Cup Crazy

Has the Stanley Cup been to Stanley Park?

Why, yes it has. And I was right there with it, at the foot of the statue of Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley of Preston: the former Conservative Member of the British Parliament, the Earl of Derby and Canada's Governor General from 1888-1893.

When Labatt was the official beer of the National Hockey League, it conducted its Cup Crazy promotional tour across Canada.

The tour came through North Vancouver in 1999 and made a stop at the North Vancouver city fire hall.

I was working for the North Shore News newspaper at the time and arranged for West Vancouver resident and Hockey Hall of Famer Clint Smith to show up for a photo with the grandest trophy in North American sport.

Smith was a member of the 1940 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.

Hold your booing, please.

Mr. Smith, who lived to be 95 before being called up to the Heavenly Hockey League in 2009, was a Saskatchewan native. Before becoming a Ranger in 1936, he spent three years as a Vancouver Lion in the North West Hockey League. In 1933-34 he scored 25 goals and assisted 14 in just 34 games.

By virtue of being a Hockey Hall of Famer and a member of a Cup-winning team, Mr. Smith, whose nickname was "Snuffy," got to hoist the Cup. Needless to say, it made his day.

It made my day when I continued on with the Labatt and Hockey Hall of Fame crew for lunch and a jaunt into Stanley Park where we posed with the Stanley Cup at the popular statue of the park's namesake.

Lord Stanley never witnessed a Stanley Cup game. But he did enjoy Vancouver's most famous park. It opened on Sept. 28, 1888, but Lord Stanley himself came for the official dedication on Oct. 29, 1889.

I predict the Stanley Cup will return to Stanley Park sometime during June 2011. And Vancouverites will be proud of calling the park -- and the trophy -- theirs.

Stanley Cup: the Battle of Whistler Blackcomb

A lot is being made of Cam Neely's return to Vancouver as president of the Boston Bruins, the last team standing in the way of the Vancouver Canucks' first Stanley Cup.

The right-winger was drafted ninth overall by the Canucks in 1983 but traded on his 29th birthday June 6, 1986 to the Bruins for Barry Pederson. When he retired in 1996, Neely had 395 goals and 299 assists in 726 regular season games and 57 goals and 32 assists in 93 playoff games. He was deservedly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. He also dabbled in the movies, as the notorious Sea Bass in Dumb and Dumber.

Neely was born in Comox, B.C. but raised in Maple Ridge, B.C. Though his executive post with the Bruins keeps him primarily in Boston, he retains Vancouver business ties as a member of the Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. board of directors.

Who else might you know on the Whistler Blackcomb board? John Furlong, who was the CEO of the Vancouver Olympics.

Furlong showed his colours April 24 during game six of the Canucks' first round series against the Chicago Blackhawks. You might've caught a quick glimpse of VANOC boss Furlong on Hockey Night in Canada, wearing a number 10 Canucks' jersey and waving a Canadian flag after Alex Burrows' goal in game six at United Center in Chicago. Furlong, amid a sea of red-clad Blackhawks' fans, was treated to the trip by Canucks' owner and VANOC sponsor Francesco Aquilini. A source tells me Furlong was sprayed with a drink by an unruly Chicago fan.

Furlong was in friendlier territory five days later when he flogged his Patriot Hearts book in a lunchtime speech to the Canadian Community Newspapers Association Ink + Beyond conference at River Rock Show Theatre at the Richmond casino. The audience included his new female companion, Deborah Shaw.

When Whistler Blackcomb's board of directors meets after mid-June, either Neely or Furlong will be sporting a bigger smile.

A pitcher's worth a couple hundred words, at least

The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum got a special delivery May 17.

The skinsuit worn by Jon Montgomery, the 2010 Winter Olypmics’ skeleton champion from Russell, Man., arrived.

What’s more interesting is how it arrived.

Stuffed inside a beer pitcher.

“We had a good laugh and almost immediately everyone realized that it must be from Jon Montgomery!” said Michael Markowsky, the Hall's creative marketing and outreach coordinator. “Who else would send their uniform packed inside a pitcher of beer? What a fantastic sense of humour!”

Markowsky says the worn skinsuit has Montgomery’s name on the collar with “a little bit of duct tape on the collar at the top end of the zipper (near where Jon’s chin would be), perhaps to hold the zipper in place so it doesn’t flap around or come undone during a race.”

