CHINESE OLYMPIC SKI TEAM TRAINING IN UTAH FOR 2010
* Eight members of the Chinese Olympic ski team are expected to wrap up this year’s summer training for the 2010 Winter Olympics in about two weeks at Park City, Utah, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. The team has been training there since July.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT — NAIL DOWN THE 2010 SECURITY BUDGET
“We will also be encouraging the federal government to finalize a comprehensive security budget and play more of a role to address homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction on the Downtown Eastside in advance of 2010. This challenge is national in scope and urgent action from the federal government is required to support the work being done by City Council and our provincial partners.” – Part of a ‘Message from China’ from Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who is in Beijing to take part in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics Torch Relay. The ‘Message’ was posted on his website today.

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT – PITCHING WHISTLER’S ROLE IN THE 2010 GAMES
Tourism Whistler has been working with partners at Tourism Vancouver, Tourism BC and the Canadian Tourism Commission to market the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games and work with international media over the next 18 months. Arlene Schieven, vice president of marketing for Tourism Whistler, represented the resort in the 2010 Tourism Consortium…
“The biggest change for us after Beijing is working with broadcasters and the media,” she said. “Everyone there has already told us they will soon be turning their full attention to Whistler and Vancouver, which is when we can really start to capitalize on the opportunity.” There are 11 different strategies in the plan put together by the consortium, says Schieven, many of which will be announced [in the next few months]. A wider launch is expected that will include provincial and federal governments, and that will spell out some of the details of the different strategies. One example is a kiosk program for Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler that would have the same appearance and would work co-operatively to promote the Games. Tourism BC will fund the kiosks, but will also look for sponsorship to help cover costs.
Another example is the launch of a new website, [See RESOURCES, below] that will tell the story of Canada, Vancouver and Whistler to foreign journalists. By collaborating on the website, the consortium eliminates the need for each member to tell the story themselves, while ensuring the message and presentation is consistent. A world press briefing for print media will also be held in November to introduce journalists to Whistler, and members of the press will be encouraged to stay longer and experience the resort. That event alone is expected to generate a lot of media coverage of Vancouver and Whistler, the Olympic venues, and other public interest stories related to the Games.
“The planning is fairly detailed in terms of what tourism bodies can control. Things are underway within VANOC that will determine the look of the Games inside the fences, but our job is more to maximize the tourism opportunity around everything that’s happening,” said Schieven. “For example, the sports events and World Cups that are taking place before the Games will attract a lot of media, and we can leverage that for tourism gains…
Michele Comeau Thompson, manager of communications for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, said even more will be done after Beijing to promote the Games within Whistler, on official websites, in advertisements, and in brochures and other materials. “I know some of the things that the tourism consortium is working on are aligned with the timing of the Beijing Games to start promoting Vancouver and Whistler as destinations, and to focus on the media and international media, to be able to tell our story to that group,” she said….
Some of the Olympic sponsors, like Visa, are also increasing their visibility in Whistler in the build-up to 2010, providing retailers with signs, stickers, billfolds and other items that draw attention to the Games. As well, roughly 50 local retailers are approved to sell Games merchandise before, during and after the Games, which will improve recognition among visitors that the Olympics and Paralympics are coming… One idea is to create a program similar to the “I’m backing the bid” stickers that were placed in stores in the run-up to the IOC’s selection of Vancouver in 2003… The Whistler Chamber of Commerce is [also] working on a store window-dressing program showcasing different sports or aspects of the Games. — excerpts from a much longer report by Andrew Mitchell in the Whistler Pique news magazine, published today.

2010 CLOCK PAINTERS POPPED BY POLICE PERSONNEL NOW HAVE TIME ON THEIR HANDS
* Three vandals were caught white-handed by Vancouver City police early this morning after white paint was splashed over the VANOC Olympic opening countdown clock, which is located on Georgia Street, just outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. Police, when they spotted the mess, patrolled the area, and found similar paint on the hands and clothing of two 19-year-old men and a 20-year-old woman who were walking on nearby Robson Street. They’ve been charged with mischief. Police are also checking to see if they were also involved in previous vandalism of the clock.

RESOURCES

The new tourism consortium website:
www.destinationbc.ca

VANOC SUPPORTS CONTROVERSIAL EXPANSION OF THUNDERBIRD STADIUM LIQUOR LICENSE
* Keith Baulk, VANOC’s general manager for the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium, where a lengthy series of preliminary Olympic hockey events are scheduled to be played, has written a letter supporting an application by UBC for a sizable but relatively unpopular permanent expansion of the building’s hours for serving liquor. The application, opposed by the area’s RCMP detachment unless there is better management of the people attending events where alcohol is served, is to be considered by the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors at its meeting on Friday. Baulk’s letter says, “It is… an important aspect of the business of sport and entertainment, and a well-managed program can be effective in enhancing the enjoyment for spectators, VIPs and/or participants.” He adds that part of the legacy agreement VANOC negotiated with UBC for the facility provides for the annual use of it by Hockey Canada. “These events have a requirement for liquor service as part of the hosting requirements, revenue development or for spectator experience.” Metro Vancouver staff are recommending the expansion be approved on a probation for two of the three arenas and an outdoor patio, but “with a number of conditions that address the concerns raised by area residents related to hours of operation, the size of the arena non-alcohol sections and event management practices.” The probation period would end once the RCMP were satisfied the venue is managed better, with a December 31 deadline for a report on how things are going.

DJ GAMES INDEX DROPS PETRO-CANADA NOW THAT SUNCOR MERGER TO TAKE EFFECT
* The number of components on which the Dow Jones Summer/Winter Games Index is based has dropped one to 35 now that Petro-Canada, VANOC’s fuels sponsor, has been acquired by Suncor Energy. Petro-Canada fuel was used during VANOC’s venue-construction phase, and its fuels are being used to power VANOC’s growing fleet of shuttle vans and vehicles, but the use will greatly expand during Games time to power all VANOC vehicles, including its dispatch fleet for VIPs as well as spectator and athlete shuttles, buses and motorcoaches. Last March, the merger created Canada’s biggest energy firm, with a market capitalization of about C$47 billion.

RESOURCES

Q Chip’s website:
www.q-chip.com

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO BUY TWO MICRO-RAIN RADAR SETS FOR 2010 GAMES

* The federal government’s Environment Canada says it intends to negotiate and then award a contract so it can buy two of a German company’s micro-rain radar units for use — one on Cypress Mountain and the other at the base of Whistler Mountain — during the 2010 Winter Olympics. The specialized radar unit is to be used by Environment Canada’s meteorological section at first for analyzing how cloud moisture, at heights up to six kilometres, turns from snow to rain in the complicated weather conditions in the Whistler area, and longer term, it says, the unit will be used to conduct research “as part of the legacy commitment [of the government to the Games] to increase the body of meteorological insight and understanding concerning the weather of complex, alpine terrain.” Besides the vertically pointed radar antenna, power supply and associated infrastructure, the unit also comes with computer control and analysis software to handled the files it produces: “profiles of precipitation, liquid water content, rain rate, radar reflectivity and Doppler spectrum.” The machine is made by Metek GmbH of Elshorn, Germany, but it’s distributed in Canada by ATS Technology Systems of Ottawa, and that’s the firm that’s expected to get the contract. It’s the latest directed contract over the last three years for the sophisticated weather-forecasting equipment and networks that are to be used to provide real-time weather predictions for VANOC during the 2010 Games. [See RESOURCES, below.]

MCDONALD’S TO SEND 300 SELECTED STAFF TO WORK AT ITS 2010 GAMES RESTAURANTS
* McDonald’s, VANOC’s international fast-food sponsor, has selected the 300 staffers it intends to use at its three new outlets during the 2010 Winter Games. There’s a McDonald’s restaurant being built at the two Athlete Villages, one in Vancouver and the other in Whistler, and a third at VANOC’s main media centre venue at Canada Place. McDonald’s activates its sponsorship at every Olympics it’s so-far sponsored — this is number 5 — for rewarding its employees as a morale-booster through a contest based on “excellence in teamwork and customer service.” The 300 become members of the “Olympic Champion Crew” who get to “experience the Games first-hand serving the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials and media” for periods ranging between 18 and 30 days, and each employee receives a round-trip flight to Vancouver, accommodation, tickets for specific Olympic events and participation in recreational, sightseeing and cultural activities. They’re chosen from the 77,000 employees McDonald’s and its franchise holders have in Canada.

RESOURCES

Here’s the ATS Technology web page describing the Micro Rain Radar unit:
www.atsnwt.com/ats_technology/products/precipitation_mrr.html

Here’s Metek’s website (in English):
www.metek.de

2010 TORCH RELAY COVERAGE A MEDIA FREE-FOR-ALL
* There won’t be any TV, radio or Internet rights holders with exclusive access to broadcast the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic torch relays, according to VANOC. Both are properties VANOC had the opportunity to sell, but it decided that it would not do so. VANOC’s sign-up process for reporters to cover the Olympic Torch Relay either in whole or for a few communities at a time comes to an end on Friday.

COCA-COLA CANADA FINALLY ROLLS OUT ‘GLOBAL’ MARKETING THEME SIX MONTHS AFTER PARENT
* Coca-Cola confirms its global marketing theme in Canada from now at least through the 2010 Games, which it sponsors internationally, and beyond is “Open Happiness”, which it debuted in the US last January but didn’t launch in this country until today. A batch of modern Canadian singers have recorded a tune based on the theme, as was done in the States using American artists. The concept, according to a spokesman is “to embrace the little moments of pleasure in life… We have adapted the Open Happiness song using Canadian artists and will be integrating the song through all of our marketing efforts this year, and during the Olympic Winter Games,” said Bobby Brittain, Coca-Cola Canada’s vice-president of the Sparkling Business Unit. “In Canada, we’ve pulled together amazing artists from an array of genres – Kardinal Offishall, Jay Malinowski and Coeur de pirate. We believe through the use of music, we are able to invite people to share and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.” He did not explain the delay between the US and Canadian launches. Beginning this month, however, the Open Happiness song will be available on iCoke.ca for downloads and it will be used for TV commercials, ringtones and integrated into the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay and the brand’s Live Site activities in BC.

