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Whistler's room rates fall sharply, according to index
By Brian Morton, Canwest News Service
September 15, 2009
VANCOUVER, BC — Whistler has experienced the country's steepest decline in room rates during the first half of 2009 with a 27-per-cent drop compared to the same period in 2008, according to the first-ever Canadian Hotels Price Index.
Jasper and Collingwood followed with a 22-per-cent and 15-per-cent decrease in average room rates respectively, the index added in a release.
Despite the fall in hotel prices, the three areas still ranked among the top 10 most expensive Canadian destinations, with prices averaging between $173 and $182 per night.
The index, part of the hotels.com worldwide group of sites, also noted that the average price of a hotel room around the world fell by 17 per cent in the first six months of 2009 - the lowest levels in five years. The report found Canadian travellers paid up to 27 per cent less in the first half of 2009 for a one-night stay in some of the most expensive cities than they did in the same period in 2008.
Of all the destination cities booked on hotels.ca, Canadian travellers spent the most on hotel rooms in Cancun, Mexico. On average, Canadians spent $254 per night in the first half of 2009, despite the initial outbreak of the H1N1 virus in Mexico.
Closer to home, Toronto topped the list of favourite domestic destinations for Canadian leisure and business travellers, followed by Montreal and Vancouver.
"The Hotel Price Index demonstrates that for savvy Canadian travellers who pick the right destinations, there are some great bargains to be found," said David Roche, President of hotels.com worldwide, in a statement.
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Reno, Boise and Spokane named portal cities for 2010 Olympics
The Associated Press
September 15, 2009
RENO, NV — Reno-Tahoe International Airport has been designated one of three portal airports for private aircraft flying to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Airport officials say Canadian authorities are requiring all private aircraft to first land at a designated portal before flying into Vancouver.
Officials say the portal system will help air traffic controllers and security officers in Vancouver better manage the arrival and departure of private planes.
The other two airports are Boise and Spokane, Wash.
Reno airport executive director Krys Bart says Canadian authorities estimate anywhere from 300 to 500 planes will fly into British Columbia during the height of the games.
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Vancouver 2010 Winter Games still behind with bilingual efforts
By Jeff Lee, Canwest News Service
September 15, 2009
VANCOUVER — With only five months to go, efforts to make the 2010 Winter Games fully bilingual are still lacking, Graham Fraser, the Commissioner of Official Languages said Tuesday.
Not only has the Vancouver Organizing Committee fallen behind in its commitments to deliver the Games in both English and French, he said, but 10 federal partners are doing a dismal job.
"The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Canadian Heritage and the various federal institutions that will provide services to visitors and athletes have taken a number of measures to ensure that both of Canada's official languages are fully reflected during the Games," Fraser said in a release.
"Still, five months before the start of the celebrations, we see that many crucial elements are still not in place. There is only a short amount of time left to do something about it."
Fraser's comments follow on a report he issued last December in which he generally praised the efforts of Vanoc and its partners but also noted the need to improve delivery of French-language services. It also precedes another report to be released today by the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages which is also expected to be critical of the organizing committee and its government partners.
Fraser now says Vanoc hasn't met its bilingual promises regarding volunteer recruitment and training, signage, cultural programming and translation.
"We are still awaiting more resources for translation, even though I emphasized this point back in December 2008. Given the urgency and importance of this issue, Vanoc and Canadian Heritage need to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible," Fraser said.
"I worry that, due to lack of funding, only a portion of the documentation released to the public and athletes will be translated."
He pointed out that about 10 federal institutions involved in the Olympics and evaluated in his report also "have shown dismal results overall."
The critical comments come despite early efforts by Vanoc to for official relations with the province of Quebec and two francophone associations. Those relations resulted in the provision of much-needed translation services as well as the secondment of a large number of bilingual employees into Vanoc's employment. As a result, the organizing committee has done more to enshrine the dual official languages of the International Olympic Committee than most recent Games organizers.