Alas, the suit wasn't on Montgomery when he slid to gold. Nor was the jug the one he sipped from on his famous victory walk through Whistler Village. We know that Sidney Crosby's golden goal puck from the men's hockey final was eventually found and deposited at the Hockey Hall of Fame, but the whereabouts of Montgomery's jug are unknown!

"The suit is an official suit. Jon never wore it but it was one of three suits he was given to compete in," Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton spokesman Chris Dornan told me. "The pitcher is one that the COC sent him from Canada Olympic House in Whistler thinking it was the one he was given. He thought so to for some time until he watched the video and realized it was not. But it was one he drank out of at Canada Olympic House after the race."

Montgomery's skinsuit is among 1,600 artifacts the Hall has collected from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics. Most will be on display beginning Nov. 4 when the Hall reopens at B.C. Place Stadium with its new Vancouver 2010 Gallery.

British Columbia's sports shrine and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (to open July 1 at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary) will be the two places where most of the tangible memories of the 2010 Games will be on display for decades to come.

Village vexation and victory

It has been six months since Vancouver city hall's bombshell petitioning of Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties into receivership over a then-$740 million debt on the Olympic Village, which reopened May 15, 2010.

On May 18, court-appointed receiver Ernst and Young published its second update to the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Here are the highlights:

Residential resiliency and rage

Occupancy is 60 percent. Of the 737 market units, 528 are rented or sold. The 119 units in three market rental buildings are fully leased. But 104 of the city-owned 252 “affordable” units remain empty. E&Y estimates 767 of the 1,108 total units in the development will be occupied by July 31.

Marketer Bob Rennie’s campaign "has resulted in 124 sales or unconditional offers that have closed or are awaiting completion, having a gross sales value in excess of $86 million".

"This is an outstanding beginning to the marketing process, and substantially accelerates the receiver's timetable for populating," said the E&Y report.

E&Y said that it paid $57 million to city hall from the sales of strata units.

Fifty-seven is a significant number elsewhere in the report, which questions the credibility of lawsuits filed in March and April by owners of 57 units in five parcels.

E&Y points out that the B.C. Supreme Court filings don’t name SEFC Properties as a defendant, but only charge the City of Vancouver and the companies set up to sell the condo buildings with misleading disclosure statements and shoddy workmanship. The plaintiffs want refunds. The city and Salescos have fought back with defence statements. The report said the lawsuits have impacted public perception of the development.

E&Y takes issue with the videos of condominium chaose released by the buyers’ lawyer Bryan Baynham.

E&Y speculates the famous clip of water cascading through a pot light would have been shot in October 2010 "when a toilet overflowed while the unit's occupant was not at home, with the result that there was water damage to the unit on the floor below. The resulting damage was repaired shortly thereafter, prior to the receiver's appointment."

Another clip showing an exposed ceiling would have happened in late November 2010 when “the first cold weather of the season exposed the fact that the heating system had not been routinely maintained, and many units throughout the Village on False Creek experienced problems”.

E&Y admits there were 1,990 reported deficiency claims but only 193 were outstanding as of May 5. Of those remaining, 106 are cosmetic.

"Construction deficiencies are common in all real estate developments, but the completion of the deficiencies at the Village on False Creek was substantially in arrears when the Receiver was appointed.”

As if to further tarnish the suing residents, the E&Y court filings include an email exchange between a person, whose name has been censored, and E&Y’s Michelle Grant.

In a Jan. 13, 2011 email, with the subject “The hoops have been jumped through”, the disgruntled buyer takes issue with the deficiencies and the glacial speed of New Home Warranty.

"We need to come to terms by the end of the week or the media blitz I have planned will ensure zero sales until May...”

A separate email said the person "managed to re-connect with an old friend (name deleted) you may know him as he was NBC's London Bureau Correspondent for the last couple of years and has recently been called back to New York. We talked about the possibility of doing a Dateline on the Olympic Village and they would even contact my crew."

In yet another email, the person says: "What do you think will happen when taxpayers find out their money is being used to screw over my parents… do the right thing and void my parent's (sic) contract.”



Careful about commercial

The Village’s commercial offerings remain slim with only a TD Bank and the Legacy Liquor Store. Discussions continue with London Drugs and Overwaitea Food Group. While both have “expressed their confidence” in the Village, E&Y says “occupancy levels… will be critical to firming up their opening dates."

