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http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=1686932
Battle rages in West for Expo 2017
Kevin Libin, National Post Published: Thursday, June 11, 2009
Both Edmonton, above, and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver’s Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ancient feud, infuriated local tourism boosters, and a Cabinet minister has accused Calgary of “extortion,†all for a prize some say could make Montreal’s 1976 Games look like a financial success by comparison.Candace Elliott / Canwest News Service FilesBoth Edmonton, above, and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver’s Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ...
Can there be anything more exciting for a city than hosting the world's fair? In this century, almost certainly. There's the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Cup of soccer. The MacWorld conference. But since none of these is in the cards for a mid-sized Alberta metropolis anytime soon, a run at Expo 2017 must do.
Both Edmonton and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver's Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ancient feud, infuriated local tourism boosters, and a Cabinet minister has accused Calgary of "extortion," all for a prize some say could make Montreal's 1976 Games look like a financial success by comparison.
Alberta is "probably [the] worst" place to be bidding on an Expo, says Brad Humphreys, who holds the chair in the Economics of Gaming at the University of Alberta.
"The world's fair might have been a big deal in the 1950s."
Nowadays, he says, the project is as much an excuse for legacy-building city councils to squeeze infrastructure money from taxpayers at home, and nationally.
With billions in potential provincial and federal funding at stake, the sudden race between the two Alberta cities for the right to become Canada's bidder for Expo 2017 has turned bitter. Edmonton had been planning its run since 2007. Mayor Stephen Mandel travelled last year to Spain to meet officials at the World's Fair there. The only city with a declared interest, it had invested money and man-hours readying its proposal to Heritage Canada, which will choose an official Canadian candidate in November.
"I think we have a heck of a chance" of snagging the fair, Mr. Mandel said last fall. "It's a great opportunity for the city."
Last Friday, the final day for cities to express interest, Edmonton was alone in the running. Then Calgary's Mayor made a surprise, last-minute announcement: His city would challenge the capital. He unleashed a tempest.
"Sneaky. Sleazy. Self-centred. Conniving. Outrageous. Boorish," fumed one Edmonton columnist. Calgary's bid "reeks of extortion," Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett told the Calgary Sun. The city hadn't put in nearly the effort Edmonton had and didn't deserve the same treatment. "Do they want to be a fly in the ointment?" he asked. "If the city of Calgary thinks they are on an equal footing they're being foolhardy."
Mr. Bronconnier would not apologize. All healthy competition, he said. An expo was perfect for Calgary "in terms of showcasing where we are internationally, looking at tourism and economic development opportunities," he said.
It's true that world's fairs were once truly impressive spectacles, says Daniel H. Wilson, author of Where's My Jetpack?, A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived. Chicago's in 1893 showcased to the world DC power and pancake mix. In the late 20th century, fairs promised colonization of the moon and underwater cities, plus ultra-safe superhighways streaking through the rainforest. Vancouver's Expo ‘86 was themed Transportation and Communications: World in Motion, World in Touch. Montreal's 1967 exposition theme, Man and His World, celebrated humanity's creative power.
In the post-war years, the "economy was booming, and technology saved us from the Nazis ... atomic energy was going to provide everyone with unlimited resources, so it was a time when everyone was really optimistic about the potential of technology," Mr. Wilson says. But fairs were primarily a showcase for the giant corporations, like GM and GE, on the vanguard of new technologies.
But as admiration for corporate America waned, and innovation decentralized to spunky upstarts, expos in recent years have focused on less dazzling themes, more fitting for a UN policy conference. The theme last year in Zaragoza, Spain was "Water and Sustainable Development"; 2012's in Yeosu, South Korea, will be "The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities."
Claims that an expo would put an Alberta city on the world map, as in Vancouver, ignore that several past host cities - Spokane, Wash.; Aichi Prefecture, Japan; Plovdiv, Bulgaria (three times) - never quite realized that dream.
A report commissioned for Edmonton estimated the city would need $2- or $3-billion in funding, mostly, it is certain, from the province and Ottawa. And the cities are not even proposing a full-fledged "registered" expo - like the six-month extravaganza of Vancouver and Montreal - but a pared-down version running merely 90 days. Most structures will be temporary and projections have Expo 2017 drawing less than half the daily attendance of the Calgary Stampede. Expos have a bad habit, too, of costing more than they make: Montreal's ran a deficit in today's dollars of more than $1-billion; Vancouver's half that. The 1984 fair in New Orleans went bankrupt, and Paris cancelled its 2004 expo before it started, facing cost overruns and poor international interest. Zaragoza was a flop, and so many countries backed out of building pavilions for Shanghai 2010 that the Chinese government has agreed to foot everyone's bill.
"The history behind expo, going back to 1800s, I think there's been one or two that generated some revenue over expenses," says Edmonton councillor Tony Caterina, an expo opponent. "Everything after that has been a cost. That's something Albertans and Canadians will have to foot the bill for."
Mr. Humphreys notes that Alberta cities, in particular, can't tax tourists, and with no PST, regional governments would see almost no direct return on expo investment. Mr. Blackett has been iffy about the value of either bid, repeatedly pointing out that his government, faltering financially, is not eager to add its own new spending.
Most likely, suspects Mr. Catarina, the province needed a way to let Edmonton down gently with news that it would not help. Calgary's surprising bid, he figures, may allow them to say that since they cannot support two bids they will not support either.
"It's an easier way to opt out, which they probably would have done regardless," he says.
And this way, at least instead of blaming the provincial Tories, Edmontonians can be left believing their spoiled bid was all Calgary's fault.
