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Calgary & Alberta Economy


Provincial and federal government money is now sought for a $60-million renovation that includes floor replacement, ice plant upgrades, a new running track and improved accessibility for disabled people among other items.

Alberta's Sports Minister Joseph Schow has been lobbying the federal government to co-fund the renovation.

"The Oval has been an important piece of sports infrastructure for nearly four decades and is a legacy of the '88 Olympic Games. Minister Schow has been asking the federal government to recognize the importance of the Oval and co-invest in its repairs since he first entered the Tourism and Sport portfolio in June 2023, and we've yet to see any progress," said a statement from Schow's office.

The location of Calgary's Oval on the university campus helps sustain it financially, but makes applying for government funding more complex.

A statement from the office of new federal sports minister Terry Duguid said due to the Oval's unique ownership structure, it isn't eligible for some infrastructure grants.

"The Olympic Oval is a vital part of Canada's sport legacy, and we understand its importance to athletes and the Calgary community," the statement said. "We remain committed to finding solutions to make sure the Oval continues to serve Canadians for years to come."

Can someone explain to me why the sport facilities on the University Campus (The Oval, McMahon Stadium) have the ownership structure they do? Because they're on University land are they a Provincial responsibility?

It benefits no one to have these facilities get the bare minimum to just be able to stay open when they're well used and should be a point of pride. McMahon is an embarrassment and the Oval shouldn't be left to fall apart over 60 million dollars.
 
The main thing with the Oval is the city does not consider it a community asset in the way the city considers even Winsport a community asset. Because of this, the city doesn't even contemplate that when it uses all the federal grant money for recreation facilities that southern Alberta can expect, that that means no other facilities in the area can receive funding even if they are eligible.

A few programs explicitly exclude post-secondaries, but that isn't the main problem. The main problem is just like the former Eau Claire YMCA, the city does not consider it a community asset.

The Oval is owned by the university because as a complicated bit of infrastructure, and provider of the land, it made sense at the time. It is very complicated to near impossible to have others own a structure on university land. McMahon is owned by the university because the city needed land to expand Crowchild and build the LRT, and the landswap made sense. Maintaining the Olympic Volunteer Centre (now the Red and White Club) was also useful.
 
I don't blame the university as they're pretty underfunded by the province. If you're the University its hard to justify any money going towards the Oval or McMahon when you're fighting for every cent to run a University. Let alone the Oval and McMahon. Both should be moved out of the University's portfolio. If they did a land swap before then one should be done again. The Oval for the Brentwood park and ride. McMahon for the land where Father David Bauer, the Foothills Aquatic Centre, and Foothills Tennis Courts are. Those parcels will be freed up by the Fieldhouse, eventually.
 
Mountain Man said:
our facilities are crumbling
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I think it is probably too late. Ski Jumps, and sliding track are decommissioned, aren't they? Oval is maybe going to make it through next winter. Could split the games with Vancouver? Nenshi was a big champion of them in '26 maybe if he gets elected he'll champion them again. Could do a Calgary, Canmore, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Whistler thing.
 
I hope there's another stab at the Olympics. The reality with the winter games is that countries are no longer building massive facilities like Sochi to host it. It will likely rotate between a few locations. Refurbishing all the facilities for 1 Olympics may not make sense, but building it for 1 every 24 years might make more sense.
 
trtcttc said:
but building it for 1 every 24 years might make more sense.
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Unfortunately you come back around when you look at the projects, that since they've grown to include the paraolympics, they've become unwieldy and expensive.

For the Olympics you could kick students out of dorms, given you have a lot of notice. For 6-8 weeks to host both? It is a lot harder. So instead you have to build a village from scratch. This ends up being a big condo development (Vancouver) or a big social housing development (what was proposed in Calgary). The former you have lots of risk, the later, a lot of cost.

Then add it security costs.