Overwaitea planned since 2007 to open an Urban Fare upscale grocery store in the Village, but now it may not. It was given a $900,000 tenant improvement allowance to design, build and outfit the space. No work was performed, but the company repaid the funds. E&Y maintains there are other grocers interested in the space allotted for Urban Fare.

London Drugs has been built-out and awaits installation of fixtures. Its opening, however, "remains dependent on the opening of an anchor grocer tenant."

A Terra Breads location will open by July 1 at Athletes Way and Manitoba Street near the seawall. The Daniel Group, which operates the Mill Marine Grill at Coal Harbour, has an agreement in principle to open the Village Kitchen restaurant and bistro in spring 2012 at the Creekside Community Recreation Centre. A proprietor of a medical office has made a conditional offer to occupy a spot next to the TD Bank this fall.

BrandLive, the company behind pavilions for Vancouver and Alberta during the 2010 Winter Olympics, was hired to make the Village a destination for community events. Tentatively scheduled are the following:

Teddy Bears Picnic (June 15, July 16, Aug. 20); Carnivale (June 16-19); Sunrise Yoga (Saturdays from June 18-Aug. 27); Village Famers Market (July 8, 15, 22, 29; Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23); Village Buskers Festival (July 8-9) and Summer Screen outdoor movies (Aug. 4, 11, 18, 25).

Bottom line

So, how much is this costing? Ernst and Young revealed that during the Nov. 17, 2010 to April 8, 2011 period, it racked up more than 5,000 hours of work and billed $1.67 million (excluding out of pocket and administrative expenses and HST).

Between Nov. 17 and April 30, it received $65.4 million cash, including $48.3 million from the sale of units, and disbursed $23.3 million.

In April, city hall forecast a $48 million loss on the Olympic Village after taking control of $45 million worth of Millennium Development properties to pay down the $757.9 million debt.

The busiest woman in B.C.? Oh, really?

Citizens of Vancouver-Point Grey will go to the polls on May 11 to elect a successor to Liberal MLA Gordon Campbell, who was Premier from May 2001 until February 2011 when Christy Clark was elected new leader of the B.C. Liberal Party.

The by-election will happen without the star candidate attending an all-candidates meeting. She even pooh-poohed an invitation to appear with her opponents on CKNW, the radio station that employed her as a talkshow host and gave her the microphone and profile that she exploited for her political comeback.

Clark claims she is too busy and needs to spend her time wisely, because she's a mom and she's a premier.

How busy is she? Ms. Openness and Engagement doesn't proactively disclose her agenda, but I was able to obtain a copy of what she did during the first week-and-a-half on the job.

You'd think that taking over the top elected office in the province would translate into a packed schedule of 16-hour days to learn absolutely everything there is to know about overseeing a government with a $41.9 billion budget in a jurisdiction of 4.5 million people. After all, one would want to have the job for years to come.

Some two weeks after winning the Liberal nod, Clark was sworn-in on March 14 at Government House in Victoria. Some of her closest friends were there, including her campaign mastermind Patrick Kinsella and his horseracing buddy Glen Todd. That was her busiest day of work in her first week-and-a-half on the job.

Premier Christy Clark's first agenda

On March 19, Clark's only appointment was the Vancouver Whitecaps' first Major League Soccer game at Empire Field. There she beat a drum before kickoff with Whitecaps' co-owner Steve Nash and MLS commissioner Don Garber and then sat in her own seats. The next day her schedule says "family day" -- a euphemism for day off. Isn't every day supposed to be family day under Clark?

On March 22 at night she attended Cavalia, the equine circus under the tents next to the Olympic Village.

The real reason Clark avoids all-candidates meetings like the plague? Because David Eby would be there. The NDP candidate and former B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director is intelligent, humorous and hip. Eby is much more than his fair-to-middling cover of Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer at the NDP convention. (He deserves applause for the effort in front of a tough crowd that would rather hear Pete Seeger than Bon Jovi.)

I witnessed Eby beat former Attorney General Wally Oppal in a Fraser Institute debate on Olympic security in January 2010. He delivered a scathing critique of the RCMP and VANOC before storming out of a public forum on Olympic security in November 2009. He would certainly make mincemeat out of Clark in a debate.

Clark's campaign boss is none other than Colin "HST" Hansen, who knows how weak his candidate is among political foes. Certainly neither Hansen nor Clark can forget her abysmal, embarrassing performance on Sept. 20, 2005 against Coun. Sam Sullivan. Clark and Sullivan were vying for the NPA's mayoral nomination. Clark literally lost it.

