Cobb: the BC-based mining company Teck-Cominco.

In a related story, the RCMP in the Vancouver Island city of Port Alberni is looking for the owners of three unique Olympic coins. The police say the coins were turned in earlier this year as property that had been found. They have attempted to find the owners, but have been unsuccessful. The police are asking anyone who has lost or has been victim to theft of Olympic coins to contact them. The coins have characteristics that only the owner would know, so anyone who calls will be required to describe them.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 3, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2461


VANOC CONTRACTS OUT EVENT-SERVICES FUNCTION

VANOC has decided to contract out its event services function, generally one of the core services of an Olympics, to a newly-formed Canadian division of Contemporary International of Salt Lake City, Utah, the city that hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Although the RFP was issued 11 months ago, the award wasn't made until last month. In part, that's because VANOC wasn't really sure it would contract out the work; what it would do depended on the results of the RFP process. The goal of event services is to ensure spectators have a good experience at the Games, and so for the organizing committee, it is usually a core function. The event-services work involves a paid and volunteer workforce to perform such tasks as marshaling spectators in a way that doesn't make them feel like they're being herded. It also involves taking tickets, ushering, providing information to spectators, running the Lost and Found, working with the Security function to help control access to venues and other locations with people on the front line, and deciding whether a person with accreditation is in the right area, both within a venue and around it, or helping them to cheerfully find their way back to where they're supposed to be if they wander into the wrong area. Event services is expected to be used in all of VANOC's venues where spectators are invited.

VANOC TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGY TO BE DETAILED IN WHISTLER

VANOC is expected to begin assembling in the next few weeks the team necessary to develop the details of its transportation strategy in the Whistler area for Olympic athletic teams, corporate and government sponsors, the media and spectators to and from its venues. It's a lot of work, and it will take a couple of years to get all the details sorted out. The strategic details are expected to involve requirements before the Games, such as during official VANOC test events, as well as during the Games themselves. It is expected to involve detailing how bus systems are to be used, along with parking operations, traffic management and working with the RCMP and other security forces, as well as various bureaucracies. It also involves the complexities of aassigning capacities, rights and obligations for transportation vehicles and parking areas to various groups. Keeping an eye on the schedules, which may also be moving, of various events -- and not just competitions -- is also part of the process. VANOC intends to use a wide range of vehicles -- some provided by General Motors Canada, and some contracted -- to move people around who are involved with the Games.

OKANAGAN FIRM WINS TWO CONTRACTS FROM VANOC FOR SKI-JUMP ACCESSORIES

A company called Seabreeze Trading, based in the town of Armstrong in BC's south-central Okanagan region, has won two RFPs issued by VANOC earlier this year. One dealt with the custom-made tarps -- and the other the winches that move them -- that are to cover the two ski jumps VANOC is building in the Callaghan Valley at the Whistler Nordic Centre. One tarp, or in-run cover, as it's known, is for the short-jump track -- 103 meters long by 2.6 meters wide. The other is for the long-jump: five metres longer but the same width. The specialty covers, which are slippery so that snow won't stick to them, come with their own retraction system, so they can be rolled up on command. VANOC expects to put its graphics them as part of the look-and-feel of the Games. The covers are to be stored on rollers attached to a concrete bunker at the bottom on the track. They are unrolled as they're pulled up the track by a separate winch system. Seabreeze specializes in providing ski-hill supplies, and it also does screen printing and signage.


RESOURCES
Damon Zumwalt
President, CEO
Contemporary International
331 South Rio Grande
Suite 207
Salt Lake City, UT USA 84101
Toll Free in North America: 1.801.322.1500
Web: www.contemporaryintl.com
Here's a look at the profiles and photos of the principles of Contemporary International, including, at the bottom of the page, Zumwalt:
www.contemporaryintl.com/principals.html

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Our original, more detailed story, on what VANOC was looking for when it issued the RFP for event services:
www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2006_09_01_Bronze.htm
(When you land on the page, use your browser's Find function to look for: 1841)

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Seabreeze Trading Corporation
1500 Blattner Rd
Armstrong, BC, V0E 1B7
Phone: 1.250.546.9120
Toll free in North America: 1.877.644.1744
Fax: 1-250-546-9058
Web: www.seabreezetrading.com

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 2, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2460
NEW OLYMPICS MANAGER TO OVERSEE VANOC'S "PROPERTY ACQUISITION STRATEGY"

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) intends to hire a manager in the next few weeks to oversee the 2010 organization's "central property-acquisition strategy" according to VANOC documentation.

