Canadians have mixed feelings about hosting future international sporting events, with many seeing value in such events, and others viewing world competitions like the Olympics to be “corrupt” and “too expensive,” says a Heritage Department internal report.
“In fact the single largest proportion of respondents, 38 percent, don’t know how these events will offer value to Canadians.”
Canada last hosted the Summer Olympics 13 years ago in Montréal in 1976 and held the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010.
Canada also hosted the Commonwealth Games and its forerunner British Empire Games, in Hamilton in 1930, Vancouver in 1954, Edmonton in 1978, and Victoria in 1994. The Pan-American Games were held in Winnipeg in 1967 and 1999, and in Toronto in 2015.
The report asked, “How valuable will large scale international sporting events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games or Commonwealth Games be to Canadians in the future?”
Twenty-six percent said they did not consider such events valuable. Thirty-four percent replied, “fairly valuable.” Thirty-two percent said they are “very valuable.”
Among those who feel large-scale international events don’t offer much value to Canadians, two in five (41 percent) believe these events are “too expensive and that taxpayers’ money should be spent addressing other priorities,” the report said.
Other reasoning provided included that these events are elitist (13 percent), that they are not beneficial to Canadians (13 percent), or that they don’t care or are not interested (11 percent).
Nine percent said, “These events are corrupt.” Six percent replied, “These events are too political.”
The finds derive from a survey of 9,208 people nationwide. The Heritage department commissioned Phoenix Strategic Perspectives at the cost of $145,334 for the research.