YUKON CALLS FOR DOLLS FOR VANOC CULTURAL EXHIBIT BUT LIMITS ARTISTS TO ABORIGINAL RACES
* The Yukon Arts Centre is asking for hand-made dolls to form an exhibit during the 2010 Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver and for a northern exhibit after the Games until the end of August 2010, but the Centre says it will only accept submissions from aboriginal artists in The Yukon, The Northwest Territory or Nunavut; artists or doll-makers of other races can’t qualify. Artists or doll-makers are being invited to design original dolls for the exhibit, and doll owners are invited to lend dolls to it. The dolls are to represent the lifestyle of Canada’s northern territories and its people. “We are looking for a wide selection of dolls, which can be contemporary or traditional, and created from a variety of materials,” according to a spokesman. The dolls will be selected for the exhibit by a curatorial committee; they’ll also be shown at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery following the Games. The artists or doll-makers, to be eligible, must be of aboriginal descent and live in one of the three territories. Entries must be original, handmade and entirely the work of the entrant, and plastic dolls won’t be accepted. Artists will be paid fees which are approximately $270 per doll and per exhibit. The fees are based on the CARFAC schedule, the federally certified representative organization of professional visual and media artists in Canada. The Center says it’s paying for the shipping with insurance to and from the Yukon Arts Centre and the Vancouver Olympic site. The doll’s value must be included for insurances purposes. • The Yukon Arts Center reserves the right to photograph entries for the purpose of documentation, education and publicity. Deadline for submissions: September 1.

A government-run website says many aircraft intending to land at Vancouver International Airport or neighbouring Boundary Bay airport will have to stop at one of seven ‘portal’ airports — four in Canada and three in the US — where the plane, passengers and cargo must be screened by V2010 Integrated Security Unit officials.

The website, operated through Vancouver International Airport and set up to handle a reservation system by companies for the aircraft flights, is to be launched later this year and used through to the end of the 2010 Winter Games. The site is not yet operational. However, in the five-step reservation process, the website explains that the portal airports in Canada are Calgary in Alberta and three in BC: Kelowna, Abbotsford and Victoria. The American airports are at Boise, Idaho; Spokane, Washington State; and Reno, Nevada.

“This process is similar to the security screening process passengers undergo before proceeding to departure gates,” explains the website, adding later, “Expect to be on the ground for [an] estimated time of 90 minutes at the portal airports. Delays during the screening process may extend the time your aircraft is on the ground.” The reservation system is handled by a new agency, the Airport Reservation Office.

Only flights operating under the DCA Access Standard Security Program — a kind of pre-clearance system used in the United States and which has its own pre-clearance schedule of 25 airports — will be allowed to bypass the portal system if they’re arriving direct from those airports and have qualified in other ways.

Flights can’t make a reservation until they’ve obtained a number from the Integrated Security Unit that ensures V2010 ISU is aware of the flight’s information and potential arrival times.

All of the locations are expected to provide customs clearance with agents of the Canada Border Services Agency.

RESOURCES

The reservations website:
www.2010airportreservations.ca

Our earlier story on NavCanada’s detailed restrictions on flights in Olympic security zones
‘NavCanadsa publishes the first word of the air-space restrictions during the Games’
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:3815; Published on Tuesday, July 14, 2009]

BACKGROUND
=========

Here’s the information that’ll be needed for a flight to make a reservation if its flying into Vancouver International Airport (CYVR) or Boundary Bay airport (CZZB):
* Company name and contact information
* Destination: YVR or ZBB
* Aircraft registration and/or flight number
* Aircraft type
* Origin of flight
* Number of crew and passengers arriving at YVR or ZBB
* Number of crew and passengers departing from YVR or ZBB
* Requested arrival time
* Requested departure time
* Point of entry—Canadian Portal, US Gateway, DASSP
* FBO* at YVR or ZBB
* ISU Number

** FBO stands for Fixed Base Operation — essentially a refueling facility for aircraft that offers a variety of aviation-related services.

Canada’s Department of National Defense intends to buy at least 40 portable machines to track its own aircraft, known as the Blue Force, in the skies over the 2010 Winter Games. And, if the Department likes the way the system works, it’ll buy another 60 of the devices after the Games.

“The goal is to have the system trialed on all aircraft types, including fixed-wing and rotary-wing, that will be employed during the Vancouver Olympic Games,” according to a Department document discussing the requirement. There are bonus points for a system that uses Google Earth for the tracking display.

The 40 units, which are to use the Iridium constellation of 66 satellites to transmit their signals, are to be carried aboard each aircraft by personnel. The rechargable batteries of each unit have to last as long as an eight-hour shift. The Department is also to acquire at least three ground stations, the necessary software for them, and a package of Iridium air time.

The pilot project is to last between now and March 31, the end of the month at which the Paralympic portion of the 2010 Games are finished, and that’s when the 40 units are to be turned off and any further tracking ended.

The idea is to enable ground stations to have an updated minute-by-minute display of the location of all of the units, which could be as high as 40,000 feet above the 2010 Games venues and travelling at supersonic speeds up to 1,370 kilometres per hour (850 miles per hour).

The Department is expected to make a decision on a contractor next month.

The V2010 Integrated Security Unit, which incorporates the Canadian military, is using GPS location systems in other areas of its work. For example, one of its sections, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the federal corporation owned by Transport Canada which does all of the airport security screening in Canada, is using a GPS system to track the location of the 10 self-propelled trailers each carrying a portable passenger-and-luggage screening unit.

As well, the BC government through GeoBC is assembling aerial digital photography of the Lower Mainland and Whistler for use with other sensor-provided measurements so that public safety, security and government officials will have a common map base to help them prepare for the 2010 Games; the data uses GPS points.

And the BC government emergency-management department is also using GPS co-ordinates to locate key facilities, such as power lines, pipelines or other utilities, using the 2010 Games as a pilot project to determine the kinds of information it needs for a larger-scale rollout in the future. And GPS tracking is also expected to be used to keep note of the locations of temporary taxis used to transport people during the 2010 Games.

RESOURCES

An example of a tracking system such as that envisioned by the Department of Defense is this one by Blue Sky Network, a business unit of the company that owns the Iridium satellite farm:
www.blueskynetwork.com/Products/SkyRouter.php

VANOC TO END SECOND PHASE OF TICKET SALES ON FRIDAY

* VANOC says it will shut down the second of three Canadian Olympic ticket purchase phases at 7 pm Pacific on Friday so it can assign seats to the those who bought 155,000 of about 200,000 tickets it offered June 6. The third and final Olympics phase is expected to be launched in November, “near” the time final phase of the Paralympic sales begins. That launch date has not yet been announced. At that point, the tickets, which are expected to include the remainder of the 55,000 not sold by Friday and include a remaining release of event and competition ducats, are expected to stay on sale until the Games. VANOC also says that the public version of the ticket-exchange website it originally expected to have running about now won’t be launched until shortly after the third phase of ticket sales begins. An internal ticket-exchange website for Olympic and Paralympic family is expected to be in operation before then.

AUSSIE FOXTEL COVERAGE OF 2010 GAMES TO COME FROM VANCOUVER STUDIO
* Australia’s Foxtel TV network, which is a broadcast rightsholder of the 2010 Games, says it will anchor its coverage of the 2010 Olympics with a studio in Vancouver at VANOC’s Olympic Broadcast Centre in new conference centre building. Foxtel its soccer announcer Tiffany Cherry will join Olympian Matt Shirvington as hosts of the coverage. Cherry, for the past 18 months, has been in the United States hosting ESPN’s SportsCentre covering Wimbledon, the US Superbowl, NBA finals, the US Golf and Tennis Opens and the English Premier League. Shirvington has been a presenter for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and is expected to help the network cover the London 2012 Olympic Games for the nextwork. Foxtel’s Director of Sports and Olympic Games, Peter Campbell says Foxtel will provide four high-definition and four standard-definition TV channels on the Winter Olympics. [See RESOURCES, below.]

‘THE SIMPSONS’ TO TACKLE MIXED CURLING ON AMERICAN NETWORK JUST BEFORE 2010 GAMES
* America’s Fox Broadcasting television network, one of the American media expected to cover the 2010 Winter Olympics festivities from outside the venues, says it intends to air a new episode of its popular “The Simpsons” cartoon series in February shortly before the Games in which Homer and Marge take up the sport of mixed curling.

RESOURCES

A photo of Foxtel’s Cherry and Shirvington:
www.tvtonight.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Tiffany-Matt.jpg

VANCOUVER CITY’s GAMES PAVILION EXPECTED TO BE MOVED TO GEORGIA LIVECITY SITE

* The City of Vancouver is considering moving the location of its Vancouver House Games pavilion from the Vancouver Public Library across the street to the Georgia LiveCity Site because of “extraordinary” security costs of keeping it at the VPL. A decision is expected to be made later today, and we’ll have a more detailed report at that point.

VANOC STRIKES DEAL WITH NORTH SHORE FOR TRANSPORTATION, HOSTING PLANS DURING GAMES
* VANOC has reached Community Contributor agreements with the City of North Vancouver and the legally separate District of North Vancouver that surrounds it so that some large parking and transportation areas in their jurisdictions can be used for the 2010 Winter Games, and some non-competition events are also expected to be hosted. Under the deal, the City of North Vancouver’s lower Lonsdale area will be “a convenient and attractive location point” between Vancouver, Cypress Mountain and Whistler. It’s the area where the Seabus intersects with the area’s major bus hub. Further north on Lonsdale, a parking lot near the Centennial Theatre is planned for parking coaches to transport ticketed spectators from departure hubs to VANOC’s mountain venues at Cypress and Whistler. Four community spaces, including the heritage Pacific Great Eastern Railway Station, is also expected to be used by the Organizing Committee to host training seminars, or marshal volunteers and staff during the Games. The facilities are expected to stay open for use by the public. City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto says, “As we welcome the world to our vibrant city, we will work to ensure that the athletes, spectators and volunteers have a memorable visit as well as a scenic and smooth journey across the North Shore.” The District of North Vancouver has agreed to provide VANOC with a parking area at Inter-River Park, located at Old Lillooet Road and Premier Street, host a dinner for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and loan staff to the Organizing Committee during the Games period. North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton notes, “Our communities have much to offer visitors and we especially look forward to sharing an evening with international environmental experts at the upcoming United Nations’ dinner.” The City and District have also agreed to let VANOC use tjhe Centennial Theatre for as many as four Games-related events, and provide snow-and-ice removal if needed on the Games-time transportation routes, parking lots and pedestrian walkways. In exchange for their support, organizations that sign up with VANOC’s Community Contributors program receive a range of domestic marketing rights and benefits that allow them to create “a close association with the Games, including various advertising, promotional and workforce opportunities.” Other members of the Community Contributor Program include: the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Capilano University, Douglas College, Educacentre College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langara College, Simon Fraser University, and the City of Port Moody. [See RESOURCES below for photo-maps of the North Shore locations]

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT – VANOC’S HEAD OF PRESS OPS IS ‘IN DAMAGE CONTROL NOW’
* [Head of Press Operations for the 2010 Winter Games, Lucia] Montanarella has less than seven months to get ready for the opening ceremony in Vancouver. Things aren’t going quite as smoothly as she’d like. Montanarella, whose current staff of 24 will grow to 164 paid workers and 587 volunteers during the games, has had to make concessions in the face of budget cuts during the economic downturn. “Being in the pilot seat for the first time, it’s frustrating because you have to compromise a lot,” she said [about VANOC's budget changes late last year]. “My vision is gone. I live in damage control now. All the ‘nice to have things’ — you lose them. Going through budget cuts is not unusual, but it’s much harder this time.” Among her biggest concerns is finding enough accommodations for volunteers and staff at the mountain venues in and around Whistler. “The most frustrating thing for me in Torino was that we got the accommodation wrong for the work force,” she said. “I was determined not to let it happen again in Vancouver. We are still struggling to have beds in Whistler.” Overall, Montanarella is worried about living up to the world’s high expectations for the Vancouver Games. “For Athens and Torino and maybe Barcelona, we all went without high expectations and we enjoyed it more,” she said. “With the high expectations for Vancouver, it makes it more difficult to match… I think they will be good games,” she said. “Not spectacular.” — Part of an Associated Press report by Stephen Wilson in London, published on Saturday, in which he compares and interviews 2010′s Montanarella with her 2012 counterpart, Jayne Pearce.