That all comes under the umbrella of what VANOC calls its "Games Client Property Program." Various comments -- from RCMP and electrical officials -- have been made in recent weeks that VANOC's venues -- 14 of which involve competition or training, plus the two Olympic Villages, it's headquarters and two media centres -- is expected to swell to about 100 by the time the Games arrive, including storage warehouses and other facilities.

The expansion of facilities means a burgeoning relationship with a wide range of government bureaucracy to ensure it has all the permits and permissions it needs to do what it wants to do with each facility, so it requires a team of people, under the manager's control, to deal with the "inventory and successful contracting of required support facilities."

The "Government Service Integration Program Service Manager", as the position will be called, will be primarily responsible for developing and managing "property acquisition, permitting, licensing, code compliance, bylaw and legislative repercussions." The "repercussions" it's talking about involve code compliance and bylaws; things like "approval processes, business regulations, ordinance and legislative changes." The manager is expected to have international Games experience as well as experience involving event project-management.

For the most part, this will deal with ensuring that "all appropriate permit and license applications required by the relevant municipal, provincial and federal governments for the activities that will be undertaken by VANOC related to the preparations for and operations" of the 2010 Games over the next few years, including test events at the competition venues.

However, the manager will also, "lead the acquisition strategy for the support facilities required for the successful operations of the 2010 Games. The selected candidate will represent VANOC at meetings with municipal, provincial and federal government groups, serve on committees and make presentations."

Besides dealing with a range of governments regarding the property acquisitions, which could be from private or public owners, and the necessary permitting, the new manager and staff will also have to deal with VANOC's Legal, Venue Management and Overlay departments, since all of them will also have requirements that will affect the property uses and arrangements.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 2, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2459


NORTEL PACT WITH 2010 GAMES TOPS LIST OF ENTERPRISE DIVISION'S 2Q DEALS

Nortel Networks Corporation (TSX: NT, NYSE: NT) made its first public financial report since signing a deal to be a supplier to VANOC for a part of its extensive computer network system, and the deal was the top of a list of five significant developments internationally in its Enterprise Division's (ES) report. Overall, Nortel reported 2007 revenues of US$2.56 billion in its second fiscal quarter, down 8% year-over-year and 2% year-to-date, with a net loss of US$37 million. ES revenues in the second quarter of 2007 were US$590 million, an increase of 23% compared with the year-ago quarter and a decrease of 1% sequentially. Nortel and VANOC agreed that Nortel will be the official converged-network equipment supplier for the 2010 Winter Games.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT: SQUAMISH, ON THE ROAD TO WHISTLER FROM VANCOUVER, IN TRANSITION

"With the coming of the 2010 Olympic Games, Squamish, once a rough-and-tumble industrial town, is in the midst of a transformation unlike anything in its history. Along the waterfront, once the site of polluting sawmills, there are now luxury residential developments looking out onto Howe Sound, where windsurfers flock to clean, sheltered waters. There are five hotels in the works, a waterfront pedestrian walkway and talk of a marina. The past year has seen the opening of martini bars, yoga studios and quaint cafes, alongside retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. It's a town running to keep up with itself... Now, with the coming of the Olympics, the town is going through yet another transition. The world, as they say, will be at its doorstep next year." -- Cori Howard, writing in the Globe & Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT: WHERE'S THE BEEFSTEAK?

