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Originally Posted by Tapioca
Here's an old column I found from the Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/Sports/O...886/story.html
The $6 billion is somewhat skewed because money has come from various taxpayer-funded sources such as the Government of Canada, municipal governments, and Crown corporations. But, what people don't realize is that if that money wasn't spent on the Olympics, it would have been spent on something else instead - the value of which would have been just as questionable.
First rule you learn in Public Budgeting 101 - never spend less than you spent the year previous. |
Mike Campbell was talking about this on his show a couple weeks ago. Numbers like that, quoted as "Olympic spending" and thrown about as evidence of "wasted money", are including things like the Canada Line and Sea to Sky upgrades... things that needed to be done/were being done anyway, regardless of the Olympics. Those are just two examples, of course; there are lots of other costs that the detractors factor in as being "Olympic spending" that have NO, or only coincidental, relationship to the Olympics.
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Originally Posted by Captain Picard
IMO if they want to voice their opinion then go for it. But in doing that please respect others by not interrupting what others are doing. it is YOUR/THEIR opinion, and it should not be forced onto others.
ie: that anti-olympics thing that is supposed to go on doing the relay today at UBC, if they are really going to attempt to stop the relay... they are just bringing more negative light to their efforts. If they stood by the side, had some banners up and just minded their manners, people would actually think about the issues they are trying to bring up.
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Exactly right!
I was out at 41st and Nanaimo today, to watch a friend run his stint as a torch bearer (kinda cool, too - first time I've seen him in about 15 years and I could barely get close enough to say hi
) More than half an hour before the torch arrived, both sides of 41st and for three blocks either side of Nanaimo were lined with people in red and white, 90% of them kids, waving flags, cheering, and breaking into spontaneous choruses of O Canada. They cheered for the cars driving part with flags and honking, they cheered for the bike and motorcycle cops, they cheered for the whole "torch entourage", and they went nuts for the torch itself.
Talking to others in the crowd, I learned most of these kids were out of school, and some had walked down from 33rd Ave. and beyond to be there. Most importantly, the vast majority of the people there were Asians and East Indians - most of the kids were probably born here, but I expect most of the adults were immigrants... and they all came out to cheer and sing for Canada. It sounds so cliche, but that torch has shown an amazing power to bring people together in praise or our country, if only for a few minutes at a time.
So when I hear these self-righteous protesters planning to disrupt this sort of gathering to promote their own agendas... damn straight I'm tempted to violence. If I saw one person try to interfere, I swear I'd punch him right in the head, and I don't care that there are a dozen cops around. How unbelievably selfish are they?
My only consolation is that all their efforts are ultimately self-defeating - I heard one on the radio saying that even if they couldn't stop the torch or games this time, they hoped their actions would have an effect on decisions made the next time. Yeah, you know what effect it will have? MORE money will be spent on security to keep YOUR whiny ass away. You know what other effect it will have? A whole bunch of kids will carry that forward in life as their only memory of what was supposed to be a positive event. Way to encourage the younger generation to grow up caring for their fellow man.
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Originally Posted by !LittleDragon
I thought those rights have been suspended during the games. You can get fined $10,000 plus up to 6 months in jail for having anti olympic signs on your property.
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No laws were changed regarding what signs were allowed; no "rights" were suspended. What was changed, was the long, arduous process cities and municipalities would normally have to go through to get those signs removed - a process that could normally take weeks or months; they were instead given the temporary authority to deal with those signs immediately.
It's nothing to do with anti-Olympic signs (much as I'm sure VANOC would have loved that), it's for signs breaking existing laws.