RESOURCES

Interactive photo-maps of:

* The Lower Lonsdale area, with the Seabus dock on the lower left:
tinyurl.com/lehga7

* The Centennial Theatre and parking lot:
tinyurl.com/laxsl5

* The Inter-River parking area:
tinyurl.com/mpvuho

— CAN VANOC’S CATHY PRIESTNER AND OTHERS ON THE 2010 & BEYOND PANEL OVERHAUL OLD HARDWARE?
* It would seem that we are not without great ideas nor the capability to put them to good use. What’s noteworthy is that none of these [former sports expert-panel] reports — new and old — tackle the overhaul that is required to the hardware at the centre of the Canada’s national sport system. Sure, they provide the necessary software upgrades for sport operating systems — the partnerships, the programs, the assignments, the plans, the priorities, the financial frameworks and the information — but none of them adequately addresses the institutional reforms and the modernization of Canada’s most important public sector entities, like Sport Canada, that purport to lead and shape much of what sport achieves on the national and international stage. All of which is to say that Canada is running 21st-century sport software on 1960s hardware. The risks associated with this dichotomy are significant and something that the panel chair, David Zussman, will want to consider. Canadians are watching closely in the lead up to the Games in Vancouver. The expectation is that not only will we host “great Games” but that we will sustain our athletic success — “legacies now,” it’s called — and that 2010 will be more than a one-time celebration. Similarly, there is a growing appreciation for what sport means in our communities as it increasingly dominates the social space and time of families and neighbours. Who knew that the Canadian sport system would — or even could — take on the obesity crisis, social exclusion and declining athletic performances all at once? As a result of this, many sport leaders, myself included, see 2010 as simply the end of the beginning not as an end in itself. Another risk is that the sport sector (or even the “2010 and Beyond Panel”) will see the required changes as being in the domain of government alone. That won’t do. The emerging interest among sport organizations to merge and generate alliances is long overdue. So too are the innovations in creating agreements that unite the strategies of national, provincial and community sport bodies. Add in the plans to co-locate sport organizations and to promote shared administrative services, and you start to see a sport system that is changing itself for the better. –Part of a longer commentary in today’s Ottawa Citizen by Ian Bird, a field-hockey Olympian who is head of the Sport Matters Group, a voluntary group of Canadian sports people and organizations.

VANOC VIDEO GAME PRICED FOR US, UK, BUT NOT YET FOR CANADA, AT ABOUT C$50
* Pre-order pricing for the VANOC-branded “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games” video game on the Nintendo Wii is US$47 and slightly more expensive at £30 in the United Kingdom. It’s not yet been priced for sale in Canada, where an equivalent price would be about C$50. The Game is to be released October 13. [See RESOURCES, below, for a link to a 30-second ad for the game.]

RESOURCES

A 30-second ad for the VANOC video game:
www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2048EV3S8JJTJ

—

Our earlier story with the details of the Canadian Games marketing campaign:

‘Canadian government to mount C$9.5 million national marketing campaign to support 2010 Games and Torch Relays’
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:3834; Published on Friday, July 24, 2009]

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #3837
US SECURITY CHIEF NAPOLITANO SAYS DURING BELLLINGHAM 2010 SECURITY CENTER TOUR THAT INFO ON CROSS-BORDER SECURITY AGREEMENTS COMING

US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the new 2010 Olympics Coordination Center at the Customs & Border Protection Air Wing in Bellingham is essential to American-related security for the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Napolitano toured the Center at the Bellingham airport this morning with Washington State governor Chris Gregoire and the area’s House Representative Rick Larsen, a Washington State Democrat.

Napolitano says that Canada is responsible for security at the Games, but a range of security and border personnel in the state will be ready to help “on request”. The Center has computer work stations for 54 people, and about 40 agencies will be represented [See BACKGROUND, below].

Napolitano said she wouldn’t comment on the status of any agreement between Canada and the US about allowing armed officers to cross the border into Canada, currently prevented by US legislation, but she added, “We will get more information on that as we get closer to the Games.” We asked the Communications department of V2010 ISU last Thursday if any of its senior officers would be involved in today’s tour. It agreed to check, but has not yet responded.

The Center’s cost is US$4.5 million: US$4 million is for the operations, US$500,000 is to pay for 2010 Olympics-related training and exercises for first responders “and develop the protocols that will be followed in the event of any incident at the Olympic games or at the border.” The remaining US$500,000 is to expand the integrated wireless network in northwest Washington by improving a communications tower at Mt. Sumas.

Training through the Center includes how agencies should share information, and planning for possible riots, terrorism, floods or snowstorms that might shut down Interstate 5 between Seattle and the Canada/US border during the Olympics. “Anything that would impact the highways to and from the border — that’s what we deem as probably the most realistic of what’s going to happen,” according to Amanda Bibler, assistant director of field operations for U.S. Customs & Border Protection in Seattle.

The Center actually began operations about two months ago; the reason it’s running so early is because the 2009 World Police & Fire Games competition and the estimates of 10,000 athletes taking part — it takes place from July 31 to August 9 in Vancouver — is part of the organizational brief of the Center’s officials, and those games being used as a live exercise in preparations for planning the Canada/US interaction for the 2010 Games. Once they’re over, most of the operations at the Center will shut down until late this year, when the computer stations will be repopulated for the 2010 Games. V2010 ISU has a similar center in Richmond.

The Department of Homeland Security has leased the space for two years, with an option for a two-year extenstion. Customs & Border Protection is considering whether to move its air-and-marine branch into the building. Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen, a longtime supporter of the facility, said he expected it to be used for decades.

Meanwhile, Hugh Conroy, a project manager with the Watcom Council of Governments, who studies the traffic implications of the 2010 Games, says traffic flow is expected to be much reduced from preditions a couple of years ago, from 2,000 to about 400 vehicles per day during the Olympic portion. “It’s basically gone from being like a busy summer day to a busy winter day,” he says.

Those estimates could increase if more tickets are sold in the northwestern United States over the next few months. They don’t include ticket sales from third-party vendors, nor does that data show the number of travelers who might head to Vancouver or Whistler without Games tickets just to be a part of the festivities. Estimates dropped considerably after Phase 1 ticket sales information became available earlier this year, showing that fewer tickets than expected had been available, and sold in the United States. Information from Phase 2 ticket sales, which began in June in the US, is not yet fully incorporated.

BACKGROUND

Here are most of the American agencies working out of the Bellingham airport’s 2010 Olympics Coordination Center. The US 2010 Olympics Security Committee is co-chaired by Major General Timothy J. Lowenberg,* and Laura Laughlin, the officer in charge of Washington State’s FBI, headquartered in Seattle, and Mark Beaty, the US Federal Coordinator for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, 2010 Paralympics and related events in Washington State:

US Federal Bureau of Investigation
US Department of Homeland Security, specifically:
- Office of Emergency Communications
– Customs & Border Protection
– Immigration and Customs Enforcement
– Secret Service
– Federal Emergency Management Agency
– Transportation Security Agency
– Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
– United States Coast Guard (DHS)
US Department of State
US Department of Defense
US Federal Highways Administration
US Federal Aviation Agency
Governor’s Office (Policy Office, Communications Director, OFM)
Washington National Guard (Western Air Defense Sector, JFHQ, DCSIM and USPFO)
Washington Military Department – All Divisions
Washington State Patrol
Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
Washington State Emergency Management Association
Washington State Department of Transportation
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Washington State Department of Health
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office
Seattle Police Department
Blaine Police Department
Port of Seattle Police Department
Bellingham Fire and Police Departments
Sumas Police Department

King County
Pierce County
Pacific NW Economic Region
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest Private Sector Company Volunteers

* M/G Lowenberg is the Adjutant General of Washington State, Commander of all Washington State Army and National Guard forces, Director of the State’s Emergency Management and Enhanced 911 program, Homeland Security Advisor to the Washington State Governor, chairs the Homeland Defense and Homeland Security portfolio for the Adjutant General Association of the US, is the National Chairman of the Governors’ Homeland Security Advisors Council and is the co-chair of the National Homeland Security Consortium.

2,500 VIP PASSES ASSIGNED FOR RICHMOND OLYMPIC OVAL’S LEGACY LOUNGE
* VANOC has set up passes — special official tickets — that allow VIPs to get into the Richmond Olympic Oval’s Legacy Lounge through a private entrance. There will be a total of 2,500 of these passes used by VANOC and Richmond during the 12 days of the Olympic portion of the Games that the lounge will be available. Richmond plans to use its allocation of 900 passes from that batch for a range of political and business hosting purposes.

PARK ROYAL MALL TO ATTEMPT GUINESS BOOK RECORD DURING 2010 GAMES
* One of the largest and oldest shopping malls in Greater Vancouver, Park Royal in West Vancouver, says it hopes to set a ‘Guinness World Record’ for the longest continuous ice-hockey game during the 17 days of the Olympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games. It’s not a VANOC-endorsed event, but a mall spokesman says the shopping centre intends to invite community hockey teams from the Greater Vancouver area to play around the clock from February 12-28 on an artificial rink with synthetic ice set up in its parking lot. The Guiness Book’s current record is 241 hours, or 10 days. The record-setting attempt is part of the Centre’s Winter Carnival promotion. Rick Amantea, the Centre’s vice-president, says organizers expect to provide two other major areas of activity, an entertainment stage with beverage tent and an “ice-skating canal” that will run through The Village area of Park Royal. Large TV screens are also planned to be put up at Park Royal and will broadcast various events. Canada’s first suburban shopping centre was opened in 1950, Park Royal is owned and operated by Larco Investments, a West Vancouver-based international real-estate investment company. The entire mall covers 9.2 hectares (22.3 acres). [See RESOURCES, below.]

