Swedish Taxpayers Association backs Calgary’s bid for 2026

CALGARY (660 NEWS) The back and forth over who will host the Winter Olympics in 2026 took another turn Thursday as Calgary’s potential bid got some Swedish support.

The Swedish Taxpayers Association is endorsing Calgary’s potential bid in a tit-for-tat over who should win the bid.

Stockholm and Calgary are two of the IOC’s three finalists for the games, with a joint-bid from Italy’s Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo as the third.

READ: IOC makes its pitch to Calgary, CTF remains skeptical

The Swedish opponents say they were shocked to see their Canadian friends and allies earlier this month try and give Sweden the bill.

“It’s just tremendously stupid!” said Christian Ekstrom of the Swedish Taxpayers Association. “Calgary – with average temperatures well below Stockholm – would be a terrific host. Suggesting that Stockholm is a good place for hosting the Winter Olympics is simply fake news. And we all know that Canada must start winning again.”

Ekstrom goes on to add Sweden already has higher taxes than Canada at 44 per cent of GDP compared to Canada’s ratio of 32 per cent.

He adds it would be fair for Canada to host where it would almost certainly see an increase in public spending.

“Referring to the 1988 and 2010 Olympics, the Swedes are now preparing to launch a counter-campaign under the slogan ‘Make Canada pay again’,” said Ekstrom.

READ: Calgary mayor doesn’t want to spend more than province on 2026 Games

Calgary 2026 is still waiting for a formal announcement from the federal government in terms of what a cost-sharing agreement would look like.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had suggested perhaps the International Olympic Committee, if it’s serious, should be fronting some of the operational costs itself.

Calgary voters go to the polls on November 13, 2018, in a non-binding plebiscite, to determine if voters want to host the Olympics a second time.

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