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Chuck Poulsen/Needlepoint class
By Chuck Poulsen
Aside from Revenue Canada, there is no more painful experience than my tax dollars paying for kids to slide so rich people can watch.
My goal was not to watch one minute of the Games, which is what you might call a couch potato protest with the TV turned off. I did watch some hockey. It was weakness and I am as sorry as Tiger.
It was easy to skip such things as speed skating, luge and skeleton. Have you ever met, or do you know anyone who has met, a skelettonizer? I’ll take Red Skelton. He never charged me for entertainment. I also ignored the curling, which is really a drinking sport with a curling problem so it doesn‘t count.
Now that the Olympics are gone, it’s time to begin adding up the damage.
We do know that security costs alone, estimated at $165 million, are trending toward $1 billion.
In a time when Obama is throwing around a trillion dollars, a billion sounds like a bronze medal change. Still, it’s hard to get a handle on what a billion is.
A billion seconds ago was 1978. A person would be over 70 years old before counting to a billion. But here is another measure: $1 billion would buy every household in B.C. a new basic computer with enough left over for a second bridge over Lake Okanagan.
So tell me again how much you enjoyed the Olympics.
There will be an additional $1 billion in debt for bailing out the Olympic Village development. Are you thinking of a free flat screen for the bedroom?
The rest of B.C. will see further cuts in provincial services to help pick up whatever the total amount of red ink spills over the ledgers.
The New York Times quoted Simon Fraser University public policy professor Kennedy Stewart saying:
“What is the substantive thing Vancouver has to offer other than its nice mountains and vastly overpriced real estate? The forest industries have collapsed so where is the money going to come from other than grow ops?”
It’s also been reported that the corporate sponsors of the Own the Podium strategy will not spend another cent to meet the program’s $11 million a year shortfall. Own the Podium spent $110 million over five years as the unemployment rate rose.
It will make you feel better to know that the gold medal winners will make between $500,000 and $1 million in endorsements.
Supporters argue there is no way to measure the vast public relations value of the Games in the U.S. and abroad. That’s the problem. There is no way to measure, although that won’t stop the homers from claiming money-well-spent.
The most important part of the recognition of Canada came from Tom Brokaw’s love letter to Canada on NBC. It was corny as all get out, but the piece was the most endearing and accurate presentation of the U.S. relationship with Canada that I’ve ever seen on a U.S. network, largely because U.S. networks never mention Canada unless there is a snowstorm coming “from Canada.”
Brokaw made three points most Americans don‘t know: The Canada-U.S. trade relationship is the largest in the world, Canada supplies more oil to Americans than any other country and no country in the world has had a better neighbour than Canada.
If you don’t believe that last point, let me tell you later about the Mexican drug cartels.
Next time, we might want to get this message out in a relatively cheap Super Bowl ad.
The Olympics were a fine party. Now comes the hangover.
We will all want to pull the covers back over our faces.
Chuck Poulsen is a retired journalist, but can’t seem to stop writing. You can contact him directly at needlepoint@shaw.ca. His column appears Wednesdays.
Tags: Olympics
