One year later: Furlong case fraught with accusations and denials

One year ago, on Sept. 27, 2012, the world of John Furlong was turned upside down and Vancouverites who followed his rise were shocked. 

The Georgia Straight published an expose by Ontario journalist Laura Robinson that revealed Irish-born Furlong lived in Canada before his oft-stated 1974 arrival in Edmonton. He had been a Catholic missionary volunteering as a physical education teacher of aboriginal children at the Immaculata Catholic elementary school in Burns Lake in 1969 and 1970, before moving to Prince George. Some of those ex-students claimed that he abused them and ruined their childhood. 

As CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee, Furlong was the head organizer of the biggest, most-expensive and complex Winter Olympics in history. Furlong was the British Columbian who formally welcomed the world at the opening ceremony on Feb. 12, 2010 and he thanked the world for coming on Feb. 28, 2010 at the closing ceremony. The International Olympic Committee estimated 1.8 billion people watched during the 17 days of Vancouver 2010. Furlong was showered with acclaim before, during and after: honorary university degrees, corporate board appointments and even his name was emblazoned on a SkyTrain car. 

Never before -- and, perhaps, never again -- will British Columbia be so united as it was during February 2010 and Furlong was at the centre of it all. He also became a lightning rod for criticism, whether it was VANOC’s secrecy, its adverse impact on some communities and the environment, the cost of it all, VANOC's finances amid the Great Recession and the preventable death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. 

Within hours of the Georgia Straight story hitting the streets and the web, Furlong appeared at a news conference in The Landing in Gastown. A building of significance, for that is where the Bid Corporation and Organizing Committee were once located and it is now home of the Furlong-chaired Vancouver Whitecaps and the TwentyTen Group, the marketing company that represents him. He took no questions, but adamantly proclaimed his innocence. The message he wanted to deliver was plain and simple: the acts that he was accused of committing "just didn't happen."

He did, however, admit to being in Northern British Columbia from 1969 to 1972, facts that were omitted from the book because he felt that period of his life was “fairly brief and fairly uneventful.” A look inside the Prince George newspaper archives, however, says otherwise. A front page story in 1972 said he fled Canada because of repeated attacks and threats while volunteering as a soccer referee.

Furlong sued for defamation on Nov. 27. Less than two months later, the Georgia Straight and Laura Robinson responded with defence statements. They emphatically stand behind their work and plead the truth. They also filed expanded allegations; Robinson’s filing included allegations of sexual assault of a former common law spouse. TwentyTen Group issued Furlong's denial, then silence from the Furlong camp through February and March. He had gone to Ireland with his third wife, Deborah Sharp.

Then tragedy struck. Sharp died in Dublin April 11 after a head-on car crash near their home in rural Gorey, County Wexford. Police in Ireland continue to investigate.

He re-emerged in July as an advisor to a penny-stock gold mining company with ambitions for a motherlode in Albania. Then more trouble. Two women who claimed in July 24 B.C. Supreme Court lawsuits that Furlong verbally, physically and sexually abused them in 1969 and 1970 when they were his students. That action preceded Furlong’s long-awaited rebuttal to the Georgia Straight and Robinson. Furlong repeated his denial and an allegation that Robinson carries a personal vendetta against him. Robinson, who is raising funds for a mounting legal bill, denies that charge. The rebuttal even said Furlong's lawyer had been advised by the RCMP that there would be no criminal charges because the police found no evidence of abuse. (An RCMP spokesman publicly said the investigation was ongoing.)

Jason Gratl, the lawyer for the two new complainants, wrote an open letter to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, claiming the RCMP had not done its job and were showing pro-Furlong bias. Gratl pointed out that the Mounties had a $900 million budget to secure the Olympics and senior officials worked closely with Furlong. Gratl is waiting for action from the RCMP complaints watchdog.

The same day Furlong responded in court with denials to Gratl’s clients in September, a third lawsuit was filed by a male ex-student alleging Furlong had sexually assaulted him.

Yet again, you heard or read the important phrase: none of the allegations has been proven in court.  

Furlong's public speaking engagements, for which he has charged $20,000 an appearance, evaporated. He did, however, retain support from Own the Podium, Whitecaps FC, Rocky Mountaineer, Whistler Blackcomb and Canadian Tire to remain on their boards. While ex-Premier Gordon Campbell stayed silent, VANOC chairman Rusty Goepel didn't. On the third anniversary of the Games, Goepel wrote a Vancouver Sun commentary in support of Furlong. 

A year has passed since the Georgia Straight story. So what next? When will the time come for the to-and-fro of accusations and denials to end? When will evidence be tested and the truth determined? When will a trial happen?  

The B.C. Supreme Court registry and lawyer for the Georgia Straight, Roger McConchie confirm there are no hearings scheduled. (Furlong’s lawyer, John Hunter, and his agent, Andrea Shaw of TwentyTen Group, have not responded for comment.)

Said McConchie: “There's been no discovery of any sort, documentary or examination. No examinations for discovery have been scheduled. We haven't had any communication from them on a trial date. 

“It's not proceeding on a vigorous pace.”

Furlong saga worsens

This time last year, I was in London to cover the 2012 Olympics.

One prominent Canadian was notably absent. John Furlong, the chief executive of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee. Furlong would have been wined and dined by at least two prominent people in London. He would have certainly enjoyed watching an Olympics as a fan instead of organizer.

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London 2012 organizing committee, told me in an interview in Vancouver, after the 2010 Games, that he was speaking multiple times a week with Furlong. Coe constantly sought Furlong's advice on how to organize an Olympics.

Furlong served as VANOC CEO at the pleasure of Gordon Campbell, who was British Columbia's premier from 2001 to 2010. Campbell became Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Canada's diplomatic mission at Trafalgar Square in Central London became Canada Olympic House, a home-away-from-home for Canadian athletes and their families. Campbell hosted many an event there.

Furlong chairs the Own the Podium high-performance sport, fundraising ally of the Canadian Olympic Committee. CEO Anne Merklinger showed up in London, but Furlong didn't.

Before the end of September, we learned that a complaint had been filed with the RCMP before the Olympics. A complainant alleged Furlong committed sexual and physical assault against children while   he was a teenaged missionary at a Catholic elementary school in Burns Lake, B.C. 

On Sept. 27, 2012, the Georgia Straight published journalist Laura Robinson's expose, "John Furlong biography omits secret past in Burns Lake."

Furlong rapidly and vehemently denied all the accusations at a news conference. Furlong's "Patriot Hearts" memoir only mentioned arriving in Canada in fall 1974 at Edmonton. It turned out, he was in Burns Lake and later Prince George from 1969 to 1972. At that news conference, he downplayed his early years in northern B.C. as "brief" and "uneventful," but didn't explain why they were omitted from his book.