"[Greg] Larocque co-founded the North American chapter of the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, of which he is now president, in 2005. He was recently on the Calgary OutGames Legacy Committee, which culminated in the 2007 Calgary OutGames in Cowtown over the Easter weekend, where, he said, Calgarians were "welcoming". Larocque was asked when the [gay and lesbian] community can expect to participate in regular Olympic Games openly and get the same welcome. "I think that will happen when people stand up and say to their colleagues, 'Oh, I'm gay and I'm getting married next year and I'd like you to come,'" he said, before quickly adding: "The Canadian Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] is only one generation old, and when you think we're having an event that attracts more than 3,000 people, and a huge chunk of those are straight people from Calgary, you say to yourself, 'Holy cow.'" -- current edition of the Georgia Straight newspaper, based in Vancouver.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 2, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2458
OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS TO CONDUCT REGULAR NATION-WIDE POLLS ON HOW IT AND ITS PROGRAMS ARE DOING

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has begun looking for a public-opinion research firm to do nation-wide polling in Canada.

The concept: "to track and measure both the short- and long-term progress of reaching its mission to 'touch the soul of the nation' ", which is its key mission statement.

Although the polling is expected to be national, VANOC wants the primary focus to be on the Vancouver and Whistler regions, with a second priority being the rest of BC, and then the rest of Canada as a third priority -- but with minimum breakouts that cover Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

The tracking study will go through to 2010, according to VANOC, and take place in regular intervals throughout the year. By "regular", VANOC means at least twice per year -- once in the spring, once in the winter at least, but not during the Beijing Summer Olympics in August and September next year. "Additional research may be required, but will be assessed on an as-needed basis."

VANOC says it wants to know the "impact" it's having on Canadians, "and how behaviour and attitudes leading up to the Games are, or are not, changing." The information is to be "quantitative and qualitative", provided in executive and detailed reports as well as in-person or by conference-call presentations.

Depending on its nature, it's possible, VANOC says, that "changing public opinions that will impact VANOC decisions" but it only goes so far as say that might "trigger further in-depth research."

VANOC says that it intends to use the information "that is suitable for sharing with media, corporate and government partners, and possibly with the public." Just how it sees a difference between the media and the public is not made clear.

VANOC's communications vice-president, Rene Smith-Valade, says that while the mission statement "is a bit lofty", she told Vancouver Province newspaper reporter Damian Inwood, the questions "can be everything from 'Do you want to buy a ticket?' to 'How many hours of Olympics television do you think you would watch?' to 'Would you buy a mascot in a certain price range?', to 'Do you think the organizers are doing a good job?'... the research will also inform how we finalize programs like the launch of ticket sales, how we structure the ticketing program, our upcoming consumer-merchandise program, our advertising campaigns, our mascot program, the transportation program, the torch-relay program and the volunteer-recruitment program." VANOC has already asked a polling company to ask about ticket purchasing.

VANOC will stop looking for the research firms August 17, and hopes to award the contract in time for a first report by November 1.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 2, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2457
THE HUNT BEGINS FOR SUPPLIES OF SECURITY PAPER FOR VANOC'S ACCREDITATION DIVISION

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) is asking paper suppliers internationally if they would like to be shortlisted to compete for a contract next year to supply the organization with about C$25,000 to C$30,000 worth of paper with security features.

The paper is to be used by VANOC's accreditation division. That department's main activities include registering all Games's participants -- that's everybody who enters a VANOC security zone, including spectators -- and grants access privileges by issuing Olympic and Paralympic identification and accreditation cards. The function is also expected to manage VANOC's accreditation centres and facilities where the accreditation cards will be issued. The main such area is the Forum building near the Agrodome on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition in east Vancouver, but there will also be accreditation areas at each venue and a secondary main site in Whistler.

VANOC says it wants the paper delivered by August 20, 2008. At this point, it says, it's not looking for companies to provide quotes, and it hasn't provided sufficient information for them to do that anyway. It just wants them to "make themselves known to VANOC as potential suppliers with the expertise, capability, and capacity to supply and deliver security paper that meets VANOC’s high quality standards and assists VANOC to achieve its sustainability objectives." The companies have until August 22 to do that. In fact, VANOC says it won't even issue the quote request to those companies that make the shortlist until sometime next year.

However, there are some details offered about the type of thing VANOC is looking for: It's considering 250,000 sheets of 8.5 x 11 white or light-coloured paper -- the size and thickness of a standard letterhead -- with perforations so they can be run through a computer printer and then separated, and with multiple security features embedded in them. The sheets also have to have consecutive sequence numbers printed on them. Plus it also wants another 20,000 sheets that are made of the identical paper, with the same look and feel, but without the security features.

