Vancouver View -- Michaelle Jean to Carry Torch; Coke Caps Tour

Governor General Michaelle Jean (right), pictured with U.S. PresidentBarack Obama,will lead off the 2010 Vancouver Torch Relay as it makes its way from Greece to British Columbia. (Getty Images)Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean will be the first Canadian to hold the Olympic torch as it makes its way from Greece to British Columbia for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

On Oct. 22, the flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece and carried for a week through the country on the customary Greek Olympic Committee relay. Jean, along with Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn, will accept the Olympic flame in Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, site of the 1896 Games.

The 27,961 mile Canadian relay begins Oct. 30 in Victoria before winding up at the Feb. 12, 2010 opening ceremony in B.C. Place Stadium.

Workers at B.C. Place Stadium were photographed May 13 filling a hole in the middle of the concrete floor. Sources say they were preparing for the gas-fueled, water-cooled cauldron that will hold the flame in the 2010 Games’ ceremonies venue.

Coke Caps Promotional Torch Tour

Coca-Cola ended its 5,095 mile, cross-Canada Sogo Carry the Flame tour in Metro Vancouver during the Victoria Day holiday weekend.

The Coke caravan included a display with torches from 11 previous Olympics and a chance to be photographed with the Bombardier-designed Vancouver 2010 version. Sogo is Coke’s youth-targeted social Coca-Cola traveled 5,095 miles across Canada promoting the Olympic torch relay. (coke.ca) media Web site to promote physical activity, community service and recycling.

Coke announced in early May that it had one million contest entrants for its 4,500 spots, while its co-sponsor RBC would not disclose its tally. The number is more than enough, but considerably less than the six million Canadians who entered to carry the flame in the Calgary 1988 relay.

The company announced May 15 that it would send 10 teenage contest winners from the U.S. to carry the flame in Calgary on Jan. 18-19, 2010 where they will join U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson and tae kwon do athlete Steven Lopez, both Olympic medalists.

Sponsors Host Closed Door Forum

On May 12-15, VANOC held the last of eight partner workshops, focusing on operations and hospitality. The 300 participants from 65 sponsors and government funders spent two days in meetings and toured venues for two days. The meetings were closed to the media and no news releases were issued.

“It’s a forum for sponsors to engage with each other, learn, listen and capitalize,” said VANOC Vice President of Sponsorship Sales and Marketing Andrea Shaw.

VANOC network communications sponsor Nortel is in bankruptcy and auto supplier General Motors may be following, but Shaw wouldn’t admit to recession-related funding cuts by any sponsors.

“The Olympic Games come and go and these companies have for the most part plans locked down, budgets locked down, they’re not going to miss this opportunity. Everybody is very optimistic,” she said.

The only example Shaw cited was Hudson’s Bay Company’s ambitions plan to house the Olympic souvenir superstore through the entire main floor of the downtown Vancouver store in conjunction with a variety of other 2010 partners. Previous Games’ used massive, temporary tents.

“HBC is really focused on having that as an absolutely fantastic showcase of what a superstore can be at an Olympic Games,” Shaw said.

COLD-fX Executive Suspended for Insider Trading

An executive with a VANOC sponsor has been suspended by the Alberta Securities Commission for insider trading.

Warren Michaels agreed to pay a $26, 263 fine and $17,507 for the investigation, according to the April 27 settlement agreement. The vice president of communications for Edmonton-based Afexa Life Sciences (formerly CV Technologies) was banned from buying or selling shares for three years and cannot serve as a public company director for one year.

Michaels dumped almost 92,000 shares in the company in December 2006 when he became aware of poor sales results in the U.S. for ginseng-based COLD-fX pills. Sales figures weren’t published until a February 2007 news release.

COLD-fX was announced in January as the official cold and flu remedy of the 2010 Games. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, will not allow Michaels’ company to make the same claims about the product south of the border.

Know the CODE

VANOC is calling it Canada CODE the national online digital scrapbook. The Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition, sponsored by Bell, is an electronic text and photo collage in combination with the National Film Board of Canada. The best submissions will be shown on public screens in Vancouver and Whistler during the Games.

"Canadians are always looking for ways to reach across the huge land mass we inhabit to connect with each other,” said originator Rae Hull. “Historically, we've had the telephone and the train.”

The Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad is Jan. 22-March 21, 2010.

Briefs…

… Two Canadian Forces Hornet fighter jets chased a Westwind corporate jet high above Vancouver on May 14 during an aviation security exercise coordinated by the Winnipeg branch of the North American Aerospace Command. "It's routine training, something we'll see more of,” said Lt. Cmdr. Mark McIntyre of Joint Task Force Games.

The exercise was to familiarize pilots with the regional geography and NAV Canada air traffic control procedures.

…Whistler finally has its own Olympic souvenir store. It opened quietly on May 16 at the former site of the Whistler Blackcomb Glacier Shop in Deer Lodge. Grand opening is set for Canada Day on July 1

…B.C. paramedics were found in violation of an essential services agreement after 24 ambulances were parked in a wildcat strike that coincided with the May 12 provincial election. The contract with 3,500 workers, members of Canadian Union of Public Employees’ local 873, expired March 31. The union wants a 31 percent pay hike before the Olympics

...Pacific Pin club will host the Aug. 6-9 pin Olympin Collectors Club show at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The event will be “attached” to the six-month-countdown celebrations

...The Pan Pacific Hotel in Whistler will host Pride House 2010 for gay and lesbian athletes. The hospitality venue is the brainchild of GayWhistler, organizers of the resort’s annual gay ski week

...A prostitutes’ advocacy group will offer Downtown Eastside ghetto streetwalkers media training to deal with Games-time international media attention. Prostitution Alternatives Counseling and Education society said it will hold a November seminar to teach prostitutes their rights when dealing with photographers and reporters. Prostitution is not illegal in Canada, but operating a brothel or publicly negotiating a fee for sex is.

With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.

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