Battle rages in West for Expo 2017
Kevin Libin, National Post Published: Thursday, June 11, 2009
Both Edmonton, above, and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver’s Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ancient feud, infuriated local tourism boosters, and a Cabinet minister has accused Calgary of “extortion,†all for a prize some say could make Montreal’s 1976 Games look like a financial success by comparison.Candace Elliott / Canwest News Service FilesBoth Edmonton, above, and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver’s Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ...
Can there be anything more exciting for a city than hosting the world's fair? In this century, almost certainly. There's the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Cup of soccer. The MacWorld conference. But since none of these is in the cards for a mid-sized Alberta metropolis anytime soon, a run at Expo 2017 must do.
Both Edmonton and Calgary are pursuing bids on an event that seemingly disappeared after Vancouver's Expo lands went condo. Already, there is excitement: The cities have reawakened their ancient feud, infuriated local tourism boosters, and a Cabinet minister has accused Calgary of "extortion," all for a prize some say could make Montreal's 1976 Games look like a financial success by comparison.
Alberta is "probably [the] worst" place to be bidding on an Expo, says Brad Humphreys, who holds the chair in the Economics of Gaming at the University of Alberta.
"The world's fair might have been a big deal in the 1950s."
Nowadays, he says, the project is as much an excuse for legacy-building city councils to squeeze infrastructure money from taxpayers at home, and nationally.
With billions in potential provincial and federal funding at stake, the sudden race between the two Alberta cities for the right to become Canada's bidder for Expo 2017 has turned bitter. Edmonton had been planning its run since 2007. Mayor Stephen Mandel travelled last year to Spain to meet officials at the World's Fair there. The only city with a declared interest, it had invested money and man-hours readying its proposal to Heritage Canada, which will choose an official Canadian candidate in November.
"I think we have a heck of a chance" of snagging the fair, Mr. Mandel said last fall. "It's a great opportunity for the city."
Last Friday, the final day for cities to express interest, Edmonton was alone in the running. Then Calgary's Mayor made a surprise, last-minute announcement: His city would challenge the capital. He unleashed a tempest.
"Sneaky. Sleazy. Self-centred. Conniving. Outrageous. Boorish," fumed one Edmonton columnist. Calgary's bid "reeks of extortion," Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett told the Calgary Sun. The city hadn't put in nearly the effort Edmonton had and didn't deserve the same treatment. "Do they want to be a fly in the ointment?" he asked. "If the city of Calgary thinks they are on an equal footing they're being foolhardy."
Mr. Bronconnier would not apologize. All healthy competition, he said. An expo was perfect for Calgary "in terms of showcasing where we are internationally, looking at tourism and economic development opportunities," he said.
It's true that world's fairs were once truly impressive spectacles, says Daniel H. Wilson, author of Where's My Jetpack?, A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived. Chicago's in 1893 showcased to the world DC power and pancake mix. In the late 20th century, fairs promised colonization of the moon and underwater cities, plus ultra-safe superhighways streaking through the rainforest. Vancouver's Expo ‘86 was themed Transportation and Communications: World in Motion, World in Touch. Montreal's 1967 exposition theme, Man and His World, celebrated humanity's creative power.
In the post-war years, the "economy was booming, and technology saved us from the Nazis ... atomic energy was going to provide everyone with unlimited resources, so it was a time when everyone was really optimistic about the potential of technology," Mr. Wilson says. But fairs were primarily a showcase for the giant corporations, like GM and GE, on the vanguard of new technologies.
But as admiration for corporate America waned, and innovation decentralized to spunky upstarts, expos in recent years have focused on less dazzling themes, more fitting for a UN policy conference. The theme last year in Zaragoza, Spain was "Water and Sustainable Development"; 2012's in Yeosu, South Korea, will be "The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities."
Claims that an expo would put an Alberta city on the world map, as in Vancouver, ignore that several past host cities - Spokane, Wash.; Aichi Prefecture, Japan; Plovdiv, Bulgaria (three times) - never quite realized that dream.
A report commissioned for Edmonton estimated the city would need $2- or $3-billion in funding, mostly, it is certain, from the province and Ottawa. And the cities are not even proposing a full-fledged "registered" expo - like the six-month extravaganza of Vancouver and Montreal - but a pared-down version running merely 90 days. Most structures will be temporary and projections have Expo 2017 drawing less than half the daily attendance of the Calgary Stampede. Expos have a bad habit, too, of costing more than they make: Montreal's ran a deficit in today's dollars of more than $1-billion; Vancouver's half that. The 1984 fair in New Orleans went bankrupt, and Paris cancelled its 2004 expo before it started, facing cost overruns and poor international interest. Zaragoza was a flop, and so many countries backed out of building pavilions for Shanghai 2010 that the Chinese government has agreed to foot everyone's bill.
"The history behind expo, going back to 1800s, I think there's been one or two that generated some revenue over expenses," says Edmonton councillor Tony Caterina, an expo opponent. "Everything after that has been a cost. That's something Albertans and Canadians will have to foot the bill for."
Mr. Humphreys notes that Alberta cities, in particular, can't tax tourists, and with no PST, regional governments would see almost no direct return on expo investment. Mr. Blackett has been iffy about the value of either bid, repeatedly pointing out that his government, faltering financially, is not eager to add its own new spending.
Most likely, suspects Mr. Catarina, the province needed a way to let Edmonton down gently with news that it would not help. Calgary's surprising bid, he figures, may allow them to say that since they cannot support two bids they will not support either.
"It's an easier way to opt out, which they probably would have done regardless," he says.
And this way, at least instead of blaming the provincial Tories, Edmontonians can be left believing their spoiled bid was all Calgary's fault.