The headline on a column by The Tyee's Mark Leiren-Young read "Man in Wheelchair Runs over Christy Clark!"

In the Sept. 21, 2005 Vancouver Sun, Frances Bula wrote:

Most of the audience appeared to be decided on who they will be voting for at NPA elections on Saturday.
But one couple, Bill and Sonia Easton, said they came down to help make up their minds.
"We're looking at how much understanding Christy Clark has of municipal issues," said Bill Easton.
"We know Sam has a long background in politics, which can be good and bad. We're here to find out more about Christy."
One thing they learned is that Clark is still getting familiar with Vancouver names. She referred to the Southeast False Creek project as the south False Creek project and twice she said COPE when she meant NPA.
The second time, after she was wrapping up her opening speech with "Let's return a COPE majority to city council," audience members called out to correct her.

Moral of the story: Olympics are good if you're a Tory

There evidently is an Olympic omen on the right when it comes to federal elections in Canada.

The first election after the 1976 Montreal Olympics was contested May 22, 1979 when Joe Clark upset Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as the Clark Progressive Conservatives beat the Liberals 136-114 to win a minority. The NDP, under leader Ed Broadbent, held the balance of power with 26 seats.

The 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary and PC Prime Minister Brian Mulroney went to the polls on Nov. 21, 1988 in the election fought on the divisive issue of free trade with the United States. Mulroney steamrolled to a 211-seat landslide in 1984, but in 1988 won re-election with a 169-seat majority.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives finally got their majority in the May 2, 2011 election, winning 167 seats. Harper now has 100% of the power with 54.2% of the seats in Parliament after getting 39.6% of the votes from 61.4% of the registered voters who cast ballots. That's how the first-past-the-post system works, folks.

Now that Quebec is coloured with the orange of Jack Layton's NDP, will the Tories try to gain favour during the next four years by backing La Belle Province's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics?

Throughout the campaign, Harper sported a black, HBC-made Team Canada jacket from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics collection. Who can forget his all-terrain vehicle ride or his syrup-sucking? Such famous images, like these two, were featured prominently on the Conservative party's campaign website. Harper was doing his best to remind Canadians of the Games and attach himself to the 14-gold medal success of the host nation's athletes. To this day, Harper's government has still not disclosed the final bill to taxpayers for the Games.




The Vancouver Games, however, weren't the springboard to victory for two other candidates who were part of the five-ring circus last year.

Tory Gary Lunn, who was the junior minister of sport, was handily beaten by Green Party leader Elizabeth May in Saanich and the Gulf Islands. May, the Hartford, Ct.-born, former Nova Scotia candidate switched coasts and upset the smug Lunn by more than 7,000 votes (May 31,890; Lunn 24,544) to become the first elected Green in Canadian federal politics. Lunn, you may remember, made VANOC CEO John Furlong the guest of honour to open the campaign office.

In North Vancouver, ex-VANOC vice-president of strategy and partnerships Taleeb Noormohamed (17,665) came a distant second to incumbent Tory Andrew Saxton (28,996).

The Olympics, meanwhile, featured a heavy emphasis on aboriginal involvement (despite there being no full-blooded native on Team Canada). Some believe the Four Host First Nations inclusion strategy was a clever move to prevent tribes-without-treaties from resorting to roadblocks. Others said it only made sense. Could it, however, have played a small part in the election of a record seven aboriginals to Parliament?

Will the ex-VP become an MP?

This time last year, there was a lot of buzz around VANOC CEO John Furlong and whether he would stay in the public eye and run for public office. It was one-way hype.

Furlong always issued an abrupt denial when asked. What's more, his leadership of the Vancouver Olympic committee was a tiring, nearly decade-long campaign fraught with politics and economics. He once said he would have done his job with a paper bag on his head if he could have. Despite his rousing speeches and sometimes feisty answers to relentless journalists, Furlong always seemed a tad reluctant to be in the public eye.

Different story for Taleeb Noormohamed. Noormohamed, 34, is a former VANOC vice-president of strategy and partnerships who worked closely with Furlong. That's Noormohamed with Furlong pictured above at the United Nations in October 2009. The charismatic, intelligent North Shore-raised Noormohamed was born in 1976 (after the Montreal Olympics) in Ottawa and he wants to go back to the nation's capital. This time as the Member of Parliament for North Vancouver.