Two months later, he filed a defamation lawsuit against the Georgia Straight and the author of the expose, Laura Robinson. Robinson and the newspaper filed defence statements containing further damaging allegations. Furlong's public relations agent, not his lawyer, told media on Jan. 22, 2013 that he would be responding with additional court filings in a matter of days and he would eventually be vindicated.

Six months later, Furlong has not filed a rebuttal to the Georgia Straight and Robinson. If he was planning a defence, it most likely was tragically disrupted on April 11 when his third wife, Deborah Sharp, died in a head-on crash on a rural road in Gorey, Ireland, near their house. She was 48. Irish police continue to investigate.

One-hundred and four days after Sharp's death come new allegations in B.C. Supreme Court.

Lawyer Jason Gratl, on behalf of former Furlong students Beverly Abraham and Grace West, sued Furlong, Vancouver's Catholic Archdiocese, Prince George's Catholic Diocese and the Catholic Independent Schools Diocese of Prince George on July 24, 2013. They allege Furlong committed  physical and sexual abuse against them. They are also accusing him of defamation.

Abraham and West's statements of claim are below. Furlong's lawyers John Hunter and Claire Hunter have not responded for comment.

None of the allegations against Furlong has been proven in court.

Notice of Civil Claim (West)

Notice of Civil Claim (Abraham vs. Furlong, et al)

Thoughts on Penny

Who really is running Vancouver city hall?

The twice-elected Mayor is Gregor Robertson, the tuba-playing, bike-riding, organic-farming former NDP MLA who finally sold his holdings in Happy Planet Juice Co. in late 2012. Skeptics wonder if one of his lieutenants, Coun. Geoff Meggs, is really shifting the gears on the 10-speed behind the scenes. 

Penny Ballem: unelected and uncompromising?

City manager Penny Ballem is the top-paid civic employee, at $334,002 for 2011. She was hired, without competition, to replace the fired Judy Rogers in December 2008. Rogers got a $572,000 golden parachute, because the Vision Vancouver administration felt she was an NPA-loyalist. 

It wasn’t the first time Ballem got a no-bid gig. She did 78 hours work for $30,000 from eHealth Ontario. 

Ballem’s claim to fame was as deputy minister of health for five years under then-Premier Gordon Campbell. Health is the biggest and most complex ministry in government. She quit in 2006, calling Campbell’s plans for the ministry “unsound.”

Not only did Ballem replace Rogers in the city manager’s office, but she also took her seat on the  board of directors for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee, better known as VANOC.

Ballem was involved in city hall's $2.3 million purchase of used furniture and computers from VANOC. VANOC also got free rent in the city-owned 3585 Graveley Street “Campus 2010” after the Games. Ballem also signed-off on the transfer of VANOC files to the City Archives, mandating they be kept secret from the public until 15 years after the Games! The International Olympic Committee required the City Archives take it over, as per the host city agreement. But I couldn’t find anything from the IOC requiring the documents be kept secret until 2025. But that’s what Ballem agreed to do. So none of us who paid for the Olympics can see the financial and legal records or board correspondence, reports, agendas and minutes until after the Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and 2022 Winter Games have come and gone. 

In February 2011, Ballem excused Olympic Village developer Millennium from its mortgage, which once was worth $1 billion. She later admitted city taxpayers would lose $48 million on the Village, but downplayed the claims of those who said the loss was in the range of $200 million. 

Ballem has a reputation as an uncompromising micromanager and her influence has reached into every department at city hall. Those who have disagreed with her have retired, resigned or been fired. Ballem gagged city hall bureaucrats from talking to the media; they once were accessible and pleased to talk to reporters about the important work they do for citizens. Under her watch, it has become harder to receive records under Freedom of Information. 

Now comes the struggle over control of the city's community centres. Ballem is leading the charge to centralize control with the Park Board. The volunteer Vancouver Community Centre Associations are fighting back. Non-Partisan Association and Green Party politicians are opposed to the plan by the majority Vision Vancouver. 

Green Coun. Adriane Carr wanted to ask fellow councillors at the Feb. 12 city council meeting to order a staff report on the costs of centralizing the 23 community centres. As the Vancouver Courier’s Sandra Thomas reported, Ballem thwarted Carr’s motion. Now Carr has hired a lawyer.  

How can a public employee, no matter how senior, tell an elected official what can and cannot be debated in a democratic setting?

A source provided me a copy of the Feb. 5, 2013, 7:14 p.m. email by Ballem to Carr (copied to city clerk Janice MacKenzie and city lawyer Francie Connell), which said: 

"I apologize that I haven't had a chance to talk to you today about your motion - I just signed off the Council Agenda at about 6pm. Your motion presents a significant issue and given our last conversation about a motion which was a problem I thought I would send you a note. First, the GM of Park Board reports to the Park Board - if you wish to have a report to Council it should be directed to me to bring back.   

"The more important issue is that the Park Board instructed their GM to continue negotiations on a new contract with the CCAs. It would put both the Park Board and the City at risk if there was an airing of these issues in regard to impact  publicly. To reassure you there is work underway to ensure that the PB staff appropriately manage any risk in these negotiations. However for this reason the motion is out of order and I will not be allowing it to go out with the agenda. I have reviewed this with the City Solicitor and the Clerk. Please give me a call any time tonight if you get a break or first thing in the am. I am happy to discuss. Thanks so much pb"

Furlong fights back -- will Straight stay steadfast?

John Furlong claims Ontario journalist Laura Robinson defamed him as recently as the last weekend of November.

Exactly two months after the Georgia Straight published Robinson’s expose on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics CEO, Furlong followed through Nov. 27 on a threatened defamation lawsuit seeking unspecified monetary damages, an apology and retraction, and an order that the weekly newspaper remove the story from the Internet. 

The 11-page civil claim denied the abuse claims made in the story, which was headlined “John Furlong Biography Omits Secret Past in Burns Lake,” and was filed in B.C. Supreme Court by lawyers John Hunter and Claire Hunter of Hunter Litigation Chambers. Attached to the claim is the story itself. See the full filing below.

The named defendants are Robinson, publisher Dan McLeod, editor Charlie Smith and Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corporation, the parent company of the Georgia Straight. No other media outlet is named in the lawsuit. CBC TV reported about the allegations also on Sept. 27 and included an interview with a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Furlong. Neither Robinson nor Smith would comment on the lawsuit, but both have defended the story. In October, Robinson even threatened to countersue Furlong, after he released a statement his website that she claimed defamed her.

Robinson interviewed eight people who swore statements claiming Furlong abused them while he was their physical education teacher at Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake, where he arrived as an 18-year-old fresh out of high school in Ireland. Furlong’s post-Olympic memoir, Patriot Hearts, made no mention of being in Canada prior to 1974 when he arrived at Edmonton International Airport to take up permanent residence, nor did his book mention he originally came to Canada as a member of the Catholic Frontier Apostolate lay missionary group.

