CANMORE – Canmore’s involvement in a 2026 Olympic and Paralympic bid is up for debate by the town’s elected officials after BidCo representatives presented their draft hosting plan to council on Tuesday night (Sept. 18).
While financial contributions and revenue generating opportunities are on the table for the Town of Canmore, those details are still being negotiated and remain confidential, however, administration and BidCo representatives have indicated those details will be available before council votes Nov. 6 on whether to be part of the bid or not.
Chief administrative officer Lisa de Soto provided an update on the progress she has made as Canmore’s representative on the BidCo board of directors and as part of negotiations for a multi-party agreement.
“We are negotiating on those cost share arrangements with other government partners,” she said, including the possibility of securing resort municipality status from the province.
“Whistler was able to secure resort municipality status with the province of B.C., which gave them a percentage of the hotel tax as a revenue stream for seven years leading up to and continued post Games.
“They used that revenue stream to fund essential services during the Games and to fund their community and cultural programs … that is something we are negotiating.”
As the mountain host community, she said Canmore would have a role and responsibility to develop an athlete’s village, play host community for biathlon and cross-country skiing, deliver essential services, provide cultural and celebration opportunities and host all medal ceremonies for the Paralympic Games.
Essential services include things the municipality already delivers, but would need to increase during the Games, such as snow removal, sidewalk clearing, garbage and recycling pickup, bylaw enforcement, policing and fire response.
The mega-sporting event would last 50 days from Jan. 28 to March 18, 2026.
There would also be costs to Canmore taxpayers to develop an athlete’s village and implement priorities like flood mitigation on the Palliser lands, creating transportation links and establishing community-wide broadband service.
De Soto said hosting the Games provides leverage to bring other levels of government to the table to achieve those goals. She said the Games could be a catalyst to accomplish high priority community projects at a reduced financial burden to the community.
The transportation concept also provided more details to Canmore council this week. A park and ride intercept lot would be used near the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino to accommodate spectators or workers coming from east of the community. Roam Transit would be available to Canmore and Banff residents, and the dropoff point for all transit would be a bus hub facility adjacent to Quarry Lake Park and Rundleview Drive. Travellers would have to walk the final kilometre to the Nordic Centre along a lit pathway.
“We want to minimize the amount of car traffic coming into the whole region,” said BidCo CEO Mary Moran. “Those details are still being worked out.”
Moran said the vision of the Calgary bid is to reuse existing venues as much as possible, provide a renewed legacy for them into the future and ensure anything that gets built also has an ongoing legacy in each community.
“The International Olympic Committee’s Agenda 2020 is about fitting into the long-term urban planning and development required by the city, region, town and country,” she added. “A big selling feature of our bid is we have 11 venues that would be renewed.”
Moran and her team were questioned about Canmore’s involvement in the process and whether the community has a real choice of whether to be involved, or if BidCo would circumvent the community in the event of a decision by council to not proceed.
“Does Canmore actually have a choice to participate in the Olympic Games?” asked Councillor Joanna McCallum “Do we have a choice as a community to say no and if we do, what happens?”
Moran responded the approach BidCo has taken since the beginning is that Canmore is an equal and respected partner in the process with the goal of ensuring a successful bid would be mutually beneficial.
“The Town of Canmore would be considered an equal partner along with the other orders of government,” said Moran. “It is not beneficial to our (efforts) for us to work around you.”
On Sept. 11, Calgary Ward 7 Councillor Druh Farrell questioned the BidCo team about breaking out the municipal costs in the draft hosting plan to represent what Calgary would pay for and what Canmore would fund.
She was clear that in her opinion the taxpayers of Calgary should not be paying for legacies that will be for the Town of Canmore.
“Certainly Calgarians should not pay for the costs to Canmore,” Farrell said. “We are asking Calgarians to spend money and we need to know where that goes.
“We cannot expect Calgarians to take on the risks for outside the city and the legacy outside the city, I think that is understandable.”
Director of venues and infrastructure Fergal Duff indicated the capital budget includes developing an athlete’s village in Canmore consisting of 242 units that would be converted to perpetually affordable housing (PAH) as a legacy after the Games.
“The Town of Canmore would contribute funds in addition to the capital budget comprising of land for the development and other infrastructure improvements such as flood mitigation and other infrastructure for the village,” Duff said.
Duff broke down the cost for Canmore’s athlete’s village at $116 million.
To pay for it, he said they expect $64 million to be generated in potential revenue and Canmore to contribution an additional $10 million. The remaining $42 million would need to come from other levels of government.
The housing development would heighten the current need for a pedestrian link over the Trans-Canada Highway from that area and de Soto indicated the Town would work with funding partners to support that project. However, a pedestrian overpass is not a requirement for hosting an Olympic event, so it is not considered part of the BidCo hosting plan.
While the majority of units would be handed over to Canmore Community Housing Corporation as part of its PAH portfolio, about 25 would remain as a sport legacy to house athletes and coaches who are training with national teams.
Canmore has also been slated to host the medal ceremonies for the Paralympic Games, creating a real opportunity to advance accessibility in the community, according to de Soto
The hosting of medal ceremonies would require a plaza to be established and that is part of the cultural legacy of the Games. Mayor John Borrowman pointed out the 2019 downtown enhancement plan currently being considered as part of the capital budget would include planning for an event space or plaza.
De Soto said Canmore has the right scale and fit to host the Paralympic medal ceremonies and the development of a celebration plaza aligns with Canmore’s capital budget plans.
The CAO was clear with council that only those items considered necessary for the operation of an Olympic and Paralympic Games are on the table for funding as part of the cost share negotiations and multi-party agreement. The discussions include the possibility of a resort municipality revenue tool as a long-term legacy for Canmore, and she hopes to be able to publicly present the results prior to a possible public hearing in October.
McCallum currently has a notice of motion to schedule a non-binding public hearing for the community as part of council’s Oct. 2 agenda. Canmore council is expected to vote on Nov. 6 on whether or not to participate in the bid.
