Final Costs of Winter Olympics Revealed
A report was recently issued that showed how much the recent Winter Olympics held in Vancouver cost the BC taxpayer.
The government noted in the report that it had spent close to $925 million.
Of that, $765 million was spent on construction and the operation of the Games, while $160 million was spent on marketing and hosting.
However, while the government justified the costs and said that the Winter Games helped BC's struggling economy, a lot of criticism was heard from other quarters.
Kathy Corrigan of the NDP, for example , said that the report did not mention other costs, including the vast amounts spent by Crown corporations who became main sponsors for the Olympic Games.
The BC Lottery Corp was just one group that is state run and yet spent money on sponsoring the Games.
"We will never get the real answer as to how much this cost taxpayers," said Corrigan.
"We are all ratepayers in this province," she noted. "We are all customers of these Crown corporations. The fact is, at the end of the day, British Columbians will have to cover these costs."
Some of the costs that were paid out from taxpayers money included two huge sets of Olympic rings that were placed at Vancouver airport at a cost of $4.5 million.
Hundreds of millions more were also spent on security than what was originally budgeted on.