"During his time as a teacher, the plaintiff (Furlong) never engaged in abuse of his students, nor did the plaintiff engage in bullying or racial taunting, as alleged or at all,” said Furlong’s court filing.

Furlong claims that his personal history in Patriot Hearts -- including the circumstances of the death of his cousin Siobhan Roice, his father's death, the birth of his son and his immigration to Canada -- are true. 

"The allegation in the Georgia Straight article that the plaintiff was not honestly recounting his personal history in Patriot Hearts is false and defamatory and was included in the article solely to further the objective of the defendant Robinson to discredit the plaintiff in the estimation of the public,” said the court filing.

Robinson is working on a follow-up story after more alleged victims have come forward in response to the first story. Furlong claims Robinson further defamed him in a Nov. 8 email to Chris Dornan of Own the Podium, of which Furlong is the chairman. It said Robinson wrote, in part, that: "There is a great deal of confirmation that Mr. Furlong was violent and a racist."

In a Nov. 25 email, Robinson is alleged to have written: "Former students of John Furlong's have made very serious allegations recently in signed documents about his violence against women and children." The civil claim said Furlong has suffered “grave damage to his character and reputation,” that his family have “suffered distress and embarrassment,” and that unspecified, paid speaking engagements have been cancelled. 

Furlong appeared as scheduled in Grande Prairie, Alta., at the Alberta Sport Development Centre awards on Oct. 13 and at the Abbotsford B.C. economic symposium on Nov. 20. An Oct. 16 Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon, billed as “Behind the Bench: An Insider’s Look at Whitecaps FC,” was quietly cancelled on Oct. 2. Board of Trade spokesman Greg Hoekstra told me for a Business in Vancouver story in October that “John Furlong and the Whitecaps initiated the postponement.”

Furlong, however, remains executive chairman of the Vancouver Whitecaps, chairman of Own the Podium and Rocky Mountaineer railtours and a director of Whistler Blackcomb and Canadian Tire.

The lawsuit mentions Robinson’s previously published work was critical of Furlong and VANOC, including the Olympic organizing committee’s relations with aboriginals, female ski jumpers who weren’t allowed to compete at the 2010 Games and athlete safety. Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died from a crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre on the Games’ opening day. CBC’s Fifth Estate obtained a March 2009 internal VANOC email by Furlong to senior executives at VANOC about track safety concerns. Athletes were reaching speeds that were faster than what the track had been designed for.

The filing said Furlong knew the story was going to be published on Sept. 25 and his lawyer, Marvin Storrow, wrote to Smith, admitting they had met with the RCMP. “In the event that anything defamatory is published by anyone concerning Mr. Furlong that a civil defamation action will be 

commenced forthwith thereafter."

The filing also said Robinson filed a report with the RCMP and that in August, the RCMP advised Smith that "there were inconsistencies between the accounts of the defendant Robinson and the former student named" by Robinson. On Sept. 27, when the story was published, the RCMP admitted that an investigation was ongoing. 

When Robinson and the Georgia Straight file their defence statement, you’ll see it here. 

Furlong v Georgia Straight

Exclusive: B.C. sport shakeup

A new era in British Columbia sport will begin March 1 when Scott Ackles is announced as the chief executive officer of the B.C. Sport Agency.

It is part of an overhaul in the province's sport system in the wake of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Ackles was the general manager of Vancouver's 2005 and 2011 Grey Cup festivals and replaces interim B.C. Sport Agency CEO Cathy Priestner Allinger, the Own the Podium blueprint author and VANOC executive vice-president of sport who was named last August to head of Vancouver's 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games.

Ackles effectively becomes the most powerful executive in amateur sport in B.C. Former VANOC sport vice-president Tim Gayda has left his post as Sport BC CEO to be a consultant. Gayda's position will not be filled.

Sport BC and the B.C. Sport Agency will be working in concert for the betterment of sport in the province. The B.C. Sport Agency takes over management of programs that were under the wings of 2010 Legacies Now, such as the Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund and First Nations Snowboard Team. The former 2010 Legacies Now group rebranded as Lift Philanthropy Partners.

From tent city to the Village?

Occupy Vancouver's next rally, on Nov. 12 at 1:30 p.m., is a pro-housing march after a noontime speech by University of British Columbia Urban Studies chair Elvin Wyly on "the Vancouver housing shortage (and) overpriced condos" and a 1 p.m. speech by Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver mayoralty candidate and City Hall Watch-er Randy Helten on how campaign finance and corporate influence have tainted city hall.

Where will that pro-housing march go?

The Occupy Vancouver website doesn't show the route, but I'm going to guess: could this be the day that Occupy Vancouver meets the Olympic Village?

The Olympic Village, which went into receivership on Nov. 17, 2010, is now known as the Village on False Creek and remains the most controversial luxury housing development in Canada. The Olympic Village's lender once was a division of Fortress Investment Group, the debt-laden, Wall Street hedge fund that, through a subsidiary, foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

According to the fifth point of a six-point motion passed at the Nov. 10 general assembly (see below), Occupy Vancouver members would like to move to the Village, into the portion of units that were originally to be set aside as non-market, social housing. The inventory of 252 was halved when Vision Vancouver decided to give unionized first responders, teachers and nurses first dibs. Residents of the other half of the so-called affordable units have been burdened by a confusing and costly utilities regime run by a company with ties to Vision Vancouver.

In 2008, a different OV -- the Olympic Village -- changed the course of Vancouver politics and enabled Vision Vancouver to win election to Cambie and 12th.

It can be argued that Occupy Vancouver, though leaderless, has become the dominant force of the Nov. 19, 2011 civic election, dictating how both Vision Vancouver and the NPA have campaigned.

If Occupy Vancouver visits the Olympic Village, will that cause Vancouverites to ask more questions about the billion-dollar bailout, such as how much it's really costing taxpayers and could the money have been better spent on housing the homeless?

RESULTS OF TENT CITY NEGOTIATION WORKGROUP
Passed by General Assembly, Nov 10, 2011

That if BC Housing, Judy Graves, or any representative of any housing
agencies come to Occupy Vancouver to offer housing options to those on
site, that members of this tent city collectively, and in solidarity
with one another and the movement, negotiate as a block for housing
with the following, or other, stipulations.

