(The following article is from the August 1-31, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

The 2010 Winter Olympics set to begin next February in Vancouver and Whistler are coming under sharper criticism from a wide spectrum of public opinion. Residents of Whistler, for example, are increasingly alarmed at the whopping tax bills which will accompany their town's brief moment in the international spotlight.

     But the most volatile situation is in Vancouver, where the promises of more social housing, improved recreation facilities and other improvements which were used to gain public support for the bid are fading faster than Jamaica's hopes for a bobsledding gold medal.

     It appears likely, for example, that the social housing component of the Athletes' Village - already cut drastically by the NPA-dominated City Council during its 2005-08 term - will be fully transformed into expensive condominiums. A new strategy to use the profits from this shift to build low-income housing could take years, while thousands of Vancouverites remain homeless.

     Many such concerns were summed up in a recent statement from the Council of Canadians, which "views positively the Olympic goal of friendly international competition between athletes who excel in their respective sports" but raises alarms at "the increasing evidence that these worthy aspects are being overwhelmed, if not totally supplanted, by an `Olympic industry' focused on real estate development and massive corporate marketing opportunities."

     In particular, the Council of Canadians "believes the February 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler will leave a negative legacy contrary to the goals set forward during the application and approval process to host the games. There is now no doubt that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) and its affiliated partners will fail to meet their commitments with regard to the environment, social programs and fiscal accountability."

     The Council of Canadians is working with activists who are highlighting the negative aspects of the 2010 Games, which are being held on un‑ceded First Nations territories and are providing mining, resort, real estate and energy developers with opportunities to expand projects on indigenous territories throughout the province.

     "As well," says the CoC, "we are concerned that the civil liberties of local communities and those who have a critique of the Games are being undermined by an unnecessary security presence. The security budget for the games has ballooned to $1 billion, while security and law enforcement agencies have identified protest groups as the most significant threat to the Games. Over 4,500 Canadian military troops will be deployed to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics ‑ twice the number Canada has in Afghanistan."

     Civil liberties groups, anti-Games activists, social movements, and Coalition of Progressive Electors members of Vancouver City Council have all condemned the threat to privacy and protest rights arising from the installation of new surveillance cameras and draconian security measures, including constant harassment of protesters months before the Olympic flame is lit.

     Large areas around Olympic-related sites will be turned into "security zones", with anyone seeking access subject to intrusive search procedures. Residents of Whistler, site of the nordic and downhill venues, already live in a "security zone," and hikers and mountain bikers are finding wilderness trails in that area blocked by mysterious military operations.

     "As an organization focused on global justice," says the CoC, "we are especially concerned that the 2010 Olympics are providing a prime `green‑washing' opportunity for corporations involved in the most egregious threats to the survival of humanity and the earth through their active participation in the privatization and commodification of water and massive environmental degradation exemplified by the exploitation of the tar sands. A Worldwide Olympic Partner, Coca Cola (also a sponsor of the Torch Relay), is notorious for depleting groundwater in areas of India and Latin America with scarce water resources. Furthermore, Coca Cola is a

leading promoter of water commodification as one of the largest producers of bottled water in the world. The Council of Canadians is actively promoting bottled water bans in communities across the country, and has grave concerns about the impact of Coca Cola's sponsorship on public water infrastructure support in Vancouver and Whistler.

     "EPCOR, an Official Supplier for the games, has been working to privatize the water utilities of municipalities across the country, including BC. Epcor tried to bid on the privatization of waste water treatment in Whistler in 2006. The bid was successfully overturned as a result of efforts by the Council of Canadians and community members in Whistler.

     "General Electric, another Worldwide Olympic Partner, is a major financier of private power projects in BC, including the enormous Bute Inlet proposal through its subsidiary Plutonic Power. The Council of Canadians has taken a stand against private power projects in British Columbia through the `IPP' model.

     "The Royal Bank of Canada and Petro Canada, both National Partners for the 2010 Games, are directly involved in the Alberta tar sands, one of the most environmentally destructive projects in the world. The Royal Bank is a major financier of tar sands projects and is also a sponsor of the Torch Relay. Ironically, their ad campaigns for the relay ask individuals to make a `green pledge' by volunteering to carry the torch. The Council of Canadians is campaigning for no new approvals in the tar sands and a halt to any development infrastructure designed to increase the capacity of tar sands exploitation.

     "Dow Chemical is also an Olympic sponsor. Currently Dow is suing the Government of Canada for $2 million, through NAFTA's Chapter 11 investor‑state dispute process, as part of a  challenge to a Quebec ban on the use of lawn pesticides. Dow claims that the ban has amounted to an unfair expropriation of Dow's Canadian pesticide business. The Council of Canadians has long campaigned against NAFTA and Chapter 11's harmful impact on public regulation.

     "At a time of economic crisis when federal, provincial and municipal governments should focus on public projects that create a lasting positive social and economic foundation the 2010 Games appear set to leave a legacy of social and environmental destruction and massive debt that will hobble our ability to make positive change and respond to the serious challenges facing communities across the province and the country."

     Vancouver City Council has now passed a large package of new bylaws supposedly "necessary" to facilitate the Games. The bylaws create extensive areas in which the City can dictate massive security screenings and curtailment of free expression.

     As the BC Civil Liberties Association pointed out, "In a sorry effort to mask the rest of the by‑laws' failings, Council deleted one blatantly unconstitutional provision which would have allowed the removal of signs on city streets that `promote an idea.' The fact that this provision made it through to Council's rushed hearing on the matter shows how little care went into reading and thinking through the whole thing."

     Robert Holmes, President of the BCCLA, notes that "Vancouver City Council has passed a bylaw saying that anyone who causes a disturbance that affects the enjoyment of an Olympic event commits an offence. When the crowd booed the hapless judging of the skating competition in Salt Lake City in 2002 that saw the Russian team wrongly given gold when the Canadians deserved it, they were
voicing freely their opinions. Under Vancouver's new bylaw, at VANOC's behest, the police will be expected to arrest anyone who does likewise. That is simply wrong. We deserve better from our elected officials."

     At the same meeting, Council refused to confirm that political speech, banners and signs will be permitted along the Vancouver leg of the Olympic Torch relay.

     When Council purports to empower itself with laws prohibiting persons causing a "disturbance or nuisance" on city land, says the BCCLA, "there's a pretty good bet that while pro‑Olympics screaming and wailing at whatever decibel will be given a pass, everything else, from criticisms of bad calls by Olympic judges to criticism of some participating countries will find themselves declared a `disturbance'. These bylaws exempt signs `celebrating' the Olympics from sign prohibitions, so it's not rocket science to figure out that this is going well beyond the stated purpose of protecting the commercial interests of licenced sponsors."

     The new bylaws allow the City Manager to make additional rules at whim, without accountability or oversight. Assurances that such decisions will protect citizens' rights appear to have no legal weight. The BCCLA notes that "these laws are ripe for constitutional challenge for violation of freedom of expression, association, assembly, security of the person and the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure."

     COPE councillors Ellen Woodsworth and David Cadman cast the only two votes against the bylaw, citing its implications to civil liberties and freedom of expression. Their questions focused on the timeline and locations of street closures, whether the changes were developed with a reading of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the unclear procedure for dealing with free leaflets and newspapers, how "creating a disturbance or public nuisance" compares to the Criminal Code, and what the City is doing to ensure freedom of expression along the torch relay route.

     According to Woodsworth, "it is crucial that we have a clear timeline and a sunset clause and that all bylaws are reviewed by the COV legal department to ensure they comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."