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Olympic watchers want province to put independent financial auditor in place for 2010 Games

Royal Canadian Mint gets go ahead to design 2010 medals

Critics of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee’s quarterly financial plan are renewing their calls for the provincial auditor general to be able to look at the books.

And they want the organization to be open to Freedom of Information requests, which VANOC can currently avoid because it is a non-profit organization.

"What we are suggesting, and we have been recommending to the provincial government to do this for quite some time… is that they require the Auditor General to look over financial statements and give an opinion on their accuracy and whether or not they are comprehensive," said Sara MacIntyre, B.C. Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

"I would also like VANOC to be covered by FOI laws."

Opposition critic for the Olympics, NDP MLA Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton) has been calling for the same measures.

"My focus is to get the government to be open and transparent with the taxpayers so we can restore the confidence of the taxpayers in the Games, which we are losing right now," said Bains, who would also like to see VANOC open to FOI requests.

"The only way to do that… (is for) an independent body, such as the auditor general to monitor the books and examine the value-for-money and give us a true economic picture of the Games. Then the public knows how much we are paying and what are the benefits for it."

Currently the provincial auditor general is only working on the government’s financial involvement. Calls for the auditor general to be involved in the Games go all the way back to 2003 when the office produced a report on the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To date the government has not indicated that the auditor general’s role will change.

This is the first of the quarterly reports to be produced by VANOC as it moves into building venues for the Games. Through the 26-page document released last week the public learned that all of the venues would cost more to build than originally estimated in the 2002 bid book.

At that time the bid organization was compelled under International Olympic Committee rules to submit its budget in the dollars of the year it was bidding in.

While it was always clear that the construction would take place in the years after the bid budget was submitted it wasn’t until last November that VANOC organizers began to voice concerns over their ability to build the necessary venues for the original price of $470 million.

In February they revised their budget asking the federal and provincial governments for $55 million each to cover escalating material and labour costs.

Last week’s report highlighted where some of the money will go. For example the Whistler Sliding Centre budget went from $55 million to $99.9 million.

For months VANOC has pointed to cost savings achieved on venues as they came face to face with rapidly escalating construction costs, even holding a press conference to outline them. It said it has held cost escalation to about 23 per cent in a market that is generally 50 per cent higher than it was in 2002.

Said Olympic historian Professor Kevin Wamsley of the University of Western Ontario: "I think compared to past Olympic Games relatively speaking VANOC is at least attempting to be transparent in some respects and more so than other organizing committees in the past."

He pointed out that past Olympic Committees have not shared quarterly reports with taxpayers nor have they produced business plans for external scrutiny.

"You know committees in the past haven’t even bothered with these kinds of updates," said Wamsley.

Still, he said VANOC could be more transparent and only time would tell if their commitment to openness would continue.

As for the budget Wamsley had this to say: "Olympic Games always go over budget and we knew this going in and it may go over budget again. There are hundreds of contingencies that we are not aware of."

Despite VANOC’s move to release quarterly reports Bains said taxpayers deserve more transparency when it comes to the changing costs.

"(VANOC) grossly underestimated these venue costs," he said.

"Like any other business spending money of this nature — we are talking about billions of dollars here — if they were required to put those bids in 2002 dollars it was irresponsible for them not to be updating the taxpayers who will be footing the bill at the end of the day."

For weeks Bains has also been demanding a complete picture of government spending on "Olympic—related" items such as the 2010 Olympic Secretariat, which falls under the Ministry of Economic Development. It is the provincial agency responsible for overseeing British Columbia’s Olympic financial commitments and ensuring British Columbia’s Olympic vision is achieved.

Bains claims the cost of the secretariat is at $26 million. He also points to LegaciesNow, which in the bid was budgeted for $10 million. It has now been re-created into a new provincial organization and to date, said Bains, has spent $93 million.

He is adding the $11 million the Resort Municipality of Whistler will spend on the athletes village to his list of Olympic-related spending as well.

Bains is also very concerned that VANOC has yet to release a business plan. Olympic planners say it will be ready by the end of the year.

"They are giving us quarterly updates before there is a business plan so what are they updating us on?" said Bains.

"This is a seriously flawed direction and I think it is complete mismanagement of taxpayers’ dollars."

Another area of concern raised last week was the budget for security surrounding the Games. Currently it is set for $175 million.

Some have suggested the budget is not enough but so far the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, which is responsible for Games security, is sticking by that number.

What troubles MacIntyre is that VANOC now appears to be distancing itself from that cost despite the fact it was covered in the bid book.

"I think it is extremely troubling that they are trying to buck responsibility for security costs," said MacIntyre.

"Certainly the original bid book did have a security budget in there and that is what was sold to taxpayers so if there is going to be a difference in that VANOC should be accepting responsibility for that."

Meanwhile VANOC has partnered with The Royal Canadian Mint to produce the medals for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.

This week the Mint came on board as an official supporter in the Minting of Circulation, Precious Metal and Base Metal Numismatic and Bullion Coins product and service category.

The seven-year agreement is valued at $15 million, which includes $2 million toward in-kind goods and services.