By definition, the accreditation also specifically limits people with the documents to specific areas of the facilities, and there could be serious consequences to somebody who has the ability to forge the documentation. VANOC doesn't specify which security features interests it, however, the kind of things that are typically made available include forgery protection to prevent people from scanning, faxing or photocopying a document, and using graphics software on the scan to manipulate the privileges. Security paper, under these circumstances, displays words like "VOID", "COPY" or "UNAUTHORIZED COPY" or some other specific phrase all over the duplicate, but it doesn't show up in the original. Other features can include watermarks with multiple tones and a 3D appearance, tamper resistance, chemical tags that verify the paper, random or invisible threads woven into the paper, chemicals that make words or images appear when they are rubbed by a finger.

VANOC isn't looking for secure printing -- yet -- for the paper, but there are also additional security features that can be put on such documents when they are printed. A common one used for cheques these days in Canada uses ink that has a magnetic aspect to it.

There are some specific things VANOC wants to know about potential security paper suppliers, besides the obvious -- what kinds of security features the paper supplier can offer, and whether they will be changed or upgrade by the time the paper is needed -- such as whether there are any "environmental or hazardous effects that arise out of processing the product and how they are being mitigated." Part of VANOC's social promises is to be as environmentally friendly as possible when buying materials for its use, and it has a detailed questionnaire to gives to suppliers about the sustainability aspects of their products.

And, of course, the company that gets the business also qualifies for a VANOC/RCMP security check of those who work at it.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 1, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2456


VANOC ISSUES CALL FOR THOSE WHO CAN COMPOSE MUSIC FOR A 'DRAMATIC PROJECT'

VANOC today issued a snap call for "established" companies interested in composing and producing a musical score for "a dramatic project". It's possible this is connected with VANOC's launch later this year of its two new Games mascots, but it isn't giving any details of what the project is at the moment. However, VANOC seems particularly interested in animated dramatic expertise. Companies connected with "music composition, audio production and / or sound design" just have to get their credentials into VANOC by August 13, including their financial capability, knowledge of their marketplace, how they work, who would be the creative team and their expertise, and whether they have special qualifications, such as "experience with traditional and new technologies... and innovative or modern styles of music composition and/or sound design." Those responding will be shortlisted for a specific invitation to quote on the details of the project, which is expected to be issued August 20. The firm that wins the ITQ will also be eligible for a full security check of its principals. VANOC typically acquires all the intellectual property rights associated with such arrangements.

AMERICAN SKI-JUMP REP HINTS THAT SMALLER SKI JUMPS CONSIDERED FOR 2010 NORDIC CENTRE

The Olympic ski-jumping industry is abuzz today following the wide distribution of a news release in which one of VANOC's Olympian guests on a media-relations tour last week heaped praise on VANOC's Whistler Nordic Centre. Bill Demong, who has competed in three Winter Olympics in Nordic Combined and who represents the Olympic Regional Development Authority at Lake Placid, New York, which issued the release, said of the C$119 million WNC, "The trails have been cut for cross country and combined - and for biathlon, and they're putting in the steel for the jumps," he said. "It's cool now, but it'll be absolutely awesome when they're done." And, he effused, "It's the most compact Nordic site in history, with cross country, jumping and biathlon all within about a square kilometer," Demong said, adding after seeing clouds clustered around the mountain tops on a sunny day, "It's got this 'Lord of the Rings' quality or personality to it; it's just a good site...". More-intriguing comments made by Demong in the news release, however, were these: "VANOC has decided not to tear down the [K-125 and K-95] jumps after the Games; they'll be permanent facilities, which is outstanding," Demong said, "and [John Heilig, the jumping and Nordic combined venue manager]is already looking at smaller, development-level jumps, maybe 18- and 30-metre hills [for after the Games], which would be even better... We need to get younger kids training more, and training more intensely...and this was one way to do it. If Heilig can get those smaller jumps built, it could be a good step toward helping rebuild Canada's jumping program."