And the city's weird risk culture (fixed costs good, massive contingency on top of contingency good).
 
trtcttc said:
I hope there's another stab at the Olympics. The reality with the winter games is that countries are no longer building massive facilities like Sochi to host it. It will likely rotate between a few locations. Refurbishing all the facilities for 1 Olympics may not make sense, but building it for 1 every 24 years might make more sense.
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Very random website but it is a source on Wikipedia... take that for what it is worth. Looks like the next games available are... 2042! Seventeen years, let that soak in. The Olympics are not the answer to fixing facilities now. There's also the last couple sentences, what will the climate be like by 2042?

www.bluewin.ch

Winter Olympics 2030 in the French Alps

A few years after the Summer Games in Paris, France is once again hosting the Olympics. The IOC awards the French Alps the bid for 2030 - albeit with reservations.
www.bluewin.ch www.bluewin.ch

Switzerland could host in 2038​

The next Winter Games in 2026 will be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy. The IOC wants Switzerland to be given preferential rights for 2038 if it bids again. In the race with France and the USA, the Swiss bid received an early rejection from the IOC selection commission, as did the Swedish project. The last German Winter Games bid was Munich for 2022, but this failed due to opposition from the local population.

In the long term, the winter spectacle is a problem area for the IOC due to climate change. According to researchers' calculations, only ten countries will still be snow and ice-safe enough to host the Winter Games by 2040.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
I think it is probably too late. Ski Jumps, and sliding track are decommissioned, aren't they? Oval is maybe going to make it through next winter. Could split the games with Vancouver? Nenshi was a big champion of them in '26 maybe if he gets elected he'll champion them again. Could do a Calgary, Canmore, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Whistler thing.
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Sliding track is being renovated, just needs more money to keep going. Winsport shifted the funding they did have to renovating the lodge so it didn't just disappear, definitely needed as well. The ski jumps are too small anyway, no sense renovating them even if we did have the money. What we do need is the sliding track, oval and McMahon, the rest can go on whatever ski hill is chosen and the Canmore Nordic Centre.
 
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Good point about the Olympics in 2042, will be far too late by then. We need to improve these facilities as this is where a ton of our athletes train for the Olympics, but everyone knows that already and this is where we are at....
 
Mountain Man said:
Good point about the Olympics in 2042, will be far too late by then. We need to improve these facilities as this is where a ton of our athletes train for the Olympics, but everyone knows that already and this is where we are at....
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A lot of speed skating is already based out of Quebec, and they have a new facility. Maybe if we talk about how we're about to lose all these athletes and events to the nemesis of the West, Quebec, the province will throw money at this.
 
trtcttc said:
A lot of speed skating is already based out of Quebec, and they have a new facility. Maybe if we talk about how we're about to lose all these athletes and events to the nemesis of the West, Quebec, the province will throw money at this.
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Danielle Smith justified spending provincial money on the new arena by saying we don't want the Quebec Flames, despite there being zero talk about Quebec getting the Flames, so I think you're onto something...
 
Hearing rumblings that Northern Gateway may be revived if PP becomes PM, especially if our O&G is tariffed by the orange guy. Curious how that would work given the massive cost overruns on TM...
 
Mountain Man said:
Hearing rumblings that Northern Gateway may be revived if PP becomes PM, especially if our O&G is tariffed by the orange guy. Curious how that would work given the massive cost overruns on TM...
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So ish, but maybe, but not exactly, but maybe something? It has been more than a decade since Northern Gateway was approved with conditions that were nigh-impossible to fulfill, making it a dead project walking. The project then lost a court challenge, and cabinet put it out of its missery on the same day it approved the replacement to Line 3 and the twinning of Trans-Mountain.

The below is a much bigger deal than any political musings.

globalnews.ca

First Nations leader reconsidering stance on Northern Gateway pipeline after Trump’s tariff threats | Globalnews.ca

Phillip is attending a gathering between B.C.'s provincial cabinet and the province's First Nations leaders in Vancouver on Tuesday.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca

I think there is a chance the Liberals start the wheels moving on an export process before the election. Especially if tariffs do come in. If the tariffs do come in, it is the end of 85 years of close cooperation and it becomes a strategic national imperative to shift markets no matter the cost.
 
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