RESOURCES

This interactive photo map shows Park Royal; the Village, a C$30-million expansion opened in 2004, is the quarter at the bottom left of the development:
tinyurl.com/kskbyl

Just as the Olympic Torch Relay gets underway on October 30, the Canadian government is going to be picking up a torch of its own and hold it high until next March, right through to the end of the Paralympic Games. That torch is a major national advertising and marketing campaign, estimated to cost about C$9.5 million, to support the Games and its two Torch Relays.

The Canadian Heritage department, which includes the federal government’s Olympic & Paralympic Secretariat, has begun looking for Canadian-only advertising companies to provide the strategic planning, account management and development of the major multimedia advertising campaign. They have until August 6 to get their proposals in.

The Government of Canada’s investment in the 2010 Games covers legacy costs, some infrastructure, as well as essential services such as security, immigration and border services, as well as half the cost of the facilities budget of C$580 million, which its sharing with BC. The cost of that federal commitment, so far, is C$1.2 billion, but that doesn’t include the cost of this advertising campaign, according to the government’s own public accounting.

The campaign is to be primarily conducted on TV and radio, the Internet and in social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Flickr or similar sites. It’s targeted at all Canadians from 12 to 55, but the focus will be on parents and their families, coaches, teachers, schools, Canadians 12 to 24 years old, people with disabilities and aboriginals. “Almost all Canadians are interested by the Winter games and will watch the various competitions,” according to documents associated with the advertising, using information apparently based on surveys.

Other information gleaned from survey work for the campaign: There is a 6% to 7% decrease in perception of the positive impact of the games on trade and investment opportunities, as well as on economic opportunities for communities across the country. Awareness of the Games is lowest and remains low among Quebecers, where it reaches only 76% compared to nearly 100% in BC. A federal government-sponsored socio-economic impact study to be released shortly is expected to show that the economic impact of the 2010 Games is significant on Canada.

“The concepts should try to incorporate, when and as possible, the spectacular beauty of our landscapes from North to South and from East to West to create a sense of greatness,” say the documents.

There are several objectives of the government in spending this much money on marketing to support the 2010 Games and its connection to it:

• “Use the 2010 Games as a national and international context of pride and excellence and athletes as role models to encourage Canadians of all ages to get active and adopt a healthier living;
• “Promote a sense of pride of all Canadians for their athletes” and the accomplishments of those athletes;
• “Leverage the athletes’ achievements to inspire Canadians to live a healthy lifestyle and embrace sport for life; and
• “Promote the fact that from playground to podium there is a place for all of us. The concepts should try to incorporate, when and as possible, the spectacular beauty of our landscapes from North to South and from East to West to create a sense of greatness.”

The key messages the Heritage Department wants to get out through the campaign:

• “Canada is proud of its Olympic and Paralympic Athletes and their contributions to this country as role models in the promotion of sports for excellence;
• “From playground to podium there is a place for all of us;
• “Make the 2010 Winter Games Canada’s Games: adopt a healthy lifestyle and embrace sport for life.”

While those are the aims of the campaign, the approval process involves the government’s most powerful department after the Prime Minister’s office, and that’s the Privy Council Office. All advertising plans and strategies for major campaigns must be submitted to the interdepartmental Government Advertising Committee, which chaired by someone representing the Privy Council office. In addition, web work has to comply with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Common Look and Feel protocols.

The campaign is also expected to be linked to Health Canada’s “Healthy Living” marketing campaign, and the organization, which is another federal body, “needs to be considered as a partner in possible marketing activities and products.” It’s also expected to be connected to CTV’s “I Believe” Games-related marketing project, and include yet another federally funded body — Sports Canada’s promotion of the Games-related Own the Podium, which supports Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams in their quest for medals at Winter and Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and Canada Sport For Life, which is aimed at encouraging long-term athletic development and sport excellence among Canadians.

If a company gets the work, it can’t try to land other Canadian government advertising work.

The Torch Relay is scheduled to begin its Canada-wide tour on October 30 in Victoria and will end on February 12 in Vancouver. The Relay is to take 100 days and involve about 1,000 communities. About 90% of Canada’’s population is believed to be within an hour’s drive from a place visited by the Torch.

The Torch convoy organized by VANOC is to travel about 45,000 kilometres, and about 200 noon-time or evening celebrations are being planned to take place during the Relay. The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is the first significant public celebrations directly related to the Games outside of countdown and branding events.

BACKGROUND

The advertising campaign envisioned by Heritage Canada also requires the ad agency to take a number of elements of Ottawa’s involvement in the 2010 Games into consideration. Here’s how the department voiced them:

2010 WINTER GAMES – GENERAL

• The eyes of the world have turned to Canada in anticipation of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, giving Canadians a once-in-a-generation opportunity to send a powerful message about who we are as a country and as a people.

Canada is honored to welcome the world to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The Government of Canada is a proud partner of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

• Although the 2010 Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler, they will be “Canada’s Games”. The Games will create shared and lasting legacies for Canadian businesses, communities, and citizens.
• The Games will unite all Canadians by celebrating our passion for sport, sharing our pride in our diversity, our athletes and our creative spirit.

2010 – ACHIEVING SUCCESS FOR CANADA’S GAMES

• The government is proud to be partnering with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), the provincial government of British Columbia and other partners to showcase Canada as a modern, competitive and innovative country.
• The Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays are the centerpieces of Vancouver 2010 Winter Games outreach activities to communities across the country.
• This is a ‘once in a generation’ chance to create dynamic and memorable cultural experiences for all Canadians by bringing communities together in welcoming the Games and celebrating our athletes and our contribution to the Games.

2010 – FITNESS AND HEALTH

While promoting health and fitness, some of the facilities will continue to operate as centers of high-performance competition after the Games, leaving long lasting and sustainable legacies for hosting cities and communities.

• Participating in sport is part of an active lifestyle and strengthens individuals and our communities by bringing people of all backgrounds and all ages together.

2010 – CANADIAN ARTISTIC CREATIVITY

• Canadian sports excellence at the 2010 Winter Games will be complemented by the Cultural Olympiad: an expression of Canadian artistic creativity. Cultural creativity and innovation are vital not only to a robust Canadian culture, but also to the economy. Known around the world for its incredible natural beauty, Canada also offers international visitors extraordinary cultural and artistic experiences that are globally unique.
• Hosting the Games offer Canada and Canadians a unique opportunity to showcase our values and culture in a context of excellence, respect and pride of being hosts to the world’s best.

2010 – DIVERSITY

• Canada is known for its linguistic and multicultural diversity, including its aboriginal beginnings. Canada is one of the best places in the world in which to live, learn, and thrive as individuals and families. Diversity is our strength and drives innovation and creativity. Canada celebrates diversity through its anglophone, francophone and aboriginal roots, as well as through the large communities originating from all over the world. Canada has a proud tradition of being a country that enjoys freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
• Aboriginal culture is an important part of Canada’s history, present and future. Canada will be the first Olympic host to embrace Aboriginal people as equal partners in staging the Games. During these Winter Games, four Host First Nations – Musqueam, Lil’wat, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh – will be showcasing not only their unique and vibrant culture, but also their various and profound contributions to the Games and Canadian society.

2,500 VIP PASSES ASSIGNED FOR RICHMOND OLYMPIC OVAL’S LEGACY LOUNGE
* VANOC has set up passes — special official tickets — that allow VIPs to get into the Richmond Olympic Oval’s Legacy Lounge through a private entrance. There will be a total of 2,500 of these passes used by VANOC and Richmond during the 12 days of the Olympic portion of the Games that the lounge will be available. Richmond plans to use its allocation of 900 passes from that batch for a range of political and business hosting purposes.

PARK ROYAL MALL TO ATTEMPT GUINESS BOOK RECORD DURING 2010 GAMES
* One of the largest and oldest shopping malls in Greater Vancouver, Park Royal in West Vancouver, says it hopes to set a ‘Guinness World Record’ for the longest continuous ice-hockey game during the 17 days of the Olympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games. It’s not a VANOC-endorsed event, but a mall spokesman says the shopping centre intends to invite community hockey teams from the Greater Vancouver area to play around the clock from February 12-28 on an artificial rink with synthetic ice set up in its parking lot. The Guiness Book’s current record is 241 hours, or 10 days. The record-setting attempt is part of the Centre’s Winter Carnival promotion. Rick Amantea, the Centre’s vice-president, says organizers expect to provide two other major areas of activity, an entertainment stage with beverage tent and an “ice-skating canal” that will run through The Village area of Park Royal. Large TV screens are also planned to be put up at Park Royal and will broadcast various events. Canada’s first suburban shopping centre was opened in 1950, Park Royal is owned and operated by Larco Investments, a West Vancouver-based international real-estate investment company. The entire mall covers 9.2 hectares (22.3 acres). [See RESOURCES, below.]

RESOURCES

This interactive photo map shows Park Royal; the Village, a C$30-million expansion opened in 2004, is the quarter at the bottom left of the development:
tinyurl.com/kskbyl

Just as the Olympic Torch Relay gets underway on October 30, the Canadian government is going to be picking up a torch of its own and hold it high until next March, right through to the end of the Paralympic Games. That torch is a major national advertising and marketing campaign, estimated to cost about C$9.5 million, to support the Games and its two Torch Relays.

The Canadian Heritage department, which includes the federal government’s Olympic & Paralympic Secretariat, has begun looking for Canadian-only advertising companies to provide the strategic planning, account management and development of the major multimedia advertising campaign. They have until August 6 to get their proposals in.

The Government of Canada’s investment in the 2010 Games covers legacy costs, some infrastructure, as well as essential services such as security, immigration and border services, as well as half the cost of the facilities budget of C$580 million, which its sharing with BC. The cost of that federal commitment, so far, is C$1.2 billion, but that doesn’t include the cost of this advertising campaign, according to the government’s own public accounting.

The campaign is to be primarily conducted on TV and radio, the Internet and in social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Flickr or similar sites. It’s targeted at all Canadians from 12 to 55, but the focus will be on parents and their families, coaches, teachers, schools, Canadians 12 to 24 years old, people with disabilities and aboriginals. “Almost all Canadians are interested by the Winter games and will watch the various competitions,” according to documents associated with the advertising, using information apparently based on surveys.

Other information gleaned from survey work for the campaign: There is a 6% to 7% decrease in perception of the positive impact of the games on trade and investment opportunities, as well as on economic opportunities for communities across the country. Awareness of the Games is lowest and remains low among Quebecers, where it reaches only 76% compared to nearly 100% in BC. A federal government-sponsored socio-economic impact study to be released shortly is expected to show that the economic impact of the 2010 Games is significant on Canada.

