Kris Sims, BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation made the following statement following the announcement that the BC government would not support a Commonwealth Games bid in Victoria:

“We applaud the BC government for this fiscally prudent move in declining to provide taxpayer dollars to support the Commonwealth Games in Victoria. Bidding on and hosting things like the Commonwealth Games almost always incur a huge cost to taxpayers, as the events frequently go far over their initially proposed budgets.

“Taxpayers in BC are already stretched to the max when it comes to taxes, housing costs and hardships caused by the forest fires and challenges in the energy sector. Asking them to foot the huge bill for a large event like the Commonwealth Games would have been unfair and we are pleased the BC government has made the right decision.”