Noormohamed is running for the Liberal Party in the May 2 election against incumbent Conservative Andrew Saxton. It was at a Noormohamed-hosted rally for Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff that the legendary Nardwuar the Human Serviette convinced Ignatieff to do the Hip Flip. One of the best moments of the campaign, I say.

I caught up with Noormohamed on election eve.

Q: Talk about the experience of running for office in this election.

"It's been a really good opportunity to hear the issues and talk to as many people as you can. I've knocked on thousands of doors, I would hazard to guess, I would say over 4,000 doors.

Q: What have you learned about yourself and the process?

Taleeb: "It's a process that requires you to really trust in people and you have to be willing to work extremely hard. I've been knocking on doors quite literally eight hours a day. This is a team sport and so many people are doing this with you and around you.

"It's a very humbling experience, you have to really be aware of how important elections are to people and how seriously people take them. I've heard people share some amazing and very sad challenges they're facing. It really does inspire you to do this and do better for people.

"If I win, I carry this responsibility that I do keep that dialogue going not just when it's election time."


Q: What are your thoughts on the Jack Layton surge and how the campaign has evolved?

Taleeb: "It's very easy to make whatever promise you want when there is almost no chance you're going to form government.

"Mr. Ignatieff has quite literally years of the Conservatives putting out negative media, negative press, leaving Jack fairly untouched. Part of the fundamental image of Ignatieff that was created was created by the very offensive, negative media work done by the Conservatives. At some point, what Mr. Ignatieff had to say got lost in the hype around Jack…

"Mr. Ignatieff got a much rougher ride than the others did. I was surprised that the media let Harper get away with the kind of campaign that he ran, where questions didn't get answered or Conservatives didn't show up for all-candidates meetings. People didn't scrutinize as closely just the fundamental disrespect Harper had for the media in this campaign."

Meanwhile, though Furlong did not become a candidate, he did endorse Gary Lunn, the Conservative running for re-election in Saanich and the Gulf Islands. See the photo below. Lunn was the junior sport minister before and during the Vancouver Olympics. Furlong appeared at the opening of Lunn's campaign office on April 3.

VANOC needed more taxpayers' money -- including at least $74.4 million directly from the federal government -- because of the Great Recession. The Conservatives have still not disclosed the final bill to taxpayers for the Vancouver Olympics, yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been campaigning across the country while wearing his Team Canada jacket. At least one political blog has noticed and it even posted a gallery of Harper modelling the jacket. The Canadian Olympic Committee did not respond to my query about whether Harper signed a commercial rights agreement to use the jacket in such a way.

On May 2, voters get to decide which party forms government and, ultimately, which leader can attach himself to the Olympic rings.

Twenty-Five Years Ago: Something Happened Here

Twenty-five years ago on May 2, 1986, Expo 86 opened in Vancouver on the shores of False Creek and Burrard Inlet.

The world exposition on transportation and communication's official opening ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium featured Prince Charles and Princess Diana. So began the 165-day fair, which ended Oct. 13, 1986. it was the biggest event until Feb. 12, 2010, when Vancouver's Winter Olympics opened at B.C. Place.



If you weren't there or want a refresher, see this three-part documentary here, here and here.

And, while you're at it, sing along to the theme "Something's Happening Here".



Expo was conceived in February 1978 by architect Randle Iredale and British Columbia Recreation and Conservation Minister Sam Bawlf. Iredale suggested Marathon Realty's industrial and rail lands on the shores of False Creek be transformed into a public area with a multi-use stadium, trade and convention centre and a museum in the old Canadian Pacific Railway Roundhouse. Bawlf proposed "an international exposition to complement Vancouver's 1986 centenary".

In June of that year, Tourism Minister Grace McCarthy dined with Canadian diplomate and Bureau of International Expositions executive Patrick Reid at the Cavalry and Guards Club in London, England. McCarthy suggested a neat gimmick for B.C. tourism: rent the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Reid said the French would never let the famous painting Leonardo da Vinci painting out of their grasp. Reid suggested a world's fair would be a better, more attainable goal.

McCarthy said: "I asked him why Vancouver had never been chosen as a site for a world exposition. He said, 'because it never asked.' Well, we're asking for one now."



Vancouver submitted its bid June 20, 1979 for "Transpo 86" with the BIE in Paris. It was approved Nov. 26, 1980. A September 1980 study estimated it would lose $12 million on a budget of almost $150 million to build and operate. A March 31, 1985 forecast, however, said the $802 million fair would lose $311 million.

