Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to host a twelve-day table tennis tournament..But if Alberta hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2030, that’s exactly what will happen..To most readers, 2030 might seem like a long way off, but this issue needs our attention now..The province and the cities of Edmonton and Calgary have already spent $4 million of taxpayer cash just exploring the possibility of hosting the games. A decision on submitting a formal bid must be made this month..Pressure is suddenly mounting higher than a pole vault..The Aussies forfeited holding the games down under in 2026 because the estimated budget exploded to more than $6 billion CAD. That’s billion with a B..Closer to home and likely closer to reality for Alberta, the city of Hamilton, Ont., also called an offside and said no to hosting because the estimated price tag was about $500 million..Three things are at play here: the cost to taxpayers; government accountability, and; the will of the people paying the bills..First, it’s wrong for the government to spend millions of taxpayer dollars hosting a netball tournament while many Albertans are struggling to pay for the basics..Alberta is seeing record high demand for food banks, with increased dependency coming from working families. That means parents working full-time jobs are still relying on charity donations of canned meats and vegetables to feed their kids..While Alberta is doing better on the affordability front than most provinces, more than half of Albertans say they are within $200 of not being able to pay their bills. That means most folks are close to being unable to make minimum payments and buy essentials each month..Instead of burning hundreds of millions of dollars on hosting the Commonwealth Games, that money could be put back into the wallets of struggling Albertans..Second, international sports tournaments have a bad score sheet when it comes to costs ballooning out of control without accountability to taxpayers..In 2015 Edmonton scrapped its plans to bid on hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games because the estimated price tag was about $1 billion..This year, property taxes went up in Edmonton by 4.9% and in Calgary by 5.5%..Nobody has asked taxpayers in those two cities if they want another massive property tax hike to pay to build circular wooden racetracks for indoor bicycling. Was “we need a new velodrome!” a ballot question during the last municipal election?.Premier Danielle Smith did the right thing by directing her new sport and tourism minister, Joseph Schow, to ensure greater transparency going forward before the province commits taxpayer dollars to future sporting events..Schow’s mandate letter reads: “future international gaming bids using substantial provincial taxpayer dollars are subject to transparent public disclosure requirements and cost/benefit analysis and include mandatory referenda for affected communities when appropriate.”.That leads to the third point: the will of the people..Smith says she wants her government to set up a framework so referenda are held as standard operating procedure when future global track meets are pitched to the province..Alberta has good experience with such plebiscites..In 2018 many politicians wanted Calgary to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, but the people of Calgary said “no” in a referendum and those plans were iced..The same level of transparency and grass roots democracy on display in the Olympic bid should be in play with the current Commonwealth Games exploration..Smith has already made it clear she wants to hold referenda on future international sports bids..So why not start now?.Smith has a golden opportunity to own the podium on this issue by holding a referendum..Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
