The Lord Mayor Enjoyed Some Waffles In Council Chambers This Morning

A motion put before council at the beginning of this morning's meeting has extended the 2026 bid process, rather than stopping it in it's tracks as many had hoped.

The debate over the motion was lively and at time's spirited, with the two camps making their cases prior to the crucial vote.  Council tried to be as expedient as possible given that a number of people were there to speak on secondary suites, as had already been on the agenda.

Ray Jones gave a speech in support of keeping the process alive.

Shane Keating has prepared an amendment to the motion calling on Council to strike a sub-committee to study the matter further. Rather presumptuous of him considering the bid could die on the table. So, now a debate within a debate emerges.

He sends a verbal back hand Jeromy Farkas' way and is shocked to hear that a plebiscite could be used only as a tool to cancel the bid. In one of the highlights of the morning, Keating admonishes the Lord Mayor, scolding Nenshi for his behavior and editorializing. In a moment that drew chuckles from the gallery, Keating tells Nenshi "I'm not as intelligent as you but I'm smarter than you most times."  He speaks of frustration within the cul-de-sac of council and argues we need more engagement.

Ward (The Waffler) Sutherland raises the point that some infrastructure has not been included in the $3.5b-$4b cost of putting on the games, adding another $500m or so to the tab.  He isn't confident in the process so far, there have been too many red flags. But, he says that if there is money available from the feds we should take advantage of it. If we don't take it, someone else will get it.  The flip-flop; he wants to see the final cost before a plebiscite is held. Killing it now wouldn't be a good business decision, $6.5 million has already been spent.

Joe Magliocca wants to know what the IOC's timeline is. The key dates start in October and run until the IOC vote in September,2019.

Jyoti Gondek like the committee idea but wants to know what the make up will be, will it bu just Councillors or will there be others on it?  As she mentioned last week, she brought up the idea of setting aside the 2026 and focusing instead on 2030, an idea I support. 

Resident historian Gian-Carlo Carra ponders how the decision they make will be judged in the future.  I suspect it might go something like this, Future Taxpayer: "Thanks for saddling us with this debt and leaving us nothing to show for it, assholes"

Demong was brief, and Chahal had concerns with transparency and the fact there was no public engagement.

Council bad-boy Jeromy Farkas, who originally supported a 2026 bid, read off a litany of allegations of corruption on the part of  IOC officials. Proof that we need to think very carefully about who we are dealing with when it come to the corrupt IOC.  He asks why the rush, and is also not opposed to a 2030 bid exploration. Just not 2026.  He reminds us that BidCo would be exempt from FOIA legislation and as such could carry out meetings completely in secret, with mo public oversight.

I owe Sean Chu an apology. I missed his turn in the debate. I had to pee real bad and my back was getting sore so I went for a cigarette.  I could see the way things were starting to look, and I already knew what his stance on this would be. 

Druh Farrell speaks about the  "Temperature Check" that she wanted this to be. If however this moves forward, she would like to see the process cleaned up. Her opinion hasn't changed from last week.  She still doesn't trust the IOC.

It's Big Red's turn to speak, but before she can the Lord Mayor interjects to to grace us with his opinion.  He tells council that there are many off-ramps in the process and that the vote today is not a reconsideration on the city's part. He's perturbed at criticism of the process, calling it the most transparent bid process in the history of bid processes. Sure there have been missteps, but overall he's proud of the way the process has gone.  He quotes an article by Robert Livingston, who reports on Olympic bids. Hardly a neutral observer.

Big Red gets to talk, and speaks of her love for sports. Professional sports, amateur sports, youth sports, sports, sports, sports.  She supports a plebiscite now. Big Red is serving up waffles now too. At the end of it, having gone over her allotted time, she wonders if Council can "overcome the faltering process".

Ray Jones just wants to put this thing to a vote, and so with that a recorded vote is called.

On the matter of killing the bid today (paraphrasing the motion here) the vote was 9-6 to keep it going. 

Voting in favor were:
Carra, Chahal, Colley-Urquhart, Davison, Jones, Keating, Sutherland, Woolley, Nenshi

Voting against:
Chu, Demong, Farkas, Farrell, Gondek, Magliocca

And so the fight continues on this issue, and I'll be there to watch and add my voice.

D.B.C.