1) That those receiving housing from the tent city at occupy Vancouver
be housed in the same vicinity as each other, and ideally, the same
building, to maintain the vital community that has grown here, and
continue the movement in accessible, local, social space.
2) That those housed continue to maintain collective bargaining rights
in dealing with building managers and non-profit housing providers
regarding tenancy rights issues once housing has been provided. This
is to ensure adequate and appropriate housing options for those with
families, pets, or other ‘barriers,’ and to avoid slumlords,
infestations, and restrictive conditions preventing guests.
3) That BC Housing or some other entity provide daily transportation
funds or provide a shuttle bus between the new housing and the
Vancouver Art Gallery, to ensure accessibility within the Occupy
Vancouver movement.
4) That the encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery continue, in order
to, amongst other things, allow those who have not yet been provided
permanent housing an interim safe, warm, and dry space to sleep and to
connect with housing agencies to secure housing.
5) That this housing be at the site of the promised, but lost, social
and affordable housing at the Olympic Village.
6) Before a final decision is reached, it would be brought to the
General Assembly for approval.

Let the costs continue

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics ended more than 18 months ago, but one of the legacies includes costs to prop up the organization that is supposed to benefit from the $110 million, pre-funded Games Operating Trust. (There was no post-Games profit. VANOC claimed it broke-even, after a $187.8 million bailout from the B.C. and federal governments.)

The Pique Newsmagazine in Whistler revealed that the provincial government is spending another $6.2 million to help Whistler Sport Legacies, the society that operates the Whistler Sliding Centre and Whistler Olympic Park.

Those aren't the only dollars flowing to Olympic-related organizations after the Games. 2010 Legacies Now (rebranded "Lift Partners") got a whack of dough during the last fiscal year, which was the first fiscal year after the Games.

On page 137 of the Detailed Schedule of Payments for 2010-11 published July 18, it lists $10,581,300 in payments from the Community Sport and Cultural Development ministry to 2010 Legacies Now. When I asked, they told me it was for the following:

Participation ($5.4 million):

Supports programs that help train and certify community coaches and officials; that provide opportunities for individuals to learn sport skills (with particular attention to children and youth, individuals with a disability, First Nations, and lower income families); and that help to lower the cost of sport so that lower income families can participate (e.g contributions to KidSport and contributions that help keep sport membership dues as low as possible). Ideally, programming would ensure that the maximum level of any available federal matching funds is achieved. Much of this participation funding flows to Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs – about 60 of them) so that they can provide support to community coaches, officials, and other volunteers.

High Performance ($4.1 million):

Supports programs that provide services and other support to BC’s high performance athletes and coaches; training support for upcoming competitions (e.g. 2011 Western Canada Summer Games, the 2011 Canada Winter Games; the 2011 North American Indigenous Games and other provincial or national competitions as required) and support the province’s high performance infrastructure such as the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific and the province’s regional centres. Programming ideally would maximize federal investment dollars including Own the Podium Funding. High Performance funding flows to PSOs to support the development of their athletes. Funding also flows to the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific and the regional sport centres.

Event Hosting ($1 million)

Supports the Hosting BC program that provides financial support to dozens of international, national and regional sport events held in communities large and small all across British Columbia thereby boosting economic activity, increasing the profile of sport and encouraging participation in sport. Funds also support larger international events (Whistler Bobsleigh/Skeleton World Cup, CONCACAF Olympic Women’s Soccer Qualifier).

Furlong's fuzzy math

The International Olympic Committee has read John Furlong's memoir Patriot Hearts and it wants Furlong to explain something. Specifically, it wants more details about the secret deal with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov for the votes of Russia's IOC members at the July 2, 2003 election of the 2010 Games host city.

In a nutshell, Furlong promised Luzhkov the Vancouver bid team would hold a "how to build your own bid" seminar for the Moscow 2012 Summer Games bid team. Luzhkov agreed that would be enough for Russian IOC members to vote for Vancouver at the 115th IOC session in Prague.

I was first to report on this on Jan. 31. Here is my Feb. 23 update. Luzhkov, by the way, was fired by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev last September. There is even a WikiLeak about Luzhkov.


In Patriot Hearts, Furlong incorrectly claims the Russians had "six or seven" votes. The roll call for the vote shows only three Russian IOC members with voting privileges: Russian Olympic Committee honorary president Vitaly Smirnov, Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev and four-time gold Olympic medal swimmer Alexander Popov (above). All three are now on the Sochi 2014 advisory board. See the full circa 2003 list of IOC members below.

As it happened, Vancouver beat PyeongChang 56-53. A slim, three-vote margin. The Games came and went. Moscow lost its 2012 bid, but Sochi, Russia beat PyeongChang for the 2014 Winter Games. PyeongChang hopes third time's a charm as it battles Annecy, France and Munich, Germany for the 2018 gig.

Who voted for whom on July 2, 2003 was never revealed. There were 126 eligible IOC members, but seven were disallowed from voting because they were from the three bid countries. That left 119 voters, but only 109 were counted on the last ballot. For some reason never fully explained, 10 votes were not cast or counted.

Regardless of whether the Russians respected the Luzhkov deal, Vancouver's previous claim to submitting a lily-white bid is over. Furlong claims it was all done by the rules, but one need only read the IOC's own ethics manual to see it was not legal. No promises of any value are allowed.

Expect the IOC to review the matter and line-up its specially appointed group of members in finely tailored suits to wag their fingers and go "tsk-tsk" in their central European accents during a future closed-door IOC board meeting. The Vancouver Games are over and there's no putting this toothpaste back where it came from.

Or hell could freeze over and the IOC could tell Furlong he broke the rules and he's forever unfit to ever be appointed to the Lausanne, Switzerland-based non-governmental sports government.

International Olympic Committee Prague 2003 Session Annex Roll Call

Twenty questions for Vancouver 2010

An open letter to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games:

As you fade away, after claiming a balanced $1.884 billion budget, I thought I would mark the occasion with 20 questions. This is not a game, but a last-ditch attempt to get answers. You see, the more you've tried to stonewall me and lead me astray over the years, the more determined I get. VANOC has proven time and again that its priority is to protect information, rather than share it. It doesn't have to be this way and it's not too late to be informative.

So, I have 20 more questions after the Dec. 17, 2010 news conference at the BC Hydro Customer Centre (right). Please answer to the best of your ability (and I know you are able):

1 - Why did it take so long to publish this 28-page financial report? Salt Lake 2002 organizers did their first report two months after their Games ($40 million profit). Expo 86 finances were released just over a month after the Fair ended ($349 million deficit).

2 - Why were no quarterly reports issued between Dec. 21, 2009 and Dec 17, 2010, after the organization dutifully adhered to the pledge of quarterly disclosures in the 2002 Multiparty Agreement and the May 2007 promise to citizens that the organization would be transparent?

3 - Why all the shoddy editing? Sponsor Millennium Development is referred to as "Millenium." B.C. Lottery Corporation is called "B.C. Lotteries Corporation." Jet Set Sports is called “JetSet Sports.” Certainly the correct spellings of those companies would have been boldly printed on the cheques they sent you for their sponsorship fees and ticket purchases. Assuming, of course, Millennium sent cheques and they were honoured.

