CALGARY, AB: Today, the unofficial Olympics plebiscite results showed that the majority of Calgarians have voted against the Olympic bid.

“We are extremely pleased to see that the majority of Calgary voters have decided to finally put an end to this Olympic bid. This is a huge win for everyday Calgarians and for taxpayers across the country,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s (CTF’s) Alberta Director, Franco Terrazzano. “Our volunteers and supporters worked very hard to put a stop to this waste of money. It’s good to see that all their hard work has paid off.”

Calgary 2026 was calling for taxpayers to contribute billions of dollars to host the Olympics. And with the Olympics, cost overruns are the rule not the exception. Since the 1960s, 19 Olympics have been overbudget, averaging 156 per cent overruns during those games.

With the federal and provincial government both not willing to cover all overruns, Calgary taxpayers were at risk of large tax increases.

“Hopefully this has been a learning experience for city council and Calgary’s Olympic boosters. From what we heard online and on the streets is that Calgarians generally like the Olympics and they love their city, but they couldn’t afford to give the IOC a blank cheque,” continued Terrazzano. “If city council and the IOC go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan for 2026 or 2030 that uses private funding to host the Olympics, we have no doubt Calgarians would get behind that kind of bid.”