Calgary city council votes to continue Olympic bid process

Following a close vote, the potential for a Calgary Olympic Winter Games bid is still alive.

In a marathon meeting that didn’t wrap until after 10 p.m., councillors decided to continue the bid process in an 8 – 6 vote.

Councillors Davison, Keating, Chalal, Sutherland, Carra, Colley-Urquart, Jones and Nenshi voted in favour.

Councillors Chu, Magliocca, Gondek, Demong, Farrell and Farkas voted against.

Councillor Evan Woolley was absent.

READ MORE: Olympics file has Calgary council at a crossroads on plebiscite

Despite voting in favour of proceeding with the bid process, many councillors expressed concerns over the fact that the province and the federal government still haven’t confirmed funding.

However, Mayor Nenshi said Tuesday evening he was “extraordinarily confident” that confirmation would be coming soon. During the urgent business meeting, he said he received “late breaking news” concerning that funding, but could not disclose the information publicly.

“We’ve has lots of conversations as you can imagine with the feds and the province on this and I know there has been a lot of crossing of T’s and dotting of I’s on what the agreement would look like,” Mayor Nenshi said following the vote.

“But I think that with council’s decision to move forward today, with that kind of commitment I think that will probably get rid of any remaining barriers with the other governments. But of course it’s their decision.”

City council will resume discussion on the Olympics Wednesday morning at a Strategic Meeting of Council.