“The concepts should try to incorporate, when and as possible, the spectacular beauty of our landscapes from North to South and from East to West to create a sense of greatness,” say the documents.

There are several objectives of the government in spending this much money on marketing to support the 2010 Games and its connection to it:

• Use the 2010 Games as a national and international context of pride and excellence and athletes as role models to encourage Canadians of all ages to get active and adopt a healthier living;
• Promote a sense of pride of all Canadians for their athletes” and the accomplishments of those athletes;
• Leverage the athletes’ achievements to inspire Canadians to live a healthy lifestyle and embrace sport for life; and
• Promote the fact that from playground to podium there is a place for all of us. The concepts should try to incorporate, when and as possible, the spectacular beauty of our landscapes from North to South and from East to West to create a sense of greatness.”

The key messages the Heritage Department wants to get out through the campaign:

• “Canada is proud of its Olympic and Paralympic Athletes and their contributions to this country as role models in the promotion of sports for excellence;
• “From playground to podium there is a place for all of us;
• “Make the 2010 Winter Games Canada’s Games: adopt a healthy lifestyle and embrace sport for life.”

While those are the aims of the campaign, the approval process involves the government’s most powerful department after the Prime Minister’s office, and that’s the Privy Council Office. All advertising plans and strategies for major campaigns must be submitted to the interdepartmental Government Advertising Committee, which chaired by someone representing the Privy Council office. In addition, web work has to comply with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Common Look and Feel protocols.

The campaign is also expected to be linked to Health Canada’s “Healthy Living” marketing campaign, and the organization, which is another federal body, “needs to be considered as a partner in possible marketing activities and products.” It’s also expected to be connected to CTV’s “I Believe” Games-related marketing project, and include yet another federally funded body — Sports Canada’s promotion of the Games-related Own the Podium, which supports Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams in their quest for medals at Winter and Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and Canada Sport For Life, which is aimed at encouraging long-term athletic development and sport excellence among Canadians.

If a company gets the work, it can’t try to land other Canadian government advertising work.

The Torch Relay is scheduled to begin its Canada-wide tour on October 30 in Victoria and will end on February 12 in Vancouver. The Relay is to take 100 days and involve about 1,000 communities. About 90% of Canada’’s population is believed to be within an hour’s drive from a place visited by the Torch.

The Torch convoy organized by VANOC is to travel about 45,000 kilometres, and about 200 noon-time or evening celebrations are being planned to take place during the Relay. The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is the first significant public celebrations directly related to the Games outside of countdown and branding events.

BACKGROUND

The advertising campaign envisioned by Heritage Canada also requires the ad agency to take a number of elements of Ottawa’s involvement in the 2010 Games into consideration. Here’s how the department voiced them:

2010 WINTER GAMES – GENERAL

• The eyes of the world have turned to Canada in anticipation of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, giving Canadians a once-in-a-generation opportunity to send a powerful message about who we are as a country and as a people.
• Canada is honored to welcome the world to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The Government of Canada is a proud partner of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
• Although the 2010 Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler, they will be “Canada’s Games”. The Games will create shared and lasting legacies for Canadian businesses, communities, and citizens.
• *he Games will unite all Canadians by celebrating our passion for sport, sharing our pride in our diversity, our athletes and our creative spirit.

2010 – ACHIEVING SUCCESS FOR CANADA’S GAMES

• The government is proud to be partnering with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), the provincial government of British Columbia and other partners to showcase Canada as a modern, competitive and innovative country.
• The Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays are the centerpieces of Vancouver 2010 Winter Games outreach activities to communities across the country.
• This is a ‘once in a generation’ chance to create dynamic and memorable cultural experiences for all Canadians by bringing communities together in welcoming the Games and celebrating our athletes and our contribution to the Games.

2010 – FITNESS AND HEALTH

• While promoting health and fitness, some of the facilities will continue to operate as centers of high-performance competition after the Games, leaving long lasting and sustainable legacies for hosting cities and communities.
• Participating in sport is part of an active lifestyle and strengthens individuals and our communities by bringing people of all backgrounds and all ages together.

2010 – CANADIAN ARTISTIC CREATIVITY

• Canadian sports excellence at the 2010 Winter Games will be complemented by the Cultural Olympiad: an expression of Canadian artistic creativity. Cultural creativity and innovation are vital not only to a robust Canadian culture, but also to the economy. Known around the world for its incredible natural beauty, Canada also offers international visitors extraordinary cultural and artistic experiences that are globally unique.
• Hosting the Games offer Canada and Canadians a unique opportunity to showcase our values and culture in a context of excellence, respect and pride of being hosts to the world’s best.

2010 – DIVERSITY

• Canada is known for its linguistic and multicultural diversity, including its aboriginal beginnings. Canada is one of the best places in the world in which to live, learn, and thrive as individuals and families. Diversity is our strength and drives innovation and creativity. Canada celebrates diversity through its anglophone, francophone and aboriginal roots, as well as through the large communities originating from all over the world. Canada has a proud tradition of being a country that enjoys freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
• Aboriginal culture is an important part of Canada’s history, present and future. Canada will be the first Olympic host to embrace Aboriginal people as equal partners in staging the Games. During these Winter Games, four Host First Nations – Musqueam, Lil’wat, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh – will be showcasing not only their unique and vibrant culture, but also their various and profound contributions to the Games and Canadian society.

VANOC’s new Internet app aimed at helping people develop Games-time cultural programming
* CODE, the acronym for VANOC’s Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition, has a new app in its software toolbox: one that allows Canadians to mix sound, text and photos found on the website hosting CODE into a new creation. For example, VANOC offers a 30-second clip of photographs of children playing in prairie grass that were posted by a Saskatchewan woman, plus words, superimposed on the blue sky, that were written by a Quebec City teenager and music that underscores them is reminiscent of Canada’s eastern coast. “Canada CODE has broken new ground in the digital realm by giving Canadians an opportunity to creatively share with each other and the world,” explains Burke Taylor, VANOC’s vice-president of Culture & Celebrations. “Our new remix application takes that potential to a whole new interactive level that’s designed to be as simple and inclusive as possible.” Canadian composer Dennis Burke used material from the National Film Board’s sound library to create about 30 musical soundscapes for contributors to use as audio tracks. CODE’s staff invited Canadians to create an on-line portrait of the country a few months ago. Since then, contributors from British Columbia to Newfoundland & Labrador have uploaded photos and text to the website, while thousands have viewed the content. By doing so, VANOC says, “they have become a part of Canadian and Games history — the ambitious digital project is a first for the Games.” With the launch of the remix application, contributors can now create stories with each other’s content. A collection of the digital collages are expected to be displayed on big-screen TVs at VANOC-related celebration sites, as well as at VANOC venues, during the 2010 Games. VANOC arranged funding for the CODE project through one of its major corporate sponsors, Bell Canada, coupled with additional money contributed by the provinces and territories of Canada and the federal government, along with the National Film Board, Canada’s public film producer and distributor. VANOC’s programming staff with the CODE department wrote the app. [See RESOURCES, below.]

WEST VAN MULLS C$15,000 APPLICATION TO HELP COVER OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY COSTS
* Staff for the City of West Vancouver, one of VANOC’s official host communities, are expected to be given permission by their council next week to apply to the Canadian government’s Heritage Canada department for a C$15,000 grant to help defray the costs of an Olympic Relay Torch celebration on February 10, two days before the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Games. VANOC is organizing the aspects of the Torch Relay within West Vancouver itself, but the City’s agreement with VANOC is that the City is to provide the local events that go along with the 50-minute program in which the Torch lights a mock cauldron. The City is planning on local entertainment by artists and performers during the event, providing municipal garbage and other services, as well as working with VANOC’s advance team on setting up the location and staging for the event.

RESOURCES

Western Diversification’s website:
www.wd.gc.ca

—

Here’s VANOC’s web address for CODE:
www.vancouver2010.com/code
To use the Remix app, click on the Remix Launches link, then on the following page, the Explore Our Code button and look for the Remix tab near the top of the following page. The app uses Flash. Drag CODE content and transition effects to the Remix area, then submit the result when you’re done.

Somehow it seems like bringing coal to Newcastle, or selling snow to the Inuit, but organizers of the 2010 Winter Games are asking for quotes from companies interested in supplying bags of ice — a lot of bags of ice — to the Vancouver and Whistler Athletes Villages during the 2010 Games. We’re talking cubed, shaved and chipped ice.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) figures that the company that gets the contract will have to provide 250 kilograms of ice per Village per day between January 29 and February 4, as teams begin arriving. That rises to 1,100 kg per village per day between February 4 and March 3, which shortly after the Olympic portion of the Games end, and drops back to 250 kg per Village per day during the Paralympics, from March 6, when the Paralympic teams begin arriving, to the 24th, a short time after the Paralympics Games end.

That’s a total of 67.6 metric tonnes (about 75 tons) of ice.

Whistler Village, VANOC figures, will need 16 freezers, while the Vancouver Village will need 12 to dispense the ice. VANOC’ll provide the locations and the power for them, but they’ll be outdoors, on snow and exposed to the weather for the entire time. The necessary power for the freezers will be provided by VANOC.

The companies will have to bring in ice chests, freezers and bulk storage equipment to hold the bags the week of January 18th, do restocking throughout the period, remove the equipment not needed for the Paralympics between March 3 and 6th, and then take out all of the equipment on March 25.

And, yes, everybody connected with the operation will have to go through a full RCMP security check, and will need to co-ordinate the delivery schedules with VANOC logistics.

Companies interested have until August 7 to get their bids in.

— CRUISE SHIP ACCOMMODATIONS STILL AN OPTION IN NORTH VANCOUVER DURING GAMES TIME
* “The other option for hotel accommodations is the Norwegian Star, a 300-metre cruise ship, sailing into Vancouver on Feb. 10. With 1,119 rooms, Dennis Laliberte, president of Newwest Travel, said the cruise ship, “will be the largest hotel in Vancouver during the Olympics.” Scheduled to dock at the Kinder Morgan Pier, Laliberte said the rooms are open to anyone. “We think our biggest market will be people with tickets (to the Olympics) looking for a place to stay,” Laliberte said. Besides the abundance of rooms, Laliberte described the Norwegian Star — which typically sails from L.A. to Mexico — as a unique experience with a 1,000-seat show room, 13 restaurants and 500-seat nightclub on board. So far, interest has been building in Canada, and sales in the States have just started, Laliberte said. “Our European market has been a little soft,” Laliberte said, but added, “It’s going to sell out once people realize there’s no other accommodation in Vancouver.” The City of North Vancouver is still in discussions about hosting a cruise ship at its Burrard Dry Dock Pier during the Olympics. According to Phil Sanderson, manager of economic development, the city is speaking with several groups about docking a cruise ship during the Games. “But nothing committed yet, nothing confirmed or committed,” he said. An earlier agreement with the Deap Group fell through, said Sanderson. “We had to terminate the agreement because they weren’t able to meet their obligation,” Sanderson said. “They’re trying to organize themselves to be able to come back to us, but that’s not happened yet.” Greg Peart, president of Deap, is more optimistic. “We’re still working away,” he told The Outlook. “I’m not ready to talk to the media right now; we’re still forging ahead.” — part of a story published today by the North Shore Outlook of North Vancouver, about accommodation potential in the area for the 2010 Winter Games.

