Calgary's bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics "survived a crucial hurdle" Tuesday as the city council "voted overwhelmingly to continue with a planned November plebiscite on the Games," according to Meghan Potkins of the CALGARY HERALD. Calgary 2026 also unveiled its draft host plan publicly for the first time at Tuesday's meeting, pitching a C$5.2B ($4B) budget to deliver a Winter Games that would spread events across Calgary, Canmore, Whistler "and possibly Edmonton." The Olympic bid blueprint, billed by Calgary 2026 CEO Mary Moran as financially "responsible," includes plans for two new sport venues and refurbishments to an existing 11 facilities, "with no mention of new rail or infrastructure projects or an arena to replace the aging Saddledome." Following Tuesday's presentation, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said that hosting the Olympics could be a "huge leveraging exercise" for Calgary that "could attract billions in investment to help pay for projects that the city would otherwise have to pay for on its own." He said, "If we can get that money from other places and also get all the benefits of an Olympic Games, that starts to sound really interesting to me." The public portion of the bid bill amounts to C$3B ($2.3B), to be divided between municipal, provincial and federal governments, "with Ottawa expected to contribute at least half that amount" (CALGARY HERALD, 9/12).
