Stephen Rees's blog

Vancouver Sun

Oh well that’s all right then. The games can go on. Just forget everything that Vanoc and the IOC said about sustainability and legacy and all that environmental stuff. Some of us were cynical enough at the time to think that was just window dressing and the IOC have now shown that we were right.

The games – if it snows – will go ahead and the tv revenues will roll in – and the sponsorships are all sewn up now so there’s plenty of cash and hospitality suites for the fat cats.

Of course, we still face a major housing crisis in the region, but there will be enough beds for the athletes and the tv crews. At least for the few weeks that the IOC actually gives a damn about.

The legacy will be a much faster highway. There will be lots of expensive condos popping up along it for years to come and those people will quickly fill it up and slow it down again. Which is probably a good thing since the only problem with the old highway was the lack of common sense among those who feel themselves to be exempt both from the laws of the road and those of physics.

Oh and the highway might well have a hydrogen filling station on it too. Won’t that be nice. One of the sponsors may well manage to borrow a hydrogen car for a day so they can have a photo op. It won’t be much use after that but it will have served its purpose.

Meanwhile CN will have got out of its commitment to operate the rail line. There may or may not be agreement to keep the odd tourist train running now and then. After all the type of tourist it attracts is not too bothered by the fare. There will not be any kind of real passenger service of course: nothing to offer the now booming population growth of the area any kind of alternative to the Sea to Sky which will still see horrendous accidents and rock falls. And irregular, unpredictable closures. Though they may be able to clear up the mess a bit quicker by relocating some cops.

2010 could have been an opportunity to do better and to showcase to the world how serious we were about it. Instead they are going to see us for what we really are.