US$47.5 MILLION IN CHANGE
* Some idle noodling around with a calculator this afternoon after we learned that VANOC’s supplier sponsor, the Royal Canadian Mint, was planning to produce up to 50,000 of its new gold bullion coins to market the 2010 Olympics. The coins have a face value of $50, but they contain an ounce of almost pure gold, and so they sell through bullion dealers in Canada and the US for the spot price of gold, plus a mark-up, which the Mint won’t discuss but is likely about 5%, for royalties, handling, insurance, commissions, distribution, profit and other sundries. This afternoon’s spot price of gold is US$950 (C$1,046). If the Mint’s bullion dealers were to sell all 50,000, that’s US$47.5 million in gross revenue, plus the mark-up. The Mint says it intends to sell the Silver bullion on demand; silver’s running about US$13.66 today. It’s the first time a Mint has offered bullion coins in support of an Olympic Games.

… AND 1,100 PAIRS OF MILITARY PANTS FOR 2010 GAMES USE…
* Speaking of ordering things, the RCMP, and also for the Olympics, is going into the market to buy about 1,100 pairs of dark-blue, fire-resistant combat pants. They’re to be supplied in regular sizes from 36 regular to 46 tall, and some special sizes. The fabric must be cut and sewn in Canada, so the contract being offered is only for Canadian goods, and delivered by mid-December to the RCMP’s tailor shop — yes, they have one — in Ottawa. The RCMP has a standard design, developed back in 2002 and updated two years later. The pants have front and back hip pockets, thigh bellows pockets, storm cuffs, with flaps and military-strap style buttons. The shell material as well as the lining, the pockets, seat patch, knee pad pocket all have to be fire resistant. The agency hopes to award the contract by October 1.

… WHILE QUIETLY SETTING UP TWO NEW MILITARY SUPPORT BASES IN RICHMOND
* We’ve learned that the military’s Joint Task Force Games (JTFG), the temporary organization set up within the Canadian military to plan and implement Canadian Forces support and security, as well as related VIP-protection operations for the 2010 Winter Games, has quietly set up two bases of operations in Richmond. One is at the South Airport section of Vancouver’s International Airport, near the Coast Guard operations, which are on the nearby Fraser River. The older warehouse-and-office building, at 4391 Agar Drive, is the former home of RSL Joint Venture, which is owned by SNC Lavelin, a national engineering firm. JTFG’s role is to support the RCMP and the federal government’s Heritage Canada department, the section of the Canadian government that includes the federal government’s Olympic & Paralympic Secretariat. JTFG is expected to disband in 2010 following the Games. The federal government a few weeks ago has also leased a 2,043 square-metre (22,000 square foot) building through Colliers International, a company that has done quite a bit of real-estate work for VANOC over the years, at 12000 Jacobson Way and #5 Road in Richmond, also for JTFG support. The building was purchased as an investment late last year by a numbered company, 0811840 BC, for C$3.8 million. The company is believed to be owned by Delta Topsoil president Bruce Mathers of Richmond. This isn’t yet confirmed, but we believe these may be support for Canadian Navy and Air Force operations. For example, fibre-optical communications equipment is to be installed at the locations by late this month or early next. [See RESOURCES, below.

RESOURCES

This interactive photo map shows the location of the V2010 Integrated Security Unit's operations at YVR's south airport...
tinyurl.com/kuhhjz

... and at the warehouse of a former flower trading firm, at 12000 Jacobson Way and #5 Road in Richmond:
tinyurl.com/mwdnwv

MLS ANALYSIS SHOWS UNIT SALES VALUES RISING IN VANCOUVER 2010 VILLAGE AREA
* An analysis of Multiple Listing Service unit sales in the southeast False Creek over the last six months bodes well for the City of Vancouver's investment in the Vancouver Olympic Village. The MLS service doesn't include the Vancouver Athletes Village itself, whose units are being sold through pre-sale agreements, but the rise in value is noted in the sales of strata apartments in the immediate neighbourhood of the Village. The analysis shows the average purchase value has risen dramatically -- by 59% to C$409,000 -- since April's nadir of C$309,000. The analysis, by Maggie Chanlder of Chandler Realty, shows the latest figures, for June, have brought the average sale price to the highest so far this year, just a bit over January's listings average of C$484,000. The slump in April occurred in response to when the City of Vancouver was publicly fretting for political reasons about the financial viability of the Village project, comments which caused potential buyers to put purchase plans on hold for a time. The units in the MLS count are only staying on the market an average of 19 days before being sold, and realtors are getting an average of 98% of the asking price, a figure that's held fairly steading for the last four months. [See RESOURCES, below.]

VANCOUVER HOPING FOR CONSULTANT HELP TO FIGURE OUT GAMES LEGACY ACQUISITION STRATEGY
* The City of Vancouver has decided to hire a contractor to help it figure out what objects, artwork, maps, images, records — physical and electronic — other materials and memorabilia it should keep to document for history of the City’s development and implementation of the 2010 Winter Games. And it’s asking for companies to respond by August 11 to a request for proposals on the matter. Planning meetings have already been held between City staff and VANOC about the turn-over process that needs to occur as VANOC shuts down and wraps up its operation, probably by next June or July. The City wants the consultant to figure out an acquisition plan, working with VANOC, and have the first draft of its report by September 18, with the final report ready by September 30. The report is to outline the selection criteria, and how to then acquire and document the acquisition of the materials. And, it also needs to figure out with the City, museums, community centres, businesses and other organizations things such as custody, storage, preservation, programming and exhibition of the materials. A committee of bureaucrats representing the City’s Archives, Cultural Services and the Olympic & Paralympic Operations Offices within the City of Vancouver is to be set up to help the consultant. [See RESOURCES, below.]

AMOUNT OF WORK ON GETTING VANOC’S BIG CEREMONIES ORGANIZED IS GROWING
* Workers for David Atkins Enterprise Productions (DAEP), the Australian-based organization VANOC hired to produce the Opening, Closing and nightly medal Victory Ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic-only program, are expected to be going out into the marketplace in the next few weeks for several months to round up the large quantities of fabrics, shoes and other materials for the performers in those ceremonies. They’re working off the show’s ‘bibles’, the nickname for the performance character costuming books, which include photos, swatches and colours. They’ll be looking for ready-made clothing, rentals, trims, notions — things like buttons and beads — and various accessories that costume designers have assembled in the performance books. They’re also in the process of developing lists of local costume fabricators, suppliers and other wardrobe providers. And, if they aren’t able to find what they need in the Greater Vancouver area, they’ll have to order and import it, shepherding it through Canada’s customs processes. The people who do this type of work have a fair amount of experience at it — usually about five years or more — in dealing with large-scale theatrical and stadium-level events. DAEP is also deep into the planning and logistics of rehearsals for the ceremonies. It’s fairly complex, driven in part by secrecy to prevent information leaking out about what the theme and components of the ceremonies are, in order to maintain the surprise element for the public. But also the ceremonies venues themselves are expected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week while the Games are underway, as well as during shoulder times. The ceremonial plans require large-scale theatrical load-in and load-out processes covering freight, delivery of things like scaffolding, decking, stage flooring and they require forklifts and small cranes (not to mention safety inspections), but there’s also freight layover and traffic implications, installation of theatrical equipment and the operational requirements of large casts. The ceremonies themselves, because of their nature, also need to have a full-scale emergency plan developed and integrated with what first-responders — fire, medical and police — do, and DAEP and VANOC staff and volunteers all have to have briefings on what to do in case of various types of emergencies. There are several rehearsal venues, to keep components apart, and each performer, paid or volunteer, are required to sign non-disclosure agreements. There are the logistics of keeping track of all the performers. And, because there are several such venues, casting space and dressing rooms have to be set up and allocated, and the logistics of moving the performers to and from the locations is also required. There are master delivery schedules to follow, operations crew to accommodate and feed, day-to-day medical arrangements and stand-by health systems — even arrangements for snow removal in the open-air venues, should that be necessary. And, of course, there are also daily security sweeps to be arranged and done, to ensure people with cameras or pesky reporters aren’t lurking nearby.

RESOURCES

Chandler’s analysis of MLS listings near (but not in) the Vancouver Athletes Village:
www.vancouverreflections.com/2009/07/18/vancouver-real-estate-analysis-for-olympic-village-june-2009/

The City of Vancouver’s legacy collection RFP is here (a small PDF file):
vancouver.ca/fs/bid/bidopp/SOW/documents/PS09146-SOW.pdf

BC ARCHITECTS, VANOC HONOURED FOR OLYMPICS WORK BY GLOBE FOUNDATION AND WORLD GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL

* The 15 architectural companies who developed nine of the major new 2010 Winter Games venues and support facilities have been given, as a group, an award for excellence in green building practices by the Globe Foundation and the World Green Building Council. “These firms have displayed a commitment to green building by incorporating building technologies and materials that minimize environmental impacts while taking advantage of local resources, innovations, and businesses,” says Thomas Mueller, President of the Canada Green Building Council. The companies who won it were Walter Francl Architecture, Acton Ostry Architects, Hughes Condon Marler Architects, Nick Milkovich Architects, Merrick Architecture, GBL Architects Group, IBI/HB Architects, DA Architects + Planners, MCM Partnership, LMN Architects, Cannon Design, CJP Architects, Stantec, Hottson Bakker Boniface Haden architects + urbanistes, Burrowes Huggins Architects. They were responsible for designing and supervising the construction of Trout Lake Arena, the Killarney Ice Rink; the Vancouver Convention Centre where the accredited broadcast media are to be located during the Games; Vancouver Olympic Village and adjacent South East False Creek Community Centre; the Vancouver Olympic Curling Centre; the Richmond Olympic Oval; the Whistler Sliding Centre; Whistler Olympic & Paralympic Nordic Park; and the Whistler Athletes Centre at Whistler Olympic Village. “The bar for green building practices around the world has reached new heights with the development and construction of the new facilities for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” says Dr. John Wiebe, President and CEO of the GLOBE Foundation, an international organization whose mandate is to promote the business case for sustainable development. The one-time award presented to the architects was in the form of a handcrafted Parallam clock created under commission by Vancouver woodworker David Gilmore. It is made from salvaged British Columbia wood. A separate award was also presented to VANOC to recognize what the awarding organizations called its leadership in the sustainable building movement. VANOC played major roles in developing all of the facilities, except for the Vancouver Convention Centre, which was a provincial project, but VANOC helped fund and design parts of it, as it did the other facilities. Yesterday, the City of Vancouver received a leadership award for the Vancouver Athletes Village and other city-developed facilities for the Games.