The 170-acre site featured a 61 metre hockey stick that rested on the world's biggest flagpole near where Rogers Arena was built in 1995. The biggest crowd of 341,806 came on Oct. 12, 1986. The final tally of visits (not visitors) for the entire fair was 22,111,578.

Expo 86 was my home-away-from-home for the spring, summer and fall of 1986. It was my first reporting gig. The Creek community newspaper, edited and published monthly by Beryl Wilson, graciously gave me space for a column I called "Expo-pourri". One day I visited with my friend Andrew Porter. Lo and behold, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was also visiting with his family. So we followed them. Well, actually we wanted to get a closer look at his attractive daughter Caroline. (Hey, we were teenagers with raging hormones.) It was quite the surprise when we found ourselves in a photograph published in The Expo Celebration: The Official Retrospective Book (Whitecap, 1986) coffee table book. That's my right eye and full head of hair near the middle of the photo. Yes, I once had plenty of hair. The other photos on this page are from the same book.



Back then, the Internet was for scientists and the military. But we got a sneak peek into the future with the ultra-cool Telidon at Expo 86.

Without Expo, there would likely not have been a 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The inukshuk from the Northwest Territories Pavilion was moved from the False Creek site to English Bay where it caught the eye of graphic designer Elena Rivera MacGregor. The Inuit stone sculpture became the VANOC logo.

The Expo 86 logo was designed by Frank Mayrs. The three circles represent air, sea and land while the diagonal line symbolized progress. Expo Ernie was the loveable robot mascot, bought for $53,000 by chairman Jim Pattison at the post-event auction. Science World, the Roundhouse Community Centre, Enterprise Hall (occupied by Edgewater Casino) and Canada Place are the only buildings remaining from Expo 86. Many of the temporary modules found new homes elsewhere in B.C. There are clusters in New Westminster and Delta industrial parks.

The party wasn't for everyone. Hundreds of people were evicted from Downtown Eastside welfare hotels, which were renovated and rented to tourists. Expo brought more tourists, but also residents. The price of land increased. Rental vacancies decreased. It's a more crowded and expensive city.

"Expo is already the number one topic of hatred down here -- if you were living in a 10-by-10 room and looked out to see a big pleasure palace you couldn't afford, you'd feel the same," said Downtown Eastside Residents Association's Jim Green at the time.

Sadly, there were at least two preventable deaths that we must not forget.

Alberta glazier Don Heald, 27, died in a Sept. 9, 1985 fall from the Plaza of Nations' roof when he was not wearing a safety belt. Karen Ford, a nine-year-old girl from Nanaimo, was crushed to death May 9, 1986 at the Canada Pavilion in Canada Place in front of her horrified parents, between a moving wall and a low ceiling beam on a turntable theatre. Canada Place officials admitted to a coroner's jury that they didn't want to spend extra on safety measures.



What are your memories of Expo 86? Good, bad or indifferent?

Are you going to the Expo 86 Lookback Party on May 6 at Science World?

Did anyone get their passport stamped at Garbos' Garbage Pavilion?

The Vancouver Olympics Cables: Day 17

From Feb. 28, 2010, as published April 28, 2011 by WikiLeaks

10VANCOUVER116 2010-02-28 22:10 2011-04-28 00:12 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Vancouver

UNCLAS VANCOUVER 000116

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR DS/TIA
STATE FOR DS/DSS/DO
STATE FOR DS/P/MECU
STATE FOR DS/DO/P
STATE FOR DS/ICI/CI
STATE FOR DS/T/ATA
STATE FOR DS/TIA/ITA
STATE FOR DS/TIA/PII
STATE FOR DS/TIA/CC
STATE FOR S/CT
STATE FOR CA/OCS/ACS/WHA
STATE FOR DS/IP/WHA
STATE FOR WHA/CAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KOLY CASC CA PTER AMGT PINR OVIP
SUBJECT: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics: Situation Report #18

¶1. (SBU) This is the final report providing security-related
information for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games as of noon
February 28, 2010. Please visit the following link for additional
classified reporting:

https://nol.nctc.sgov.gov/ng/cgi-bin/nctcHome .cgi?event=Vancouver_2
¶010. The interagency U.S. Government (USG) Joint Operations Center
(JOC) can be contacted on a 24-hour basis at 604-692-2509, ext 4013
until 0800 March 1.