4 - Why are the names of directors and senior managers missing from the report? It’s standard for an annual report to include at least the names of the board chairman and chief executive. The VANOC report doesn’t even mention Rusty Goepel or John Furlong.

Your sponsors make sure their shareholders know who is making the decisions. For example: Teck, who provided the metal for the Olympic and Paralympic medals, has a group photo of its directors on page 26 of its 2009 report, followed by brief bios.

Bombardier, who made the Olympic and Paralympic torches, lists directors, committee rosters and senior management on page 207 of its 2009-2010 annual report. The directors’ photos and short bios are on pages 20 and 21. Vancouver International Airport Authority’s board roster is on page 66 of its 2009 report, but it also does a Governance Report. Hey, there’s a certain director-at-large named Ruston Goepel whose term expires in 2010.

Those are just three examples. By not listing your names, you only breed suspicion. But if the Olympics were as successful as you’d like us to believe, they’d have certainly been there, right?



5 - Before noon on April 4, 2010, there was a paper-shredding truck number 533 from Shred-It in your parking lot, next to the low-rise building's entrance. Click the photo to the right to enlarge. What records were being picked up for shredding? VANOC, we know, was not subject to Freedom of Information or Document Retention statutes.

6 - After the B.C. Place Stadium opening and closing ceremonies, the attendance provided reporters who asked was 55,000 to 60,000. Why then only 87,769 total tickets sold for the shows?

7 - You sold 642,223 hockey tickets for $111.9 million. You scored! How many of those were in luxury suites? Because of the recession, you had a hard time selling what you thought would be an easy sell and there were bargains. A box that holds 20 people was going for $2,800 and up. You even published the price list.

8 - Salt Lake 2002 organizers disclosed the full attendance sport-by-sport. The grand total was 1,525,118 tickets sold. Will you kindly tell us how many tickets were sold for each sport or at each venue? We know hockey, but you haven’t told us about figure skating, short-track speedskating, long-track speedskating, curling, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, nordic combined, bobsled, skeleton and luge.

9 - The British Columbia and federal governments gave $187.8 million to VANOC operations. When the business plan was published May 8, 2007, John Furlong said clearly: "The $1.63 billion Games operating budget is funded entirely by the private sector, it is not funded by the taxpayers... and although we're projecting a balanced budget I think we all hope that we will leave a positive financial legacy." Relive the moments Furlong said that in the video below.

There is no "positive financial legacy" - aka "profit - but do tell us when the government bailout began. You really did need it because the May 2007 business plan incorrectly assumed "the Canadian economy will remain relatively strong, with no recession, through Games time."

What is the full and complete tally for all payments made by all government partners, including tickets, advertising, etc.? There were five municipal, nine provincial and three territorial partners.

10 - The $50 million increase in the transportation budget to $173.5 million was poorly blamed on changes in accounting. Yet I see the same language in the May 2007 business plan that I see now in the final report. Bus systems cost $92.6 million after a lengthy dispute with Gameday Management Group was finally resolved in mediation in early November. Was the cost of transportation underestimated in 2007?

11 - The Sustainability Report tells us that the posting of the ethics commissioner's final report to the VANOC website didn't happen because the website is no longer being updated. Could you send a news release via Canada Newswire, post one on 2010 Legacies Now or inform the media on your list about this report?

12 - The Sustainability Report says on page 33: “VANOC required that all directors file, at least annually, a Declaration of Interest by Directors. Senior managers were also required to file such documentation, only once, in 2008, though with a requirement that they proactively update their original filing if their circumstances changed.”

On page 35 it says: “Survey of senior management regarding compliance completed in Q4 2009 for report to audit committee on December 14, 2009. On May 31, 2010, final survey completed with remaining senior managers for report to audit committee at its meeting in early June 2010.

"Declarations of Interest by Directors completed in 2009; exceptions included two directors, whose declarations were received in 2010. VANOC’s procurement team was provided with updates about entities in which directors declared an interest.”

Could you please tell us about the directors, management and the entities in which they have interest? The London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority, which fulfills a function similar to VANOC, posts what's called a "register of interests" on its website below the biography of each director.

13 - The Sustainability Report stops at April 30, 2010, yet major environmental works were continuing at venues into the summer. The Paralympics, you must remember, ended on March 21. Remediation at Hillcrest, UBC, Cypress, Creekside and the Callaghan Valley was still active. Giant piles of straw existed at Cypress in late May. Biologists you hired to trap mice seen escaping from delivery trucks in February were applying to the provincial government for permits in June. Why, if work was not finished, is this Sustainability Report the last? The previous sustainability report spanned Aug. 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009.

14 - Previous Sustainability Reports included information (though never enough to be satisfactory) from Intertek Group regarding the offshore manufacture of souvenir goods. Page 93 of the previous report even shows 79 factories -- including 57 in China -- were used to make Vancouver 2010 items. You even mentioned on a few occasions that factories had not been in compliance, but were given a second chance. Why, then, is the final report missing this information?

15 - The Sustainability Report is 138 pages. The Games final financial report -- which covers Sept. 30, 2003 to July 31, 2010 -- is just 28 pages. Why is one so fat and the other so thin? By comparison, the report for the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2009 was 31 pages.

16 - There was a $2 million loss because criminals used stolen credit card numbers to buy thousands of tickets on the Fan-to-Fan Marketplace. VANOC was the first organizing committee-to sanction a ticket scalping website. Each transaction was subject to a 20 percent fee (10 percent charged the buyer and 10 percent charged the seller). What was the total net revenue for this site and how many tickets were sold via this channel?

17 - These Games were supposed to be a step forward for Canadian aboriginals. The Four Host First Nations were instrumental in the success. You paid $3.5 million for their pavilion, yet the number of aboriginals on staff seems rather low. The report says only 1 percent of people on staff "self-identified" as being aboriginal. Could you convert that percentage to a number? We already know there was no full-blooded aboriginal athlete competing for Team Canada.

18 - The Olympic Truce was a delicate issue for VANOC, because the Canadian government is spending billions to put our men and women in harm's way in Afghanistan. There have been 154 deaths, including 24-year-old Cpl. Joshua Caleb Baker of Edmonton, who died at a weapons training range near Kandahar on Feb. 12, 2010, opening day of the Games. When VANOC did its part for the Olympic truce, it decided to send sports equipment in so-called spirit boxes to communities in the Canadian Arctic. What became of that program? That information is not reflected in the report.

19 - Certain expensive works were undertaken at B.C. Place Stadium that were never contemplated in the bid stage. The Sustainability Report laughingly claims there were “limited modifications to an existing facility.” In fact, the bid book said no extra money would be spent on capital upgrades there. Things changed when the roof ripped and collapsed on Jan. 5, 2007.