Still, for Fraser, that is not good enough and he pointed to gaps in areas where tourists will encounter government agencies.
"At points of service where there is an obligation to provide bilingual service, this service was available in only 43 per cent of cases at Vancouver Airport screening areas, 23 per cent of cases at Air Canada counters and 10 per cent of cases for services under airport authority responsibility. Bilingual service delivery at Toronto's Pearson Airport also leaves much to be desired, even though a large proportion of visitors to the Games will be passing through this airport."
However, it wasn't all bad news. Fraser noted that Parks Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Service Canada were nearly compliant.
Vanoc issued a written statement pledging to do better.
"Commissioner Fraser has made several recommendations in an effort to further strengthen our delivery of bilingual Games and we appreciate his diligence. We will take each under consideration and will continue our best efforts to ensure Canada’s linguistic duality is fully showcased at the 2010 Games," said Donna Wilson, executive vice president of human resources, sustainability and international client services.
"Delivering bilingual Games is a huge undertaking and will be successful with the full participation of our partners. We and the Government of Canada will continue to work together to deliver on the vision of the Games as a tremendous and historic opportunity to showcase our country’s linguistic duality and multicultural diversity not only to Canadians but also to the world."
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Olympics bring debt, evictions and civil-rights abuses, critic says
By Jeff Lee, Canwest News Service
September 15, 2009
Helen Lenskyj, a University of Toronto professor and self-described critic of what she calls "the Olympic industry," laughed Monday when someone asked if there was any way to abolish the Olympic Games.
"I can't see one, but I wouldn't give up hope," she said. "It would be magic if hosting the Olympics was not seen as a prize but seen as a liability."
Lenskyj's comments were made to a receptive audience of about 40 people, mainly seasoned anti-Olympic protesters mixed with a handful of students at Green College at the University of B.C.
Her talk was the first of nine themed lectures on the perils of any city endorsing the Olympic Games. The lectures are being organized by anti-Olympic activists Chris Shaw and Alissa Westergard-Thorpe of Olympic Watch.
Lenskyj, who wrote three books criticizing the Olympic movement, took a broad swipe at the Vancouver Games, the International Olympic Committee and even the concept of athletes being role models for young children.
She argued that cities that host the Games discover terrible trade-offs in the form of high debt, evictions of low-income renters and abrogation of basic civil rights.
Her message in the opening lecture of "The Olympic Games in Myth and Reality" stuck to those themes, and she used historic examples of Games past to argue for "the dismantling of the Olympic industry."
Hers was the No-Games version of the Vancouver Board of Trade's "Spirit of Vancouver" series that has promoted the Olympics as an economic benefit to the city and province.
The reality, she said, is that cities like Vancouver end up in debt and the most vulnerable segments of society, those in the Downtown Eastside, will suffer the worst effects.
However, Lenskyj was hard-pressed to cite evidence that Vancouver's Games have led to evictions in the Downtown Eastside or that there is a direct causal relationship.
"That's the whole point. It's virtually impossible to substantiate a claim of a causal relationship, but it is sufficient to me," she said.
Lenskyj also questioned the value of Olympic athletes as role models, saying they tend not to be well-rounded people but rather single-mindedly driven. Using such athletes in school motivation programs gives children an unrealistic expectation of their own abilities, she said.
"The athlete shows a video of themselves with their medal, they give an inspirational talk that you can be anything you want to be, you just need an Olympic dream, work hard and you will succeed. Those are three lies. You cannot be anything you want to be, you don't just need an Olympic dream and working hard in itself doesn't guarantee success, particularly in the Olympic arena.
"We should be telling that to kids in classrooms, that your chance of being an Olympic athlete is point-zero-whatever."
She said parents, teachers, coaches, religious leaders and neighbours "are of more significance in shaping children's lives, and I would argue, more appropriate role models than Olympic athletes."
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