¶2. (U//FOUO//LES) Canadian and USG authorities are currently
unaware of any specific, credible threats to the Games as the
Closing Ceremonies approach Sunday, February 28, at 5:30 p.m. BC
Place will open to ticket holders at 1:30 p.m. Anti-Olympics
demonstrations scheduled for Sunday are not expected to affect the
Closing Ceremonies; however, Canadian authorities assess
anti-Olympic activism today will be more widespread, and possibly
more disruptive, than previously anticipated.

SECURITY ISSUES

¶3. (U) USA, Canada to face off in Gold Medal Hockey Game -
The Gold Medal match between teams USA and Canada is underway at
Canada Hockey Place (CHP). Concerns remain as to the potentially
contentious nature of today's game and its impact on public order.
Downtown liquor stores are restricting alcohol sales through the
weekend in an attempt to mitigate potential incidents. CHP is
located within blocks of Vancouver's entertainment district,
primary pedestrian corridors, and many hotels.

Protests:

¶4. (U//FOUO//LES) February 27 Protest Activity - The "Pirates
of Justice" flash mob occurred without incident yesterday adjacent
to Canada Place.

¶5. (U//FOUO//LES) The anti-homelessness advocacy group Red
Tent staged a peaceful "Olympic Wrap-Up" demonstration at Canada
Pavilion (near CHP) at noon. Approximately 25 to 30 activists
arranged 142 red tarps as a fence around the outside fence
surrounding Canada Pavilion's Live Site entertainment venue.
Vancouver Police were present during the demonstration.

¶6. (U//FOUO//LES) Current Protest Activity - The "Games Over!
Resistance Lives!" demonstration is scheduled to take place from 1
to 5 p.m. today at the intersection of Smithe and Cambie Streets,
several blocks south of BC Place. Early information indicated
organizers intended the event to be inoffensive to both police and
the public; however, 171 attendees are currently confirmed and may
block the intersection. Black Bloc advocates are likely to
participate, although there is no indication that they intend to
engage in violent or illegal tactics during this event. Online
discussions of the event indicate a high proportion of participants
may proceed afterwards to the Tent Village to join its supporters,
a decision that could turn into an impromptu march.

Incidents:

¶7. (U) No Olympics-related security incidents occurred during
this reporting period.

Threats:

¶8. (SBU) At this time, there are no known specific, credible
transnational terrorist threats against the Vancouver Olympics.

SECURITY OPERATIONS

¶9. (SBU) Diplomatic Security remains engaged in daily USOC
team movements.

¶10. (SBU) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius,
and US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice will depart Vancouver March
¶1. The VIP delegation is scheduled to attend several events,
including the Men's Gold Medal Hockey match at Canada Hockey Place
and the Closing Ceremonies.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS/PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

¶11. There is no significant information or activity to report.

CONSULAR ISSUES

¶12. There is no significant information or activity to report.

POLITICAL/GENERAL ISSUES

¶13. Team USA will finish the Winter Games with 37 medals, the
most in Winter Olympics history.

¶14. A schedule and results of all competitions throughout the
Games can be found at

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-schedule -results/.

CHICOLA

The Vancouver Olympics Cables: Day 16

From Feb. 27, 2010, as published April 28, 2011 by WikiLeaks

10VANCOUVER114 2010-02-27 22:10 2011-04-28 00:12 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Vancouver



UNCLAS VANCOUVER 000114

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR DS/TIA
STATE FOR DS/DSS/DO
STATE FOR DS/P/MECU
STATE FOR DS/DO/P
STATE FOR DS/ICI/CI
STATE FOR DS/T/ATA
STATE FOR DS/TIA/ITA
STATE FOR DS/TIA/PII
STATE FOR DS/TIA/CC
STATE FOR S/CT
STATE FOR CA/OCS/ACS/WHA
STATE FOR DS/IP/WHA
STATE FOR WHA/CAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KOLY CASC CA PTER AMGT PINR OVIP
SUBJECT: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics: Situation Report #17

¶1. (SBU) The following report provides security-related
information for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games as of noon
February 27, 2010. Please visit the following link for additional
classified reporting:

https://nol.nctc.sgov.gov/ng/cgi-bin/nctcHome .cgi?event=Vancouver_2
¶010. The interagency U.S. Government (USG) Joint Operations Center
(JOC) can be contacted on a 24-hour basis at 604-692-2509, ext
¶4013.



