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Lies of Olympic proportions

February 02, 2010 17:02

The phrase, "let the games begin", is usually the start of any Olympic games. To some of us however, the 'games' start when a host city is called upon to hold them.

Are those games more commonly known as lies, or at best, half-truths which are as large as an Olympic-sized pool or skating rink? At the beginning of the Olympic promotional process, the organizers don't tell us the truth about the final use of the new and expensive buildings.

As usual, it is the accommodation for the athletes which garners the most publicity and a bobsled full of half-truths. The Olympic organizers breathlessly tell us low-come families will have a chance for a better life in one of the new buildings after the games are over, and the athletes have scampered home.

Does this happen? Do they consciously lie? Is the housing the red herring out there to garner public support and the millions of taxpayers' dollars required? I don't think the needs of low-income families are even a consideration for the Olympic organizing hotshots driving their BMWs, Cadillacs and Mercedes Benzes to their million-dollar ski-chalets at Whistler. But their advisors and publicity-minions tell them to push the envelope on affordable housing.

That same gang is now working on the promotional work for the upcoming PanAm games in Toronto; tons of affordable housing after the games are over.

In all this, there is only one truth: The housing fiasco and the final dollar tally is a joke on taxpayers because the games always finish far in excess of the original estimates.

Instead of kidding the public about the benefits of the games, should the games organizers be more diligent in their attempts to stop overpricing on so-called competitive bids?

Do Canadian taxpayers get skewered by the Olympic process? Why don't we have a new promise by all levels of government in regards to the Olympics and other multi-country sports events: Never again in Canada.

Vaughan G. Harris,

Tottenham

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