politics
Gregor Robertson takes on Vancouver for 2010
VANOC congratulates new BC mayors and municipal council members on their new responsibilities
John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), today congratulated the mayors and municipal council members elected across British Columbia over the past weekend.
“On behalf of the whole VANOC team, congratulations to all of the mayors and council members elected. It is indeed an exciting time to be leading as we all prepare to celebrate the 2010 Games with all British Columbians. In particular, we look forward to working closely with the elected officials in our 2010 Games venue and facility communities: Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond, West Vancouver, Squamish and Surrey,” Furlong said.
Read the rest of the article here.
It sounds as if it was an ugly campaign (aren’t they all?), but Gregor Robertson is now the man that will run Vancouver during the Olympics. I don’t envy that job. Being a mayor of a city would be a hard enough job, but doing it during a time when the whole world is watching would be an enormous pressure.
One of the hottest issues of the campaign revolved around a $100 million loan from the city to the company building the Olympic Village where most of the athletes will stay during the games.
Other articles:
Gregor Robertson to be Vancouver host mayor for 2010 Winter Olympics
Olympic Spirit Train Protest ends peacefully
Protesters block rail line in hopes of halting CP Rail Olympic Spirit Train
(The Canadian Press circulated the following on October 12.)
VAUGHAN, Ontario — Protesters briefly barricaded a railway line north of Toronto Sunday evening and threatened to stop CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train, but police quickly persuaded them to end their protest after about an hour.
“They listened to reasoning and they’re dispersing,” said Sgt. Mike Sterchele of York Region Police, the police department responsible for this suburban region north of Toronto.
“We always like to negotiate these things to a peaceful end.”
Nobody was arrested.
The group issued a news release earlier Sunday vowing to block the train’s route to bring attention to what it called unresolved issues with aboriginals, the poor and the environment related to the staging of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Read the rest of the article here.
The Olympics are supposed to be about the sports and not about politics. But wherever there is a large audience and lots of press, there are going to be political protesters. The Beijing Olympics had the Tibet protesters, and Vancouver is going to have the First Nations. I’m sure every Olympics has had it. I think if I had something to protest, I might use the Olympics to do it too… Let’s just hope all of the First Nations protests end as peacefully as this one.
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