Hamilton could be one step closer to hosting Commonwealth Games in 2030
Published January 22, 2020 at 5:19 pm
Hamilton is one step closer in their bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
Hamilton is one step closer in their bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
In front of City Council on Wednesday (Jan. 22), is a recommendation forwarded from the General Issues Committee to have staff look into Part 2 of Hamilton 100’s hosting proposal.
It was announced in early December that Hamilton has been shortlisted by Commonwealth Games Canada as a potential host city in 2030.
The 2030 Games are particularly poignant for Hamilton as the first-ever Games was held here in 1930.
Videos
Hamilton 100, the citizen group spearheading the city’s proposal, has been invited to submit Part 2 of the proposal by March 9.
The second part of the proposal is intended to build on the first part and will go into greater details about potential venues, financing and marketing, as well as just a general plan on how the games will be delivered.
At last week’s General Issues Committee meeting, Cecilia Carter Smith, one of the members of the Hamilton 100 committee, provided an update.
“The programs that we have put together for phase 2 will blow you away,” she said.
“These games are not about sport. They’re about what we can do as a city to revolutionize and be innovative.”
Mayor Fred Eisenberger called the bid, which is fully funded by members of Hamilton 100, an “Impressive piece of community engagement.
Eisenberger also pointed out that Hamilton’s bid will be significantly challenged by Calgary’s plan to bid to host the Games in 2026.
“We love our Westerns cousins,” said Jasper Kujavsky, also from Hamilton 100.
Kujavsky spoke of the potential social impacts of Hamilton’s bid and its legacy and he said that Hamilton 100 feels “extremely confident” that when Commonwealth Games Canada looks at all the proposals before them, they’re “going to say that the vision we’re seeing in Hamilton is bigger than anything else.”
In November, P.J. Mercanti, Hamilton 100’s president and CEO, presented the first part of the bid to the General Issues Committee.
“This will be a 10-year city-building exercise,” Mercanti said at the time.
Hamilton 100’s vision is that the new permanent sports facilities that are built for the Games will be energy and water-efficient and there will be a rigorous recycling program with the goal of producing zero waste.
The committee also proposes that residences built to house 2030 Games officials will be converted to affordable housing when the Games are over, which could potentially create 500-700 affordable units.
“[We want to] help solve Hamilton’s most pressing issues,” Mercanti told the GIC in November.
The estimated price tag of hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games currently estimated to cost approximately $1.3 to 1.4 billion. These estimates are based on comparable Games event models for Birmingham 2022 and Gold Coast 2018.
A more thorough presentation of the proposal, if the recommendation passes at City Council, is expected at a Feb. 19 GIC meeting from Hamilton 100.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising