Vancouver View - VANOC Seeks Workers for Games; Prime Minister Visits Oval

Contemporary International COO Stephen Mirabile outside the company's Vancouver 2010 recruitment office. (ATR/B. Mackin) VANOC Seeks to Borrow Workers for Games

VANOC continues to battle the recession and seek new ways to save money.

On July 30, it asked local companies and governments to loan 1,500 workers to fill various positions for two to six-month terms. Positions range from delivery driver to broadcast operations coordinator.

"These are all jobs that'll be working in the heart of the Games, they'll be seeing the Olympics from the inside out," workforce executive vice-president Donna Wilson said.

Deputy CEO Dave Cobb said borrowing workers would help VANOC save "millions of dollars" during the recession.

"We'll reduce our financial risk going forward if we have these people loaned to us," Cobb said.

CEO John Furlong sought help from the business community when he appeared for his fifth annual speech at the Vancouver Board of Trade on Nov. 13, 2008. However, 20 sponsors and governments offered just 45 seconded workers.

"First taxpayers fund bureaucrats to volunteer at the Olympics and now VANOC wants even more free labor, courtesy of the taxpayer," Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation B.C. director Maureen Bader said.

Contemporary Begins Hiring Spree

The biggest hiring spree of the 2010 Winter Olympics has begun.

Contemporary Security Canada -- a partnership of Salt Lake City’s Contemporary Group, Toronto’s Aeroguard and Edmonton’s United Protection Services -- opened a storefront recruitment office at 333 Terminal Avenue on July 25 to recruit 5,000 security screeners. The company is also accepting applications online at HireMe2010.com.

The jobs to staff the airport-style venue checkpoints pay $15 to $28 an hour plus a $2.34 per hour bonus for working through the Games.

CSC was chosen by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit in April to handle the $90.8 million contract.

Prime Minister Visits Oval

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper joined British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell for an Aug. 4 tour of the Richmond Olympic Oval.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell showed Prime Minister Stephen Harper around the Richmond Olympic Oval. (ATR/B. Mackin) Neither took questions from the media at the photo opportunity with Canadian Olympic speedskaters.

Harper missed the Dec. 12 opening and Feb. 12 one-year countdown at the speed skating arena. He was in Vancouver for a Conservative Party fundraising barbeque.

COC Ponders Future Olympic Bid

Twenty-seven weeks remain until the 2010 Games open and the Canadian Olympic Committee is already mulling a future Winter Games bid.

Chief executive Chris Rudge said no decision has been made on whether to bid for 2018, but 2022 may be more realistic and one of North America’s oldest cities, Quebec City, could be in the running.

"While we have not made any kind of specific commitments, we certainly are looking at what the next Winter Games might be," Rudge said. "There's not a more beautiful environment in the world for a Winter Olympics than Quebec City.”

The IOC opened 2018 bidding on July 31. The host will be elected July 6, 2011 in Durban, South Africa. Before he was voted COC president-elect, Marcel Aubut said Quebec City should bid for a future Winter Games.

The COC is backing Toronto’s bid for the 2015 Pan American Games. A decision is expected Nov. 5.

Johal Complains to UN

The leader of a Vancouver 2010 watchdog has asked the United Nations to send observers to the Games to ensure the poor aren’t evicted and free speech is respected.

Impact on Communities Coalition chairman Am Johal traveled to Geneva, Switzerland and submitted two complaints to the UN human rights commission July 31. The complaints named the governments of Canada, B.C. and Vancouver, the IOC and VANOC.

"By putting forward these complaints we are declaring the Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement as officially dead and nothing more than a whitewash," Johal said in a news release.

"This is our way of providing feedback to VANOC and its government partners since they won’t listen to us anyway."

ICICS was the Vancouver 2010 sustainability pledge used in the 2003 bid win.

Police and Fire Games Open in Vancouver

The 13th biennial international World Police and Fire Games began July 31 at General Motors Place.

The 10-day multisport festival for police officers, jail guards, customs agents and firefighters from all continents drew 5,500 foreign and 4,500 Canadian athletes to southwestern B.C.

Anti-Poverty Committee protesters blocked a street to protest the World Police and Fire Games. (ATR/B. Mackin) Premier Gordon Campbell, federal trade minister Stockwell Day, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan appeared at the opening ceremony which climaxed with classic rocker Randy Bachman playing “Takin’ Care of Business.”

Campbell paid tribute to B.C. Forest Service firefighters who had to miss the Games to battle hundreds of fires in the province’s forests. One of the fires was on Blackcomb Mountain, but the Whistler Sliding Centre was never in danger. The lightning-caused fire began on the first anniversary of the Sea-to-Sky Highway rockslide.

Outside the ceremony, members of the Anti-Poverty Committee blocked Expo Boulevard traffic to raise awareness of fatal police incidents, including the October 2007 Taser death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport.

With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.