albertans may be asked to weigh in directly on whether the province should host the 2030 games.
among schow’s directives in his new cabinet post is to implement
mandatory referendums
for future plans to bring international games to alberta.
speaking to postmedia on monday, he wouldn’t rule out a referendum on the 2030 commonwealth bid; any vote would have to happen quickly, however, with a decision on whether to move forward with the bid expected next month and the games to be awarded in november.
sharp said she’d support a referendum.
“these games do cost a lot of money, and it’s really important for the citizens in alberta to understand what that means, what the return on investment would mean for the province,” she said.
coun. sonya sharp at council chamber at city hall on tuesday, november 8, 2022.
azin ghaffari
/
postmedia
lander criticized the idea of a referendum for any large-scale international event, saying it represents politicians downloading their responsibilities onto citizens.
“politicians are elected to make these decisions, and in theory they have an army of advisers and consultants that can properly analyze the benefits and costs of hosting the games,” he said. “to ask taxpayers what they think is almost a dereliction of duty.”
in 2018, a plebiscite asked calgarians whether they’d support the city hosting the 2026 winter olympics. fifty-six per cent of voters rejected that idea, leading council to end the bid.