¶2. (U//FOUO//LES) Canadian and USG authorities are currently
unaware of any specific, credible threats to the Games as the
Closing Ceremonies approach Sunday, February 28, at 5:30 p.m. PST.
BC Place will open to ticket holders at 1:30 p.m. PST.
Anti-Olympics demonstrations scheduled for Sunday are not expected
to affect the Closing Ceremonies.



SECURITY ISSUES



¶3. (U) USA, Canada to face off in Gold Medal Hockey Game -
Friday's semifinal games set the stage for the much-anticipated
Gold Medal match between Teams USA and Canada. As with previous
games between the perennial rivals, concerns exist as to the
potentially contentious nature of Sunday's 12:15 p.m. PST game at
Canada Hockey Place (CHP) and its impact on public order. Downtown
liquor stores will restrict alcohol sales through the weekend in an
attempt to mitigate potential incidents. CHP is located within
blocks of Vancouver's entertainment district, primary pedestrian
corridors, and many hotels.

¶4. (U//FOUO//LES) Mass exodus expected at Vancouver
International Airport March 1 - A record number of passengers - an
estimated 40,000 - is expected to depart the Vancouver
International Airport (YVR) on March 1. The crush of travelers may
create delays, potential confrontations between passengers and
security/airport staff, and safety/crowd control problems in an
emergency. Canadian authorities are currently unaware of any
threats to YVR.



Protests:



¶5. (U) February 26 Protest Activity - The "Critical Mass Bike
Ride" transpired without incident.



¶6. (U//FOUO//LES) Current Protest Activity - The "Pirates of
Justice" flash mob - a group protesting working conditions on
Olympic security accommodation vessels - is scheduled for noon
today adjacent to Canada Place. This group's previous activities
were not associated with property damage or violence. Approximately
seventy attendees are currently registered for this demonstration.



¶7. (U//FOUO//LES) The anti-homelessness advocacy group Red
Tent is staging an "Olympic Wrap-Up" demonstration at Canada
Pavilion (Dunsmuir and Beatty, approximately 2 blocks NE of Canada
Hockey Place) at noon PST today. Demonstrators plan to assemble at

Keefer and Abbott Streets then move approximately one block west to
Canada Pavilion. Once at Canada Pavilion, activists intend to set
up 142 red tarps and use 1700 feet of "messaging" to "wrap the
entire pavilion" as part of their call for an end to homelessness.
Protesters are encouraged to bring a paintbrush, instruments, and
sleeping gear to stay overnight. The march from the assembly area
at Keefer and Abbott Streets to the Pavilion will likely disrupt
traffic and temporarily obstruct public access to the exhibit, but
it not anticipated to interfere with any Olympic events.



¶8. (U//FOUO//LES) Anticipated Protest Activity - The "Games
Over! Resistance Lives!" demonstration is scheduled to take place
from 1 to 5 p.m. on February 28 at the intersection of Smithe and
Cambie Streets, several blocks south of BC Place. This
demonstration has 171 attendees currently confirmed and is expected
to be peaceful.



Incidents:



¶9. (U//FOUO//LES) At c. 10:50 a.m. PST today, TSA and CBP JOC
sources received word of a suspicious item at the Vancouver Airport
international terminal. The suspicious item - an outbound
passenger's bag - was inspected and found benign by CBP and
Canadian law enforcement personnel. No further action was required
by Canadian or USG personnel and the incident is considered closed.
No other Olympics-related security incidents occurred during this
reporting period.

Threats:



¶10. (SBU) At this time, there are no known specific, credible
transnational terrorist threats against the Vancouver Olympics.



SECURITY OPERATIONS



¶11. (SBU) Diplomatic Security remains engaged in daily USOC team
movements.



¶12. (SBU) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius,
and US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice will depart Vancouver March
¶1. The VIP delegation is scheduled to attend several events,
including the Men's Gold Medal Hockey match at Canada Hockey Place
and the Closing Ceremonies.



PUBLIC AFFAIRS/PUBLIC DIPLOMACY



¶13. There is no significant information or activity to report.



CONSULAR ISSUES


¶14. There is no significant information or activity to report.

POLITICAL/GENERAL ISSUES



¶15. Cooler weather and rain have returned to the Vancouver area.
A schedule and results of all competitions throughout the Games can
be found at http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-schedule -results/.
CHICOLA