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By Joe Cousins

I have to say, I was not really against the Olympics, but I was not really for them either. I felt they would end up costing the people of this province a colossal amount of our tax dollars---money that could be spent elsewhere to update our infrastructure, put necessary funding back into our educational system, improve some of our services, reduce the tax burden on the lower income group, and so on. This is not just a view I've had since the economy took a beating: I've felt this way right from day one. 

I am Canadian, but spent 16 years living in Washington State. I moved from Richmond, BC to Blaine, Washington, graduated from Blaine High School, married, had four kids and eventually moved back to Canada. I am a fiercely proud Canadian and feel this is the most beautiful province, with the nicest people. Tourism is an integral part of our lives in British Columbia, and   must be maintained to help support our local and provincial economies. This was possible to do without the massive burden of financing an Olympics that has now been thrust upon us. 

Anyone who believed VANOC when they came out with their budget numbers for the event, I would consider very naive. Throughout history, events such as these (Olympics, World Fairs, large multi-day / multi-venue events) have typically run over budget. It's simply because they take so long to build and set-up, adjusting for costs that far in advance would cause the initial budget to be so high: even proponents would question holding the event. Let's face it: if their budget had been what the final cost really was, the people of this province would have been far more reluctant to host them. Unfortunately, by the time we saw the ridiculous price increases, it was to late to stop it: we had already spent too much to turn back. 

I never hoped the event wouldn't be a success, but I did not expect it to turn out the way it did. I felt the viewership (in person and on TV) would fall drastically short of their projections and the businesses would not see the sales predicted by VANOC. It's a shame that so many businesses had to be financially burdened leading up to the games by the Cambie St. fiasco, the skytrain construction, etc. It should have been better planned, so they would not see such a loss of sales and customers. VANOC could have budgeted to compensate them to be able shut down during construction, or move to temporary space during construction. There were, to me, more options available than to simply tell them "too bad, deal with it". 

All that said, I must admit I did tune in to the games, just to see ‘how bad it was going to be', not planning to watch any volume of events. The first event I watched was the women's freestyle skiing moguls, I was captivated immediately. I do ski, fairly well, too, I love skiing moguls, but these women would kick my butt so fast, and forget about the aerobatics. From that point on, I was hooked. I don't participate in, have never watched, know nothing about and did not think I would like, curling, but I now must go find out more and will go watch it at our local curling club. 

I found myself entranced by the Luge, Skeleton, Ski Cross, Speed Skating (short track and long track, although I did not know the difference before the games), Bobsleigh and of course being Canadian - Hockey. I enjoyed watching all the countries competing, but found myself cheering like mad for our Canadian athletes. I always knew we were a top level; world class country and these winter games have only solidified that understanding even more for me.

 I still disapprove of the Olympic sized bill and headaches that I knew would come with hosting the Olympics, BUT, I am so proud of our athletes and how well we pulled off the whole event, that I guess I am glad they happened here. To do what we did (14 gold medals, beating the US in men’s and women’s hockey, setting records, etc.) as a host country makes me an even prouder Canadian than I ever thought I could be. My congratulations and thanks to my country: well done.