Vancouver Voters Have Say on 2010

Testing the desirability of organizing the Olympics in an era dominated by security and budget concerns, the citizens of Vancouver, Canada, will vote Feb. 22 in a referendum on whether the city should stage the 2010 Winter Games.

The Vancouver City Council authorized the nonbinding plebiscite this week, and newly elected Mayor Larry Campbell -- who campaigned on a pledge to hold such a referendum -- predicted it would win by a significant margin.

The referendum holds the potential to be a turning point in the Olympic bid process -- a “watershed” event, Campbell called it, and not just for Vancouver, but for the International Olympic Committee and cities worldwide.

Vancouver’s fate in the 2010 race, for instance, is likely to bear significantly on New York’s chances of playing host to the 2012 Summer Games. As one of many scenarios, if Vancouver wins for 2010, that almost certainly knocks another Canadian city, Toronto, out of the 2012 campaign -- which would work in New York’s favor.

The IOC is due to award the 2010 Games next July. Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea, are also in the race. The IOC will award the 2012 Games in 2005. New York will compete against a number of cities from around the world.

The IOC demands as part of the bid process that a candidate city demonstrate public support for the Games. Typically, that comes via public opinion polling.

Full-fledged public votes over the years have been few -- and decidedly unproductive.

In September, for example, Swiss voters defeated a referendum that asked whether they would help underwrite a Bern candidacy for 2010. Bern then dropped out. In 1972, Denver voters rejected hosting the 1976 Winter Olympics even after the city had been awarded the Games. The Games were staged in Innsbruck, Austria.

But in Vancouver, polling now shows support for the Games at about 68%, Campbell said.