A new roof-heating system by Genivar was installed and in the weeks before the Games, technicians from Riggit were situated on top of the roof around the clock. Oh, there was that time less than a month before the Games when they went for a coffee break and the roof nearly collapsed under rain because the lighting and sound equipment pulled the roof. Then, after the Games, the roof was taken off for replacement. The material isn't biodegradable. Another roof replacement took place at Canada Place. Same material.

Certainly those weren't VANOC construction projects, but VANOC was the most important tenant in both buildings since 1986. Why do those not warrant mention in the Sustainability Report?

20 - Two words: Executive compensation. Four words: Who made how much? I also wonder how many people were working for each executive and how many were given extended leaves for illness or pregnancy.

I kindly look forward to a reply with complete answers to the above questions at the earliest convenience. Do take some time and enjoy the egg nog and yule logs while you ponder the answers. Of course, I do gladly accept plain, brown envelopes without return addresses (Mine is 554 E. 15th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V5T 2R5).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

--Bob Mackin

Sorry Edmonton, no Expo for you.

Brace yourself. It's coming and it won't be pretty.

I'm talking about the report on how much the Government of Canada spent on the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The Province of British Columbia and City of Vancouver have reported on how much taxpayers' dollars they spent on the Games. Ottawa has been a laggard. It disclosed the G8 and G20 summits cost almost $860 million when it made a massive Friday dump of documents in the House of Commons on Nov. 5. Those events took place in Ontario in June. The Olympics were in February and Paralympics in March. Why are the Tories sitting on the numbers? What do they have to hide?

Dumb question...

Opposition parties that pander to voters in populous Ontario screamed bloody murder at G8 and G20 costs before the riot-marred Toronto summit happened. Here's what Liberal leader Michael "Iffy" Ignatieff wrote to Auditor-General Sheila Fraser. NDP Public Safety critic Don Davies also complained. Those same opposition parties have been silent on the Olympics. Seems their leaders are too afraid to question an event that delivered Canada a record 14 gold medals, including Sidney Crosby’s golden goal heard from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

They should be ashamed. They are abrogating their duties to citizens. Patriotism is about more than waving a flag and cheering at the national winter pastime.

Why am I so sure that the costs of the 2010 Winter Games will be a shock to taxpayers?

On Nov. 22, Heritage Minister James Moore wrote to Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel to tell him that Ottawa would not fund a bid for Expo 2017. Without the $706 million needed from the federal government, the $2.3 billion exposition won’t happen.

“This amount doesn’t take into account the full costs of security for this three month event nor the full costs of the Federal Government's obligations to host an event of this size,” Moore wrote. “Costs for the Federal Government for this project could easily eclipse $1 billion, and that is a financial risk we are not prepared to take at this time.”

Mandel was understandably upset. You might say he went ballistic.

Surely if the Vancouver Olympics were as successful as the spin doctors want us to believe, then why wouldn’t Edmonton’s Expo be a wise investment? (Say this with your tongue planted in your cheek, if you know what I mean).

Moore’s ministry led the $1.25 billion federal commitment to the 2010 Winter Games. That was the total pre-Games price tag for federal taxpayers. Moore’s ministry will eventually have to deliver the bad news to Canadians.

The recession-rocked Vancouver 2010 Games were the 21st century’s answer to Montreal 1976. Hope you enjoyed the party. You paid dearly for it.


If you have any doubt about the federal government's reluctance to talk about how much it spent on the 2010 Winter Olympics, read the following.

It's why I award the federal Conservatives a gold medal in the uniquely Canadian sport of freestyle, long-track evasiveness. Spokesthingys for both Heritage Minister Moore and Junior Sport Minister Gary Lunn were equally unhelpful in fulfilling my most recent request.

Enjoy this email string.

From: "Bob Mackin" [Bob.Mackin@sunmedia.ca]
 
Sent: 11/17/2010 10:37 AM EST
 
To: Vanessa Schneider
 
Subject: media request

Hello,

Is Minister Lunn  available today for a short phone interview to talk about the delay in publication of the post-Games financial report by VANOC and to discuss when the post-Games report on federal investments in the Olympics and Paralympics will be published?

Sincerely,

Bob Mackin



From vanessa.schneider@pch.gc.ca
Subject: Re: media request
Date: November 17, 2010 7:47:26 AM PST
To: Bob Mackin

Hi Bob,


I understand that you have also contacted the department in this regard. They will provide the answers to your questions.


Thanks!

Vanessa



Vanessa Schneider 

Directrice des communications/Director of Communications

Cabinet de l'Honorable Gary Lunn/Office of the Honourable Gary Lunn


From: "Bob Mackin"
Date: November 17, 2010 7:48:19 AM PST
To: vanessa.schneider@pch.gc.ca
Subject: RE: media request

Minister Lunn is the elected official who provides oversight. I am only interested in speaking with him, unless a deputy minister or David Robinson is available for an interview.


      

bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca



From: "Bob Mackin"
Date: November 17, 2010 7:36:18 AM PST
To: 
codie.taylor@pch.gc.ca
Subject: media request

Hello,
Is Minister Moore available today for a short phone interview to talk about the delay in publication of the post-Games financial report by VANOC and to discuss when the post-Games report on federal investments in the Olympics and Paralympics will be published?

Sincerely,
Bob Mackin


From: codie.taylor@pch.gc.ca
Subject: Re: media request
Date: November 17, 2010 7:45:05 AM PST
To: Bob Mackin
Cc: jean-luc.benoit@pch.gc.ca

Hi Bob,


I understand that you have also contacted the department in this regard.
 They will provide the answers to your questions.


Thanks,



Codie Taylor

Press Secretary / Attachée de presse

Office of the Hon. James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official
Languages /
Cabinet de l’hon. James Moore, Ministre du Patrimoine canadien et des
Langues officielles
Ministère du Patrimoine canadien | Department of Canadian Heritage
Gatineau, Canada K1A 0M5

codie.taylor@pch.gc.ca
Téléphone | Telephone 819-997-7788
Télécopieur | Facsimile 819-994-1267

Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada







From: "Bob Mackin"
Date: November 17, 2010 7:49:15 AM PST
To: codie.taylor@pch.gc.ca
Subject: RE: media request

Minister Moore is the elected official who provides oversight. I am only interested in speaking with him, unless a deputy minister or David Robinson is available for an interview.



      

bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca



What prompted my recent attempts to interview Ministers Moore and Lunn? The woefully inadequate response from their Ministry's communications office.

From: genevieve.myre@pch.gc.ca on behalf of media@pch.gc.ca
Sent: Fri 22-Oct-10 3:06 PM
To: Bob Mackin
Cc: media@pch.gc.ca
Subject: Media call regarding final report on Olympic and Paralympic

Good afternoon,

The answer to your inquiry is attached below. Please confirm receipt of this email.

