The Olympic Games have always been a unifying sporting event, one that has always had great success when hosted at one of our great Canadian cities. Though the summer Olympics are a significantly supported event in Canada, the winter games are our forte. After the success of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, it is quite apparent that the city is an excellent fit for the event.

Earlier this month the Vancouver City Council was put to a vote whether to put in a bid; the outcome was seven votes in favor of the motion and four votes against. The vote was originally set to be held back in April but was tabled due to COVID. There are many valid points on either side of the vote. The main con argued by Councillor Jean Swanson was that the money spent in the 2010 Olympics could have been put towards helping local people living in poverty. On the flip side of that, the pro is it would boost Vancouver’s economy and hopefully put Vancouver back on track after effects that the Coronavirus has had and is still having on the city.  Councilor Melissa De Genova, whom was the one that moved the original date of the meeting, is urging city council to consider these Olympics as it could be a major tool in the economic recovery. De Genova told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview that, “As a city councilor, I see it as my duty and responsibility to leave no stone unturned, and consider all opportunities to bring benefits to our city, and the catalyze the prosperity of our residents”.  She continued to explain other benefits the city would receive should the motion pass.

The International Olympic Committee has already pointed to Vancouver as a model example for hosting a sustainable Olympics. Not only is Vancouver a suitable city to support the Winter Olympics, all of the infrastructure’s that were updated or built for the 2010 games are still in ship shape. Therefore, the city could focus on updating other avenues to benefit the games, along with other positive updates for the entire city. Projects such as long-term transportation upgrades would have more attention brought to them, along with a reuse of the athlete and officials’ accommodations being transformed into affordable housing following the end of the Olympics.

There has not yet been an official decision made, but the way things are looking it would be more beneficial to make a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. If the city does achieve approval to make the bid, it would just be a matter of “dusting off” the credentials from the previous Olympics and starting again, this time aiming to do it even better.