The UCP government said on Thursday the numbers didn't add up and has dropped its bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.."We promised to remain transparent with Albertans about the costs of hosting international sporting events and clearly demonstrating a return on our investment for the people and communities of Alberta," Alberta Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow told the Western Standard in an emailed statement.."In the case of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the numbers just didn’t add up for our government to commit taxpayer’s money with the games estimated to cost $2.68 billion.".Schow said the corporate sponsorship model and limited broadcast revenues for the Commonwealth Games would have put 93% of a financial burden and risks on Albertans.."We thank the partners, especially the BidCo, for stepping up and exploring the possibility of hosting the Commonwealth Games here in our beautiful province," Schow said..In a statement to CTV News, Alberta 2030 BidCo said it was "disappointed."."We received word yesterday that the provincial government was not in support of a bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games," it said.."Over the past several months, we have worked closely with the Government of Alberta, City of Calgary, City of Edmonton, Government of Canada, Tsuut’ina Nation and Enoch Cree Nation, as well as dozens of other community partners to develop a compelling plan to host the Commonwealth Games in Alberta."."We were eager to have an open dialogue about community priorities, advancing Reconciliation and building a vision as Albertans that we could collectively work towards," said Alberta 2030 BidCo.."We are disappointed with the unexpected decision by the Government of Alberta and will not be commenting further at this time.".Schow said Alberta has a successful history of hosting major, international multi-sport games in the province.."Any proposal to host major games is considered with the interests of Alberta taxpayers at top of mind," Schow said..In March, a group of like-minded individuals in Alberta started a petition to block using taxpayer funds to bring the Commonwealth Games to Alberta..In 2015, a small group of Calgarians affiliated with professional sports teams began working on another Calgary Olympic bid..The Alberta Institute said the entire campaign was a "disaster of epic proportions," with exaggerated benefits, underestimated costs that kept increasing every few weeks, a complete lack of transparency and accountability and a general disdain for the regular taxpaying members of the public.."Just a few minutes ago, the Alberta government announced that they have listened to us, and Alberta taxpayers will officially not be picking up the tab for the 2030 Commonwealth Games," President of the Alberta Institute," Peter McCaffrey said.."Thank you to everyone who signed our petition for No Taxpayer Funding For Commonwealth Games! This is a resounding victory for fiscal responsibility, and we couldn't have done it without your support and dedication.".The Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauded the Alberta government’s decision to stop exploring the idea..“The Alberta government made the right decision and it’ll save taxpayers a bunch of money,” Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director, said..“With so many Albertans struggling to make ends meet, it would have been wrong to stick taxpayers with a big bill for hosting a table tennis tournament.”.Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi joined forces in March to announce an Alberta bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.."In 2018, those regular taxpaying members of the public in Calgary sent a clear message — voting in a referendum to reject the idea of Calgary submitting a formal bid to host the Olympics," the Alberta Institute said.."But the secretive groups behind that bid didn't listen. They immediately began working on a new bid for the 2030 Olympic Games! After once again working behind the scenes in secret for a couple of years, this bid was sunk when the Alberta government ruled out providing any public funding for such a bid.".The Alberta Institute is an independent, libertarian, public policy think tank that aims to advance personal freedom and choice in Alberta..Founded in 2018, it works to develop and promote solutions to a wide range of municipal, provincial, and federal public policy issues in a strictly non-partisan way..The drive to spend taxpayer funding on professional sports facilities isn't limited only to Calgary though..In Edmonton, a similar group tried to put together a bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.."That bid fell apart due to, you guessed it, runaway costs and a lack of funding," the group said..In March, The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called on the governments of Calgary, Edmonton and Alberta to hold a referendum on whether or not Alberta’s two largest cities should pay to play host to the Commonwealth Games in 2030..“People are fighting to afford groceries right now and there’s no way taxpayers should be forced to pay for an expensive global sporting event without even being asked first,” said Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Kris Sims..“We need a vote on this before a single nickel of taxpayers’ money is spent on this plan because if taxpayers are going to get stuck with another big bill, the least the politicians can do is to ask us if we want to pay for it.”