Thank you
Geneviève Myre
____________________

The Federal Secretariat's Final Report will be an overall synopsis of the Government of Canada's involvement in the Games.
The report is in its final stages of development and will be posted to the Canadian Heritage website in due time.
The attached Fact Sheet lists the Government of Canada's financial contributions to the 2010 Winter Games.


Service des relations avec les médias | Media Relations Service
Direction générale des communications | Communications Branch
Ministère du Patrimoine canadien | Department of Canadian Heritage
Gatineau, Québec CANADA K1A 0M5
media@pch.gc.ca
Téléphone | Telephone 819 994-9101
Sans frais | Toll-Free 1 866 569-6155 (au Canada seulement | In Canada Only)
Télécopieur | Facsimile 819 994-1444
Téléimprimeur (sans frais) 1 888 997-3123 | Teletypewriter (toll-free) 1 888 997-3123
Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada


From Bob Mackin on behalf of Bob Mackin
Date 22/10/2010 10:09 PM
To genevieve.myre@pch.gc.ca
Subject RE: Media call regarding final report on Olympic and Paralympic

Could you please define "due time?"

Does "due time" mean next week, next month, next year? If you can only give me a ballpark estimate (for example: end of October, mid-November or first week of December), then that would be reasonable.

I would prefer if you could attach an estimate to "due time." Otherwise, the reader/taxpayer does not know what "due time" means.


From: genevieve.myre@pch.gc.ca
Date: October 26, 2010 12:26:16 PM PDT
To: "Bob Mackin"
Subject: RE: Media call regarding final report on Olympic and Paralympic


Good afternoon,

The answer to your inquiry is attached below. Please confirm receipt of this email.

Thank you
Geneviève Myre
__________________

The Final Report is a compilation of material from over 30 federal departments and agencies and is a large undertaking.
The Government of Canada wants to ensure the report is accurate and complete before posting it. Therefore, no specific deadline has been set. We will contact you when the report is available.

Don't mess with Texas

Cowtown Charters of Fort Worth, Texas is one of the "myriad" companies owed money for providing people and vehicles to Vancouver's Olympic Bus Network. President Bill Pippin says his company is owed $135,000, but can't be paid until VANOC pays its bus systems contractor Gameday Management. That doesn't look like it'll happen any time soon, because the sides are at an impasse in talks to reconcile accounts.

First, the Aug. 6, 2010, Statement from Terry Wright, Executive Vice President, Services and Operations, VANOC re: payment for 2010 Games Bus Services

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) provides the following information in response to assertions and allegations that have been made through correspondence and to the media relating to bus services at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Until now, we have trusted that our contractor, Gameday Management Group Canada Inc. would resolve claims with its contracted companies for the provision of buses and drivers. However, it seems apparent that the bus industry believes that unpaid invoices are VANOC’s responsibility, therefore we must respond.

In summary, we regret that bus suppliers have encountered financial hardship however their disappointment, frustration and payment demand should not be directed to VANOC.

We trust the following outlines and clarifies our position and we would respectfully request all those with outstanding bus services claims’ cooperation in directing their further communications to Gameday.

**VANOC declines comment on the quality of Games time bus service except to note that the suggestion that the transportation system was an unqualified success is a superficial analysis without knowledge of all of the facts.

Pre-Games Background:

VANOC engaged Gameday to procure and manage the 2010 Games bus system. Gameday’s responsibility was to assist with system design, to contract with bus companies for buses and drivers, allocate buses to Games transportation systems and manage the commissioning of the buses, the dispatch of buses to allocated routes, the scheduling of drivers and the decommissioning of the buses following the service period. Gameday was not acting on VANOC’s behalf but rather assumed the full outsourcing of these Games operations. In return, VANOC committed to paying Gameday a significant management fee. When Gameday entered into a contract with a third party bus provider, it was obligated to advise VANOC of the total cost associated with the services procured, and VANOC approved installment payments to Gameday that would keep Gameday whole for the costs of approved third party services.

During the period prior to the Games, Gameday informed VANOC of the costs associated with all of their contracted services. VANOC’s contractual entitlement to Gameday was established by the provision of this information by Gameday and its approval for payment by VANOC.

Post Games Background:

Following the Games, the process commenced of reconciling VANOC’s final payment obligations to Gameday with Gameday’s final payment obligations to their bus suppliers. Gameday’s claimed costs in relation to their bus provider contracts far exceeded what had been approved by VANOC, and VANOC determined that most of the increased costs were due to billing errors, unapproved and/or un-communicated charges and charges that VANOC had specifically disapproved. VANOC communicated to Gameday that Gameday would be responsible (out of their considerable management fee) for satisfying committed payments to bus providers that had not been approved by and/or communicated to VANOC.

VANOC Paid All Undisputed/Approved Claims to Canadian and US Bus Companies:

VANOC was not and is not a party to the individual bus provider contracts and accepts no responsibility for Gameday’s supplier arrangements to the extent they were not approved by VANOC as part of its contractual arrangement with Gameday. Nonetheless, VANOC has worked tirelessly with Gameday over the past several months to resolve as many billing discrepancies as possible. In addition to the absence of change orders or approval documentation, a lack of detailed Gameday records (or any records in some instances) have made this a very complicated and frustrating process, but VANOC has considered all Gameday claims in good faith. In many cases, VANOC has paid amounts to Gameday or directly to bus providers (as directed by Gameday) despite the absence of any change order or other evidence that payment for the applicable services were approved by VANOC or that such services were even delivered by Gameday.
VANOC has paid ALL undisputed amounts relating to the provision of services by Canadian and US bus companies to Gameday.

The suggestion that VANOC continues to hold back funds in relation to undisputed accounts is simply false. VANOC had also paid 87.5% of the value of each approved contract sum by January 2010. Importantly, to our knowledge, Gameday only paid 75% of the contract sums to the bus suppliers prior to the Games meaning that 50% of the amount of the bus supplier holdback was in Gameday’s possession prior to the Games. A considerable amount of the US supplier money is also being held by Canada
Revenue Agency in respect of non-resident witholding taxes. VANOC doesn’t know if Gameday has forwarded to the bus suppliers the 12.5% payment that it has been holding since January, nor whether they have forwarded to the bus suppliers the more recent payment by VANOC of the undisputed balance for the bus supplier services. If Gameday has continued to hold these funds pending resolution of its dispute with VANOC, the delay and prejudice and considerable inconvenience
that bus suppliers have been experiencing is clearly attributable to Gameday.

