COUNTDOWN TO 2010: SECRET FILES SET CONDITIONS ON $20-MILLION IN FUNDING FOR WINTER OLYMPICS

Ottawa Aims to Put its Stamp on 2010 Games

Government Briefing Memo (pdf):
www.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/pdf/wintergames.pdf

By ROBERT MATAS; Friday, August 22, 2008 - Globe & Mail
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With reports from Marsha Lederman and David Hutton

VANCOUVER -- The Harper government says the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony must reflect its agenda as the price of its $20-million commitment to the event, an internal government briefing memo says.

The memo, marked secret and released under an access-to-information request, describes the role of the Canadian government in wording that appears to mix politics and sports, despite widespread criticism of China for politicizing the Beijing Olympics.

"The Minister has recently confirmed with VANOC in writing that the Department of Canadian Heritage intends to invest $20-million toward the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in order to ensure that the event adequately reflects the priorities of the Government and helps to achieve its domestic and international branding goals," the memo says.

"The 2010 Federal Secretariat will be leading the effort to ensure that all of the conditions associated with the investment are incorporated into the contribution agreement. These conditions will ensure that the department has appropriate input and oversight into VANOC's ceremony planning."

Frank King, who was the organizing committee chairman for the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, said that no level of government was given authority over any of the events at those Olympics, including the opening and closing ceremonies. Members from each level of government sat on individual committees, but the organizers had the power to make all final decisions over events, he said. Financial commitments from the municipal, provincial, and federal levels were made to fund facilities only.

"No one level of government told us which way to go," he said. "It was complete synergy. There was nobody who was lobbying because what they wanted wasn't getting done.

"The governments have to get over only one thing," he said, referring to his experience in Calgary. "They're not in charge."

The opening ceremony will take place on Feb. 12, 2010, in Vancouver's downtown B.C. Place stadium. The total budget for the opening and closing ceremonies is $40-million. Federal cabinet minister David Emerson announced on Feb. 22 this year that the federal government would give $20-million toward the 2010 Olympic ceremonies. "We and all Canadians look forward to a memorable opening ceremony that will allow the world to see the best that Canada has to offer," Mr. Emerson said.

A news release at that time stated that the federal government would collaborate with VANOC, the 2010 Olympic organizing committee, "to ensure that the opening ceremony is truly representative of Canada's cultural diversity and linguistic duality, by highlighting the excellence and richness of the performances of leading Canadian artists."

The internal memo, obtained by researcher Ken Rubin, is dated Feb. 5, less than three weeks before Mr. Emerson announced the federal commitment. The memo was to Judith LaRocque, a Canadian Heritage deputy minister, in preparation for a meeting with Mr. Emerson, his staff members and representatives from the organizers, including VANOC's chief executive officer John Furlong. The meeting coincided with celebrations in Ottawa marking the two-year countdown to the Games.

The memo was signed by Marie-Geneviève Mounier, assistant deputy minister in International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport. A notation says the memo was prepared by Tim O'Malley in the 2010 Federal Secretariat.

"It's outrageous," Garry Neil, a cultural policy consultant based in Toronto, said in an interview. The memo fits logically into a pattern displayed by the federal Conservative party in relation to the arts - specifically Bill C-10 and recent cuts announced to arts programs, he also said. He was particularly concerned with the specification that the ceremony "adequately reflects the priorities of the government.

"Who's the government? The government is the cabinet. The government is the ruling political party, which is the Conservative Party. It's not the priorities of Canadian people."

In Vancouver, Peter Boychuk with the Alliance for Arts and Culture said the memo was part of what he called a disturbing trend. "We would be very interested to know to what level their involvement is going to be. Is this going to be that they have direct input into being able to override anything the creators do?" he said.

"There's a disturbing ambiguity in the language, a lot of very, very vague terms, that I think have dangerous implications in terms of artistic censorship." Mr. Boychuk pointed to the phrases "appropriate oversight" and "adequately reflects the priorities of the Government" as particularly worrisome from an artistic standpoint.

James Moore, secretary of state for the 2010 Olympics, was not available for an interview yesterday. Deirdra McCracken, the minister's director of communications, confirmed that Ottawa is involved in discussions about the opening ceremony with VANOC, Mr. Furlong and others but she did not comment in an e-mail exchange with The Globe and Mail about the apparent mix of politics and sport.

"Our government wants to ensure that Canada's goals are achieved through the opening ceremonies. Naturally, we will want to be involved in the planning, especially if we have invested taxpayers' money," Ms. McCracken said.

Renée Smith-Valade, vice-president of communications for VANOC, said Ottawa was not bringing politics into the Olympics. "This involvement [of the federal government] is our very best partner helping us understand and interpret the brand we call Canada to the world," she said in an interview from Beijing.

Heritage Canada and other federal departments take Canada to the world every day, she said. Their creative and financial expertise will help VANOC develop the best ceremony, she added.

The memo confirms what VANOC always thought was the arrangement: a close and collaborative working relationship, she also said. Ottawa is a partner with others in many aspects of staging the Games, from construction of the venues to support for the ceremonies.

But Ottawa will not have a veto over any aspect of the ceremonies, she said. The opening ceremony will be organized by talented professionals who are now developing the conceptual material for 2010, she said, adding that the federal government, along with the executive team and other partners, will have input without controlling the process.

The Beijing Games have been described as one of the most political in history. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who did not attend the opening ceremony after citing a scheduling conflict, has been a vocal critic of China's human-rights record regarding Tibet.

Several political groups have held protests against staging the Games in China. Meanwhile, China has repeatedly used the event to fuel nationalism and polish its reputation on the world stage.

The internal documents also show that the Queen, as Canada's head of state, was to be invited to officially open the 2010 Winter Olympics. Samantha Cohen, the Queen's press secretary at Buckingham Palace, would not confirm whether the Queen would attend the ceremony in Vancouver. "We never confirm any engagement until two months prior," Ms. Cohen said yesterday in an interview from London.