AMERICAN SHORT-TRACK SPEED SKATE TEAM EXPECTS TO RETURN TO VANCOUVER AREA

The American national short-track speedskating team, in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey for a week for summer training, expects to be back in 2008 and 2009, to gain familiarity with the 2010 Olympic venues, according to coach Laurent Daignault. They trained, including the most famous of the group, two-time Olympics gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, on the ice at the South Surrey Arena for a week. The team is based in Utah and Colorado.

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 1, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2455


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

TECHNOLOGY GROUP MEETINGS SET TO DETERMINE 2010 COMPETITION DATA HANDLING

A series of meetings are scheduled to place over the next six months to finalize the 2010-Games specifications of the Olympic Results and Information Service (ORIS). It's part of the technology "lockdown" of the 2010 Games which has to be accomplished this year by VANOC. ORIS is an information system based on documentation confirmed by all of those who produce and handle competition results during the Games. It includes VANOC's technology function headed up by Ward Chapin, the IOC, Omega (the Swatch subsidiary that's providing the results services for the 2010 Games, Bell Canada (the company providing the distribution network to VANOC, Nortel (the company that provides connections to the Bell network) and technical representatives from all of the international and national sports federations represented at the 2010 Games. ORIS outlines the technological requirements for each Olympic sport, so that every technology group involved understands exactly what, when and to whom they have to deliver in each area, so that continuity can be guaranteed. There's more to it than that, however, because up to this point, it involves the competitions and events that are traditional to a winter Olympics. Some of the meetings are defining the processes of the newly included disciplines in the Olympic program. For skiing in 2010, for instance, this includes the super combined in alpine skiing and ski cross in freestyle, according to Francesco Cattaneo. He is the International Ski Federation's Information Technology manager and his federation's coordinator for the ORIS project.

PRINCE RUPERT SETS UP 2010 COMMITTEE FOR OLYMPICS AND CENTENNIAL

The city council of Prince Rupert, a key port on BC's north-central coast, is setting up a seven-person advisory committee to coordinate fundraising and sponsorship activities for 2010. Partly it's because of the 2010 Games, but also because it's the centennial anniversary of the city, and there are expected to be a number of events for it that will also require money and volunteers. Council hopes to have the committee formed and meeting by August 15. It's specifically looking for people who can work with government, companies, aboriginals and finances.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT - 2010 POLITICAL ART VERSUS AMBUSH ADVERTISING

"After weeks of leaving messages and being passed from person to person, I arranged an appointment with Colin Jarvis, manager of [VANOC's] Commercial Rights Management. My intention was to understand the complexities of the issues surrounding the new Bill C-47 [the law recently approved by Canada giving VANOC wider powers over ambush marketing] and to glean how it applied to [my Vancouver 2010 posters for an art display] and other artists. When I met with Mr. Jarvis, he was accommodating, and open to answering all my questions. He assured me that VANOC's position is that they are not interested in litigation with artists and that artists have a right to critique. He gave a number of examples where VANOC would consider that an artist was infringing upon its copyright. One such example is if an artist created a single mug that depicted the Olympics in some way. That would be fine, as it would be considered art. If the artist produced 1,000 mugs and sold a hundred a week for profit, however, that would be not OK, as it would be seen as ambush marketing. When discussing my posters, Mr. Jarvis said that VANOC would not have a problem with them. However, if I put them up on billboards across the Downtown Eastside [of Vancouver], there would be a problem because that action would be considered more in the light of my creating a "campaign," as opposed to my displaying a work of art... Although VANOC may have no intention of shutting down artists who criticize the Olympics, artists who work in the area of appropriation art are being limited by Bill-C 47, and the placement of their art will be limited to the institutionalized gallery system. On the other hand, I don't see VANOC as the villain in this scenario; rather, it is the larger problem of our legal system prioritizing corporatism over creativity." -- an excerpt of a longer article by artist Kimberly Baker, writing in the Vancouver-based publication "Common Ground", published today.

RESOURCES

A photo of Kimberly Baker and one of her posters is here:
commonground.ca/iss/0708193/193_Kimberley.jpg

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Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 1, 2007

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