VANOC CHAIR JACK POOLE RECOVERING FROM CANCER SURGERY
* Veteran Vancouver Sun Olympic reporter Jeff Lee, after a considerable amount of work, was finally able yesterday to confirm that VANOC chair Jack Poole is recovering from surgery to remove a tumor containing pancreatic cancer cells from his intestines. A second, smaller intestinal tumor, which couldn’t be removed but which was isolated from other organs, was not biopsied. Poole, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago, underwent surgery and an aggressive chemotherapy in Seattle at the time. VANOC’s acting chair is Rusty Goepel.

IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES TO PROGRAM SAMSUNG’S OLYMPIC PAVILION IN VANCOUVER
* VANOC’s international wireless device sponsor Samsung says it’s hired Imagination Technologies of England, the multimedia chip-technology company, to operate Samsung’s pavilion at the City of Vancouver’s Yaletown-area Live Site during the Olympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games. It’s not a surprise. The two companies have worked together on a number of projects over the years, and Imagination previously worked with Samsung Electronics on the pavilions — which the company always calls Olympic Rendezvous @ Samsung — at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. [See RESOURCES, below.]

RESOURCES

Imagination’s website:
www.imgtec.com

DUCKWORTH MANAGEMENT APPROVED FOR RV SITE MANAGEMENT DURING 2010 OLYMPICS
* The Vancouver Park Board voted 4-1 last night to approve Duckworth Management Group be contracted for C$134,832 to supervise temporary recreational-vehicle sites for two weeks during the Olympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games. The sites, on existing parking lots at Jericho and Spanish Banks beaches on the west side of Vancouver, are proposed because there are no RV sites in the City of Vancouver. The Board is hoping to gross about C$400,000, but if the 365 RV sites were fully occupied at C$95 per night the entire time they were open, the Board could gross C$700,000. Opposition to the plan, according to a survey of neighbourhoods in the area, was about 5%.

VANCOUVER MOVES CONTROVERSIAL 2010 BYLAWS TO THURSDAY FOR DEBATE
* Vancouver City Council has decided to move to Thursday the debate over whether it will accept an omnibus bylaw proposed by staff for a range of measures to occur during the 2010 Winter Games, and for Olympic Torch Relay celebrations in Vancouver in mid-February. The City received a long list of people who wanted to speak about the measures, which were on Council’s agenda today. Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver has been given a national leadership award by Canada’s Green Council for its leadership in sustainable building, in large part because of the 2010 Winter Olympic Athletes Village, which the Council says is the largest development in the country aiming to be built to LEED gold and, in the adjacent community centre’s case, to LEED Platinum. Whether the buildings achieve those goals won’t be known until at least next year, when formal applications are made once construction is completed. The award, from the organiation’s board of directors, was endorsed unanimously, and presented today to Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.

RESOURCES

A photo map of the US Coast Guard Integrated Support Command center:
tinyurl.com/lr8ktg

RICHMOND USES EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST PROCESS TO CUT O ZONE PROCUREMENT TIME
* Richmond has decided to speed up the procurement process for providing its O Zone Olympics celebration area at Minoru Park and City Hall with a range of materials and services by issuing a blanket request for companies to let the municipality know if they’re interested in the business. Richmond, for its part, says, “Compressed project timelines may affect this process. As such, the City reserves the right to determine each phase of the bidding process which may include negotiating with lead respondents, forgoing the competitive selection process or pursuing a different selection process entirely.” The kinds of things it’s likely intending to acquire is listed under BACKGROUND, below. The City is hoping that an average of 25,000 people will visit the O Zone on each of the 17 days of the Games that it’s open February 12-28. [See RESOURCES, below.]

US COAST GUARD GIVES TOP SERVICE AWARD TO V2010 ISU OFFICER FOR GAMES-RELATED WORK
* The US Coast Guard gave one of its Distinguished Public Service Awards on Friday to a member of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit’s RCMP force, in part for his work on planning the so-called Shiprider Program that’ll be implemented for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Commander Peter Martin, Chief of Response Enforcement, 13th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Seattle, presented the award to RCMP Staff Sgt. Brian H. Brasnett, at the RCMP “E” Division Headquarters in Vancouver. It’s the highest award the Coast Guard gives for those outside its organization. Brasnett is credited with “exceptional leadership in the planning and execution” of the shiprider project, developed in 2007, in which RCMP and Coast Guard officers ride on interdiction ships that patrol lakes, rivers and oceans that form part of the border between Canada and the US, which required a batch of jurisdictional issues to be resolved, so they could essentially ignore the border during the patrols. The pilot project developed into a permanent bilateral agreement that was negotiated between the United States and Canada, and jointly signed by Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Peter Van Loan, Canadian Minister of Public Safety last May 26. This year, according to the Coast Guard in Seattle, “Brasnett again lent his leadership and expertise in the planning for a forward-deployed joint shiprider capability on an unprecedented scale, in a remote area of the maritime border, in preparation for the 2010 winter Olympic Games security. Brasnett’s judgment, experience, and professional competence were integral to the success of the shiprider initiative and the achievement of overarching national security objectives.”

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT — FAITH AND V2010 ISU
* The 2010 Integrated Security Unit for the Olympics has approached the Multifaith Action Society to assist [it] in understanding cultural and religious sensitivities that security screeners need to be aware of as they screen the public attending the Olympic venues. To address this, the Multifaith Action Society is hosting a meeting on tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 pm where members of faith communities can meet directly with an RCMP officer and discuss issues that are pertinent to their particular faith or culture. The meeting will be held at the Guildford Public Library at 15105 105th Ave, Surrey, BC. — Part of an open e-mail letter circulating today from Sukhvinder Vinning of the Multifaith Action Society of BC.

BACKGROUND
=========

Here’s what Richmond is interested, so far, in procuring for its O Zone (in alphabetical order):

– Barricade for crowd and traffic management
– Biker racks
– Dynamic message boards
– Event production, management and design services
– Flood lights
– Food and beverage management and delivery of services
– Graphics fabrication – large scale fence and structure wraps
– Graphics fabrication – wayfinding signage
– Musical Instruments – backline supplier
– Offices, Video, Dressing Room Trailers (without washroom facilities)
– Plumbing – equipment and supplies for food vendors, general site services
– Rented Furnishings including tables, tarps and chairs, etc.
– Sign installer services
– Stage manager services
– Static signage boards
– Storage – portable and refrigerated
– Tents
– Traffic control devices
– Video and video graphics production services

RESOURCES

Our earlier, detailed article about the O Zone:
‘Heinken Holland House to dominate Richmond 2010 O Zone area’
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:3802; Published on Monday, July 6, 2009]

The four Atlantic provinces – Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency are in the process of creating a unified strategy and developing a pavilion, called Atlantic Canada House (ACH), to market the maritimes during the Olympics portion of the 2010 Winter Games.

The provinces and the Agency have set up an organization called the Atlantic Canada House Secretariat at Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to plan and develop the project and the pavilion. ACH is to be located at the Arts Club Theatre, which has been rented for most of February and early March on Granville Island in downtown Vancouver, but is to be in operation only from February 13, the day after the 2010 Opening Ceremony, to February 27, the day of the Closing Olympic Ceremony.

The pavilion is unsanctioned; that is, it’s not part of the IOC/VANOC Olympic family, however a subsidiary of Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, is one of the main supporters of Confederation Centre. Both Bell Canada and Bell Aliant are corporate sponsors of The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

“The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games represent a significant opportunity for the four Atlantic Provinces to work together to promote the region as a great place to live, work, play, and do business,” say documents developed by the Secretariat, in connection with the concept. The venue is open to the public and for invited guests, and the programming free. It will serve “to foster trade and investment, business, economic development, cultural and tourism promotion opportunities.” The documents say that the pavilion will be a “setting to experience Atlantic Canadian culture and food, and to promote the region as a place to visit and to do business.” [See BACKGROUND, below, for more information on pavilion programming, and the Secretariat's target markets.]

Each province and the Agency involved intend to set up a showcase day and evening at ACH to promote its own specific brands and products, which they expect will be “layered over the ACH theme.” Each of these days is to feature a special production on the Granville Island Stage, complemented by a reception for invited guests. Other by-invitation receptions are also being planned.

The Secretariat, which is in the process of looking for a full-service marketing agency to take on the work between now and July 31, says it intends to have two major sections to its marketing. One for developing what happens inside the pavilion, and the other for enticing people in Greater Vancouver during the Games to come to the pavilion. “This will include all activities to plan and present on-site pageantry and all marketing activities to build ACH awareness in the Vancouver market, as well as all activities to facilitate media relations,” it says. It expects the draft plans — marketing, PR, limited advertising, website development and pageantry — to be done by the end of August, so that the plan can be presented to ACH’s management committee in person in Vancouver during a meeting scheduled for September 22. Site tours are underway today. [See BACKGROUND, below, for the area businesses to be considered in the pageantry plan.]

ACH is also hoping for a teaser marketing campaign leading up to ACH’s opening, which could include restaurant promotions, live outdoor entertainment and street promotions.

That all sounds pretty good until you consider the budget. According to the documents, “The total budget for the marketing and site pageantry for this project is C$325,000. It is estimated that approximately C$175,000 will be allocated for purely marketing activities, and C$150,000 will be allocated for site pageantry development and implementation… [including] all rentals, equipment, supplies, setup and teardown.”

By the way, it’s all hush-hush, say the Secretariat documents: “There shall be no news releases, press conferences, or presentations… unless specifically authorized…” Shhh.

