Tessa Jowell is in Vancouver this week. (Getty Images) U.K. Olympics Minister to B.C.
London Olympics minister Tessa Jowell will tour Vancouver 2010 venues and meet with VANOC executives and politicians this week.
She’s the guest of honor at a reception June 17 hosted by the British consulate at the Vancouver Club, the Olympic Club during the 2010 Games. Jowell will also take part in a business-to-business roundtable at the 2010 Commerce Centre on Thursday. A delegation of British businesspeople seeking to make ties with B.C. companies is joining Jowell in Vancouver.
Dome Work Up for Grabs
Prospective contractors have been given just seven days to submit their qualifications for a series of pre-Olympics renovations at B.C. Place Stadium, site for opening, closing and nightly medals ceremonies. Deadline to respond is June 20.
The work includes bathrooms, kitchens, concession stands, suites and lounges. Access for people with disabilities will be improved. The structure will also be reinforced to enable the post-Games replacement of the air-supported fabric roof with a retractable fabric system.
West Vancouver Joins VANOC Sponsors
West Vancouver, one of Canada’s wealthiest municipalities, is the latest VANOC sponsor. An announcement is scheduled for June 16 by Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones.
Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver is designated as the site of snowboarding, freestyle skiing and skicross during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The financial deal will allow West Vancouver to use the VANOC logo and gain a guaranteed stop on the Olympic torch relay. In a similar deal in May, Surrey pledged $2 million of public money to VANOC and announced it would fast-track construction of a $10.5 million community center for use as the Vancouver 2010 recruitment and training center.
Game Plan 2008
Game Plan 2008 community information sessions begin June 17 in Whistler. The series of sessions will preview Games-time venue, transportation and security plans.
Richmond is scheduled on June 18 and Hastings on June 19. The tour of municipalities affected by the Games continues through 2009. It’s the first public outreach by VANOC since its predecessor, Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, held public presentations before a civic plebiscite on the bid in early 2003.
The public engagement strategy was developed by the Reputations Corporation, a Vancouver communications firm known for its work on Mayor Sam Sullivan’s 2005 election victory and a campaign against a waterfront soccer stadium.
Cruise Disconnections
A Vancouver cruise agency is talking to a lawyer after a sound-alike U.S. competitor got a $37.43 million RCMP contract. A June 3 news release from the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit announced Cruise Connections Charter Management “out of Victoria” was chosen to charter two cruise ships for 5,000 police and military personnel during the Games.
But the RCMP confirmed days later that a Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina company won, although a press release hasn’t been corrected.
"To suggest they are Cruise Connections based in Victoria or an office in Victoria is contrary to any data we have at this time," said Cruise Connections Canada president Sanjay Goel.
Goel didn’t bid on the April 8 request for proposals because he was unaware of the federal procurement website where the tender was posted.
Olympics Foes Target Golden Arches
Three McDonald’s restaurants around the B.C. capital city of Victoria were targeted in the latest wave of anti-Olympics vandalism.
An anonymous message on an anarchist blog said cement was poured in pipes, disabling toilets on May 31 in Victoria.
The reason given was the fast food chain’s sponsorship of the 2010 Games.
"We are working with local authorities to investigate recent acts of vandalism in our restaurants," said McDonald’s Canada media relations manager Louis Payette in a prepared statement. "As this is an ongoing police matter, it would be inappropriate to comment."
Ethical Sourcing
Labor rights activists wonder why VANOC won’t follow the practices of Nike and identify its offshore merchandise factories.
VANOC, citing privacy and competitiveness worries, won’t say where its licensees source 2010 Winter Olympics’ merchandise, despite and audit that show six factories failed guidelines.
VANOC corporate sustainability officer Ann Duffy even ruled out naming the good factories, too. "VANOC's life cycle is one as a project entity," Duffy said June 12 during a labor forum at Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus.
"Unlike Adidas or Nike, we only exist for a short amount of time."
Doug Miller of the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation said VANOC’s reasoning is "actually not a sustainable argument."
"If it was, then why would big brands like (Nike and Adidas) have actually conceded and disclosed their locations?" said Miller. Miller’s union is a driving force behind the Play Fair 2008 campaign, which urges sportswear companies and Olympic organizers to improve pay and conditions for offshore workers and encourage the freedom to join unions.
Miller said the Vancouver 2010 ethical sourcing code is a first for an Olympics, but it suffers from a lack of public disclosure. Play Fair’s 2007 report found four southwest China factories contracted by Beijing 2008 licensees were violating local and international labor laws.
In March, VANOC denied an ATR request to tour the Chinese factory where 2010 mascot dolls are made.
New Candidate for Vancouver Mayor
Peter Ladner is getting a challenger in the race to be the mayor of Vancouver during the Olympics.
Gregor Robertson, a provincial NDP legislator, won the nomination for the centre/left Vision Vancouver party on June 15.
Ladner, a city councilor, won the NDP nomination earlier this month.
With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.
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