by Les Zsoldos

Created on: February 10, 2010   Last Updated: February 18, 2010

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver have generated much controversy.  Though the province of British Columbia spent a considerable amount of money in its bid to host the games, the fact is that Pyeongchang, a city in South Korea, won the first ballot by 51 to 40.  However, Vancouver narrowly won the second ballot by 56 to 53.  The province spent millions of dollars to secure the games while at the same time making cuts to health care and education.  This galvanized those opposed to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Also controversial was the reference to Vancouver as the host city of the games.  Critics pointed out that many of the events were to be held in Whistler, a city located 133 kilometres to the north of Vancouver.  As a result, many later referred to the games as the Vancouver-Whistler Games.  This reflected that the events would actually be held in not one city but two.

Not only was there significant opposition to the Olympics in Vancouver but also in the rest of the province.  Residents from outside of Vancouver resented that they were not asked whether or not they were in favour of the Olympics and also felt that they would receive few benefits from the Winter Games.  Awarding the Olympics to Vancouver and Whistler made them feel that once again, they were being ignored in favour of the province's largest city.

Weather concerns were also prominent.  The relatively mild climate of Vancouver raised fears that there could be a lack of snow.  Of course organizers deflected such concerns by reminding the public that helicopters could transport snow from higher elevations of of the local mountains and areas with more snow and to erase any fears snow machines could manufacture as much snow as necessary.  The mild weather of Vancouver made many British Columbians wonder why another city with a colder climate such as Kelowna or Prince George had not been chosen instead.

Social problems generated a great deal of controversy.  Despite having a large amount of  Asian investment and a number of wealthy residents, Vancouver has a large number of homeless people.   Adding to the problem is the highest housing prices in Canada which rose once Vancouver-Whistler secured the Winter Games.  To clean up the image of the city, governments evacuated the homeless from downtown areas, but critics countered that this only masked the problem.

Another source

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>