Freedom Flyer January - June 1986 Cover

Freedom Flyer 5

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

January - June 1986




Article electronically reproduced from:

The Globe and Mail

Article date unknown


Pan-Am games divide London City Council

By DAVID HELWIG
Special to The Globe and Mail

LONDON, Ont. - Canada's bid for the 1991 Pan-American Games narrowly avoided a major setback Monday night when London City Council decided against holding a referendum on whether the city should be the host for the $94 million event.

But the city's plan to contribute $10 million toward the cost of the games is almost certain to become an issue in the Nov. 12 municipal election.

London's preliminary bid to be host to the games was approved last month by the Canadian Olympic Association, which chose the city over Hamilton, Ont.

City council has already approved a financing formula for its $10-million contribution, but it does not expect to give final approval to the games bid until June or July.

If the approval is granted, the city will make a formal presentation to the Mexico-based Pan-American Sports Organization next January. Cuba is expected to be the only other contender for the 1991 games.

At Monday night's meeting, council voted 9-7 to take no action on a proposal from Controller Art Cartier that the games issue be placed before the electorate in November.

Prior to the vote, Controller Ron Annis said Mr. Cartier's suggestion was "an attempt to sabotage" the games, because it would jeapordize financing negotiations with other levels of government.

Alderman Alf James and Controller Joan Smith predicted that the games will become a municipal election issue.

Yesterday, at the offices of the London-based Freedom Party of Ontario, half a dozen volunteers were working hard to fulfil that prediction.

The workers were unpacking and sorting a shipment of 15,000 freshly printed brochures urging Londoners to oppose the use of taxpayers' money to pay for the games.

Thousands of mail-in postcards addressed to federal Sports Minister Otto Jelinek and Ontano Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister Gordon Walker also arrived.

The postcards ask Mr. Walker (London's only Conservative MPP) and Mr. Jelinek to oppose any government contribution to the games.

"The election is our only resort. If they (members of City Council) won't listen to reason, maybe they'll listen to numbers," Marc Emery, a founding member of the Freedom Party, said. Mr. Emery is running for election this year in a working class ward in northeast London.

Members of the London bid committee argue that the city has much to gain from being host to the 1991 event: a new 35,000-seat stadium with artificial turf, a 6,000-seat fieldhouse for indoor sports, and a 1,000-seat aquatic centre.

Price Waterhouse, an accounting firm retained by the committee, said that London would get $500-million in economic benefits from the games, including 200,000 man-hours of work and tourist spending by 75,000 visitors.




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