All Outstanding Bus Service Claims Are With Gameday, Not VANOC:

Throughout the period of Gameday’s services, VANOC was advised that only three US-based bus suppliers had been engaged. We have since learned that large portions of the fleets delivered by the three identified carriers were sourced from myriad subcontractors. To the extent any such subcontractor has not been paid, it should look to the company that engaged it for payment, and that entity should in turn look to Gameday to satisfy its claim. VANOC accepts no responsibility to engage in payment discussions with companies with which it has no contractual relationship (and which in many cases were not even known to VANOC until a claim for payment was raised).

Finally, Gameday is capable of satisfying all supplier claims from the management fee committed by VANOC, the majority of which has been paid. Again, we regret that bus suppliers have encountered financial hardship however their disappointment, frustration and payment demand should be directed to Gameday.

Below is Pippin's reaction to a statement issued Aug. 6 by VANOC executive vice-president Terry Wright:

It seems VANOC wants to pretend that the Games did not exist. I was there and personally witnessed the mistreatment and poor management of VANOC. VANOC seems to believe their performance was un-blemished. This is quite wrong.

All the stories are about the money and ignore the other blatant failings of VANOC which caused the need for more transportation. It seems now they are pretending this did not happen. I provided one of those last minute bus additions. I saw the untrained short time college students they hired who had no knowledge of transportation they put in charge at all levels of supervision. These people were ignorant of transportation and basically just stood around. This one critical mistake caused the bus service to under perform.

They would not allow Gameday to bring in seasoned bus people. Oh, that’s right keep the money in Canada. International Trailways put an all call out for help (unpaid) from their organization for volunteers to help fix the problems caused by these untrained workers.

Bus owners and dispatchers rushed to Canada to save the event. Save the event they did despite the incompetence of VANOC (Gameday runs these events all the time).
It seems if they are boxing up or throwing away evidence of their poor performance.

The phone system provided to the drivers did not allow calls outside of network and the cell phone rates made it prohibitive for them to use their own phones effectively making them prisoners. I provided cell phones to my supervisors that allowed me to communicate with them. I spoke with them many times after 7 pm PST to hear of their plight. They always were waiting for VANOC to provide their bus needs for the next day which caused the dispatchers to be late providing schedule times for the drivers. Many had to stay awake waiting for a call that came as little as 30 minutes before their shift transportation. Some had to stand to board a bus 2 hours before their shift and wait (standing) 2 hours after their shift to get back to their domicile. This was because VANOC did not care about safety instead cutting back on transportation to save money.

Canadian hours of service are basically a mirror to US standards with some minor variations. RCMP obviously was instructed to ignore the event and all the violations. Not one of my buses or drivers were stopped and inspected for violations throughout the events.

Shuttle service had to be increased because the drivers did not have enough hours of service to complete their runs (maybe this is some of the extra expense).

No food was provided for the early shift. If you came to work early you got a breakfast coupon and no where to spend it. By the time you got off duty it was almost dinner but not quite. Same situation in reverse at night. No one promised great food but sometimes there was no food. One bottle of water per shift was all VANOC would allow. My contract calls for my drivers to be fed and sheltered each day from the time they left their home base until the time they returned. No food was provided when they had a day off. Most were trapped in their hotel room without any means to find food. Later on some shuttles were provided to allow the drivers to buy food in bulk (maybe some more of the extra expense).

Some of the staging areas were better than others. I had to provide microwaves and refrigerators so my people could eat. International Trailways started providing extra food and water they paid for out of their own pockets. The drivers could not afford to buy food because the prices were boosted to gouge the foreigners. My drivers were told if they deviated from their appointed routes to find food or water or for any other reason they would be apprehended by the RCMP.

As they did throughout the games and are still doing now they are pretending their performance was flawless when in fact they caused all the problems that required extra equipment. They now seem to be saying there is no record of any extra buses ordered during this event.

My contract called for 90% of my funds to be held in escrow. The article you sent clearly admits to this not happening. I am told my contract is a mirror of all upstream of me. VANOC does not mention that the Paralympics bus contracts were not secured until after the Olympics were over.

Where is this money? Tony Vitrano at Gameday is now saying that VANOC wants to only pay for days the buses were in service. This is not what my contract stipulates. No bus owner in their right mind would send buses that far away without a secure revenue stream. There would not have been an Olympics if Bus owners had any inkling how irresponsible VANOC would be in their administration from before the event until this day.

Can anyone believe that a contract could be written that basically states that company “A” will provide uncertain and unlimited services for a fixed price? Of course not! VANOC had a budget for transportation and hired Gameday to provide a certain amount of equipment. Let’s see the contract between VANOC and Gameday. I am told the extra buses ordered have been reimbursed.

What specifically is VANOC talking about that would justify holding back 12.5%? Does Gameday allege they were asked to provide more services than VANOC will acknowledge?  The big mistake everyone made was trying to make up for all of VANOC’s shortcomings. We do this in the bus business. It is called customer service. Most times we do not even get a thank you. In this instance we are being told not only were the efforts not appreciated but actually in some ways did not happen. Basically a swift kick in the butt!

My company sent 13 coaches with 26 drivers 2,400 miles one way to help make the Olympics a success. Gameday has nothing to gain as this is what they do. If bus companies found out that Gameday was acting not in good faith Gameday would be out of business. VANOC is out of business. An easy conclusion can be drawn. Gameday has nothing to gain here except moving on to the next event. VANOC keeps all they steal from the bus companies and gets put back in the general treasury.

A bigger question would be why VANOC paid for the sorry quality of all the food they provided. Oh, sorry they were Canadian companies. VANOC is a public company. Let them prove what they say by showing payments made to Gameday. That would be a little too real wouldn’t it? Could it be possible that there was a 12.5% failure rate that caused money to be withheld to that extreme? Absurd also!  Let the public entity be specific publicly about what the short falls are.

And then there is the CRA. How can they justify keeping our money? Oh, that’s right it stays in the Canadian coffers. We were allowed to file a waiver for moneys paid after the waiver was accepted. Why was the waiver not extended to cover the entire event? Why did VANOC not counsel Gameday that this would be an issue? Oh, that’s right the money stays in Canada. My bus company brings about 2,000 tourists to Canada where they stay for at least a week. Do you know how many of these companies that are unpaid bring tourists to Canada each year? Maybe we should set up our tours to stay in the states?

We jumped through hoops day after day for 4 months prior to the games to send help to Canada to make these games in North America a success. From the beginning they were under staffed, disorganized and under planned making it up as the went.

There were lots of people involved that tried to help but they were ignored. They tried to tell them the problems they would encounter but were ignored. They continued to help up to the point many organizations are in jeopardy including International Trailways, Gameday and many small to medium size bus companies. I guess they think those $500,000 buses don’t have to be paid for. Oh, let’s just keep the money in Canada and scr’ the yanks.

Were you an Olympic Bus Network driver, mechanic or dispatcher? Did you work in depot catering? Tell me your story. Email 2010goldrush@gmail.com