OTTAWA - The head of the Vancouver Olympic Committee says the host city is the envy of North America because the Games will inject more than a billion dollars into a slumping economy this year alone.
That figure doesn't even include all the money that will pour into Vancouver in 2010 when people from around the world arrive for the Games, said John Furlong, chief executive officer for the committee known as VANOC.
"There's no city in North America right now (that) wouldn't want to be us," Furlong said Wednesday.
"My committee is going to spend $1.3 billion in Vancouver this year. Our partners are going to match that easily, and I haven't even talked about all the people who are coming with tickets to be at the Games.
"So the Games are representing quite a stimulus on the West Coast. I think, from that standpoint, it will have quite a positive impact on the economy."
British Columbia's government is reviewing earlier estimates that the Games would have a $10.7-billion economic impact.
That estimate came from a study commissioned by the provincial government in 2002, long before the current recession.
While the Games were expected to create a multibillion-dollar windfall for the province, its Liberal government has forecast deficit budgets for 2009 and 2010. Still, the province expects to be back in the black by 2011.
The Olympics are hardly a sure bet to shore up the host city's finances.
Montreal ran up millions in debt in 1976 and only finished paying for its Olympic stadium two years ago. Greece struggled to pay down billions of dollars in debt after the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. And the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City left Utah with a US$155 million deficit.
Furlong was in Ottawa on Wednesday to speak about the economic downturn's effect on sports in Canada.
He acknowledged the recession has hurt VANOC's financial planning. The committee has had to re-jig its finances and it may have to improvise on the fly over the coming months, he said.
"We would be naive to think that we're going to get all the way to the end and not have to improvise here and there and apply remedies for certain things," Furlong said.
"So, we've organized ourselves that way. We're confident -- I wouldn't say we're over-confident -- but I think we're as well positioned as we can be."
He also says none of the Games' corporate sponsors have fallen through on their financial commitments, and adds many businesses see the Olympics as an important way to market themselves.
