Committee on Olympic oversight off to a rough start
After criticisms were levelled at a new Calgary city council committee dedicated to overseeing a possible Olympic bid, one of the councillors appointed to the group is firing back, calling on his colleague to hold the “pot shots from the sidelines” and let the work proceed.
Council emerged from a closeddoor meeting late Monday to announce the appointments of councillors Evan Woolley, Ray Jones, Diane Colley-Urquhart and Peter Demong to a subcommittee that will meet alongside Mayor Naheed Nenshi to oversee the bid work and help craft a question for a plebiscite.
The makeup of the new committee prompted criticism on social media, including from some councillors, who complained the group is “stacked” with pro-Olympic votes.
Woolley pushed back Tuesday, characterizing appointees as constructive critics, rather than “obstructionist” on the Olympic file.
“Council made a very smart decision to put forward people who will constructively look at this, rather than those that will take pot shots from the sidelines,” Woolley said.
“Both Coun. Colley-Urquhart and myself have been fence-sitters on this process. We’ve been really constructive (and) I’ve kind of voted both ways,” Woolley said, pointing out that he voted against one of the city’s Olympic reports in 2017.
Colley-Urquhart also voted once with Olympic naysayers on April 10.
“Coun. Jones has been a pretty big supporter of the Olympics from the get-go and Coun. Demong has been a pretty big critic. I think we struck a really good balance.”
Councillors were asked to put their names forward for the committee and council voted on appointments during a lengthy closed-door session Monday night. Personnel matters and committee appointments are routinely discussed in camera.
But exactly which council members opted to put their names forward was hotly debated Tuesday, with some councillors, including Woolley, calling out Olympic critics for failing to raise their hands. Coun. Shane Keating, who first proposed the subcommittee to help tackle some of the wrinkles in Calgary’s bid process, said on Twitter he was “frustrated” no more than two councillors from the No camp had not put their names forward.
Keating later declined to specify which councillors put their names forward and which didn’t, citing council’s rules around confidential discussions.
“That’s where I get frustrated: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with criticizing and taking a very hard look at what’s going on, but let’s at least get a committee together that is attempting to come up with a very factual information without it being perceived as biased,” Keating told Postmedia.
Coun. Druh Farrell, one of the staunchest critics of the Olympics on council, pointed out she did put her name forward but wasn’t appointed.
“Pretty hard to get balance on the committee when the critic who was willing to serve wasn’t appointed,” Farrell tweeted.
But another longtime Olympic critic and an early champion of holding a plebiscite, Coun. Sean Chu, confirmed Tuesday he decided against throwing in his hat.
“Do I want to put my name on something (where) there is nothing I can do because the whole thing is already a done deal?” Chu said. “We all know that the mayor wants it.”