Canada strives to reel in 2030 Games

Brian MacPherson would love nothing more than to come back from Australia with a guarantee that the 2030 Commonwealth Games will be held in Canada.

“It will be in our plan to ask for that,” said the CEO of Commonwealth Games Canada.

“Given that it’s the 100th anniversary and it’s been so long since Canada hosted our international friends, just give us the Games,” he added, when asked what the message will be to his Commonwealth counterparts when they assemble on the Gold Coast next month.

In 1930, Hamilton hosted the British Empire Games, which were attended by athletes from 11 countries. The forerunner to the Commonwealth Games, they were the brainchild of a Hamilton Spectator sports editor inspired by a trip to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

Canada also hosted the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 in Vancouver, and the Commonwealth Games in 1978 in Edmonton and in 1994 in Victoria.

MacPherson admits the chances of being handed the 2030 Games are “remote.”

The Commonwealth Games Federation will hold a general assembly on the Gold Coast next month, and a new bidding process should emerge from that meeting, one necessitated by the emergency awarding of the 2022 Games, which went to Birmingham, England, in December.

Edmonton had briefly been a contender for 2022 but dropped out in 2015, leaving Durban, South Africa as the only bid city. However, Durban was stripped of the Games in March 2017 over a financial shortfall.

In September, Hamilton city council voted 10-5 not to pursue a 2030 bid. Victoria had been interested in an emergency bid for 2022, but opted out, and could be a contender for 2030.