RESOURCES

An interactive photo map showing the Arts Club Theatre (the grey-roofed building that is set back towards False Creek, in the centre of the photo):
tinyurl.com/kplvss

Atlantic Canada Secretariat contact:

Penny Walsh
Atlantic Canada House Secretariat
Ph: 902.628.6138
Fax: 902-566-4648

BACKGROUND

Some of the programming planned for Atlantic Canada House:

*A three-times-daily pre-produced Atlantic Canada multimedia presentation on the Vancouver Arts Club Revue Stage

* Evening performances by Atlantic Canada artists of high caliber, on the Granville Island Stage

* Late evening entertainment, “Atlantic kitchen party” style, in the Backstage Lounge

* Daily sampling of indigenous Atlantic Canadian foods, to coincide with the Revue Stage Shows

* An Atlantic Canada menu in the Backstage Lounge, open daily

* Tourism information booths

* VIP receptions hosted by each Provincial Premier, Federal representatives, and other receptions as identified

* Business to business opportunities

* Regional, national, and international media hosting

The target markets of the strategy and the pavilion:

* Residents of and Visitors to Vancouver, who would consider and who would potentially travel to Atlantic Canada

* Canadian and International Businesses that offer potential interest in trade and investment opportunities in Atlantic Canada

* Accredited and Non-accredited Media

* Olympic athletes and their families, and The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

Here are some of the businesses in the area that Atlantic Canada wants considered in the ACH pageantry plan:

* Directional and decorative, bilingual, signage on the Arts Club Theatre, internally and externally, using the ACH brand;

* Lighting used to draw attention to the pavilion from the Aquabus landing area, the Granville Island Public Market and Johnston Street (taking into account the time of year and the existing seasonal lighting on Granville Island);

* Displays and props to create an Atlantic Canada atmosphere;

* Canopies or other shelters to allow full use of the parking lot area as part of the venue, but that depends upon approval by CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal agency that runs Granville Island;

* Including the requirements and guidelines of CMHC in all site pageantry plans.

ACH’s slogan: “Where the coast is clear!”

DUCKWORTH MANAGEMENT APPROVED FOR RV SITE MANAGEMENT DURING 2010 OLYMPICS
* The Vancouver Park Board voted 4-1 last night to approve Duckworth Management Group be contracted for C$134,832 to supervise temporary recreational-vehicle sites for two weeks during the Olympic portion of the 2010 Winter Games. The sites, on existing parking lots at Jericho and Spanish Banks beaches on the west side of Vancouver, are proposed because there are no RV sites in the City of Vancouver. The Board is hoping to gross about C$400,000, but if the 365 RV sites were fully occupied at C$95 per night the entire time they were open, the Board could gross C$700,000. Opposition to the plan, according to a survey of neighbourhoods in the area, was about 5%.

VANCOUVER MOVES CONTROVERSIAL 2010 BYLAWS TO THURSDAY FOR DEBATE
* Vancouver City Council has decided to move to Thursday the debate over whether it will accept an omnibus bylaw proposed by staff for a range of measures to occur during the 2010 Winter Games, and for Olympic Torch Relay celebrations in Vancouver in mid-February. The City received a long list of people who wanted to speak about the measures, which were on Council’s agenda today. Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver has been given a national leadership award by Canada’s Green Council for its leadership in sustainable building, in large part because of the 2010 Winter Olympic Athletes Village, which the Council says is the largest development in the country aiming to be built to LEED gold and, in the adjacent community centre’s case, to LEED Platinum. Whether the buildings achieve those goals won’t be known until at least next year, when formal applications are made once construction is completed. The award, from the organiation’s board of directors, was endorsed unanimously, and presented today to Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.

RESOURCES

A photo map of the US Coast Guard Integrated Support Command center:
tinyurl.com/lr8ktg

US COAST GUARD GIVES TOP SERVICE AWARD TO V2010 ISU OFFICER FOR GAMES-RELATED WORK
* The US Coast Guard gave one of its Distinguished Public Service Awards on Friday to a member of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit’s RCMP force, in part for his work on planning the so-called Shiprider Program that’ll be implemented for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Commander Peter Martin, Chief of Response Enforcement, 13th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Seattle, presented the award to RCMP Staff Sgt. Brian H. Brasnett, at the RCMP “E” Division Headquarters in Vancouver. It’s the highest award the Coast Guard gives for those outside its organization. Brasnett is credited with “exceptional leadership in the planning and execution” of the shiprider project, developed in 2007, in which RCMP and Coast Guard officers ride on interdiction ships that patrol lakes, rivers and oceans that form part of the border between Canada and the US, which required a batch of jurisdictional issues to be resolved, so they could essentially ignore the border during the patrols. The pilot project developed into a permanent bilateral agreement that was negotiated between the United States and Canada, and jointly signed by Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Peter Van Loan, Canadian Minister of Public Safety last May 26. This year, according to the Coast Guard in Seattle, “Brasnett again lent his leadership and expertise in the planning for a forward-deployed joint shiprider capability on an unprecedented scale, in a remote area of the maritime border, in preparation for the 2010 winter Olympic Games security. Brasnett’s judgment, experience, and professional competence were integral to the success of the shiprider initiative and the achievement of overarching national security objectives.”

QUOTE WITHOUT COMMENT — FAITH AND V2010 ISU
* The 2010 Integrated Security Unit for the Olympics has approached the Multifaith Action Society to assist [it] in understanding cultural and religious sensitivities that security screeners need to be aware of as they screen the public attending the Olympic venues. To address this, the Multifaith Action Society is hosting a meeting on tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 pm where members of faith communities can meet directly with an RCMP officer and discuss issues that are pertinent to their particular faith or culture. The meeting will be held at the Guildford Public Library at 15105 105th Ave, Surrey, BC. — Part of an open e-mail letter circulating today from Sukhvinder Vinning of the Multifaith Action Societyof BC.

BACKGROUND

Here’s what Richmond is interested, so far, in procuring for its O Zone (in alphabetical order):

– Barricade for crowd and traffic management
– Biker racks
– Dynamic message boards
– Event production, management and design services
– Flood lights
– Food and beverage management and delivery of services
– Graphics fabrication – large scale fence and structure wraps
– Graphics fabrication – wayfinding signage
– Musical Instruments – backline supplier
– Offices, Video, Dressing Room Trailers (without washroom facilities)
– Plumbing – equipment and supplies for food vendors, general site services
– Rented Furnishings including tables, tarps and chairs, etc.
– Sign installer services
– Stage manager services
– Static signage boards
– Storage – portable and refrigerated
– Tents
– Traffic control devices
– Video and video graphics production services

RESOURCES

Our earlier, detailed article about the O Zone:
‘Heinken Holland House to dominate Richmond 2010 O Zone area’
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:3802; Published on Monday, July 6, 2009]

The four Atlantic provinces – Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency are in the process of creating a unified strategy and developing a pavilion, called Atlantic Canada House (ACH), to market the maritimes during the Olympics portion of the 2010 Winter Games.

The provinces and the Agency have set up an organization called the Atlantic Canada House Secretariat at Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to plan and develop the project and the pavilion. ACH is to be located at the Arts Club Theatre, which has been rented for most of February and early March on Granville Island in downtown Vancouver, but is to be in operation only from February 13, the day after the 2010 Opening Ceremony, to February 27, the day of the Closing Olympic Ceremony.

The pavilion is unsanctioned; that is, it’s not part of the IOC/VANOC Olympic family, however a subsidiary of Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, is one of the main supporters of Confederation Centre. Both Bell Canada and Bell Aliant are corporate sponsors of The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

“The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games represent a significant opportunity for the four Atlantic Provinces to work together to promote the region as a great place to live, work, play, and do business,” say documents developed by the Secretariat, in connection with the concept. The venue is open to the public and for invited guests, and the programming free. It will serve “to foster trade and investment, business, economic development, cultural and tourism promotion opportunities.” The documents say that the pavilion will be a “setting to experience Atlantic Canadian culture and food, and to promote the region as a place to visit and to do business.” [See BACKGROUND, below, for more information on pavilion programming, and the Secretariat's target markets.]

Each province and the Agency involved intend to set up a showcase day and evening at ACH to promote its own specific brands and products, which they expect will be “layered over the ACH theme.” Each of these days is to feature a special production on the Granville Island Stage, complemented by a reception for invited guests. Other by-invitation receptions are also being planned.

The Secretariat, which is in the process of looking for a full-service marketing agency to take on the work between now and July 31, says it intends to have two major sections to its marketing. One for developing what happens inside the pavilion, and the other for enticing people in Greater Vancouver during the Games to come to the pavilion. “This will include all activities to plan and present on-site pageantry and all marketing activities to build ACH awareness in the Vancouver market, as well as all activities to facilitate media relations,” it says. It expects the draft plans — marketing, PR, limited advertising, website development and pageantry — to be done by the end of August, so that the plan can be presented to ACH’s management committee in person in Vancouver during a meeting scheduled for September 22. Site tours are underway today. [See BACKGROUND, below, for the area businesses to be considered in the pageantry plan.]

ACH is also hoping for a teaser marketing campaign leading up to ACH’s opening, which could include restaurant promotions, live outdoor entertainment and street promotions.

That all sounds pretty good until you consider the budget. According to the documents, “The total budget for the marketing and site pageantry for this project is C$325,000. It is estimated that approximately C$175,000 will be allocated for purely marketing activities, and C$150,000 will be allocated for site pageantry development and implementation… [including] all rentals, equipment, supplies, setup and teardown.”

By the way, it’s all hush-hush, say the Secretariat documents: “There shall be no news releases, press conferences, or presentations… unless specifically authorized…” Shhh.

RESOURCES

An interactive photo map showing the Arts Club Theatre (the grey-roofed building that is set back towards False Creek, in the centre of the photo):
tinyurl.com/kplvss

Atlantic Canada Secretariat contact:

Penny Walsh
Atlantic Canada House Secretariat
Ph: 902.628.6138
Fax: 902-566-4648

BACKGROUND

Some of the programming planned for Atlantic Canada House:

*A three-times-daily pre-produced Atlantic Canada multimedia presentation on the Vancouver Arts Club Revue Stage

* Evening performances by Atlantic Canada artists of high caliber, on the Granville Island Stage

* Late evening entertainment, “Atlantic kitchen party” style, in the Backstage Lounge

* Daily sampling of indigenous Atlantic Canadian foods, to coincide with the Revue Stage Shows

* An Atlantic Canada menu in the Backstage Lounge, open daily

* Tourism information booths

* VIP receptions hosted by each Provincial Premier, Federal representatives, and other receptions as identified

* Business to business opportunities

* Regional, national, and international media hosting

The target markets of the strategy and the pavilion:

* Residents of and Visitors to Vancouver, who would consider and who would potentially travel to Atlantic Canada

* Canadian and International Businesses that offer potential interest in trade and investment opportunities in Atlantic Canada

* Accredited and Non-accredited Media

* Olympic athletes and their families, and The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

Here are some of the businesses in the area that Atlantic Canada wants considered in the ACH pageantry plan:

* Directional and decorative, bilingual, signage on the Arts Club Theatre, internally and externally, using the ACH brand;

* Lighting used to draw attention to the pavilion from the Aquabus landing area, the Granville Island Public Market and Johnston Street (taking into account the time of year and the existing seasonal lighting on Granville Island);

* Displays and props to create an Atlantic Canada atmosphere;

* Canopies or other shelters to allow full use of the parking lot area as part of the venue, but that depends upon approval by CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal agency that runs Granville Island;

* Including the requirements and guidelines of CMHC in all site pageantry plans.

ACH’s slogan: “Where the coast is clear!”