“The Montreal Olympics can no longer lose money than a man can have a baby”1 Jean Drapeau, Mayor of Montreal from1960 to 1986 famously said. It was to be the first Canadian-hosted Olympics in our 76-year participation in the Games. However, the Games were marred by accidents, construction failures, and massive costs to the population of Montreal. The crown jewel of the first Canadian Games, the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was to be the shining new Olympics Stadium, estimated at an initial $134 million. But due to a variety of reasons, from rapid inflation (see page 8 appendix 1) to unexpected physical failures, “the Big O”, or as it became known, “the Big Owe” ballooned to an astronomical cost of over 1.5 billion dollars ($1.61 billion). A
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The architect assigned to the project, Robert Tallibert, employed over 10,000 workers every day and night from August 1974 to July 6th, 1976, just days before the opening ceremonies. The stadium itself and roof were not actually completed by the Opening Ceremony, but instead only “mostly” completed and were deemed usable. Additionally, due to the complex design and structure of the Stadium, it continues to cause problems to this day. The roof, the most problematic of the sections, has had an absurd amount of problems. It’s mechanism for retracting and extending the roof would often fail and get stuck. A pair of Rolling Stones concerts were cancelled in 1998 when large chunks of ice fell through the roof, and during the Montreal Auto Show in 1999 part of it collapsed, forcing the Auto Show to move …show more content…
It was also ruined for many by Canadian exclusion of Chinese and Taiwanese athletes from competing. When the Games were awarded to Montreal in 1970, Pierre Trudeau had a Liberal minority government. However he gained a majority government in 1974. A majority government means that the head political party has much more power than a minority government, and can promote their point of view easier. The Olympics Games are traditionally funded and managed by the host city and municipal government, not the Provincial or Federal government. However, the majority Liberal government took over a large piece of the planning and management part of the Games. Because they were freer to make decisions and promote their point of view, they had a much more involved role in the Games than would be traditional.
When the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) athletes showed up, they were refused entry under their name because Trudeau claimed that the IOC had only recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC, Mainland China) and not the ROC. This lead to an escalation where Trudeau barred the Taiwanese athletes from competing under the name and banner of The Republic of China. As Trudeau, Taiwan, and the 1976 Olympics quotes,
“The American press joined in the fray, calling the Canadian
The architect assigned to the project, Robert Tallibert, employed over 10,000 workers every day and night from August 1974 to July 6th, 1976, just days before the opening ceremonies. The stadium itself and roof were not actually completed by the Opening Ceremony, but instead only “mostly” completed and were deemed usable. Additionally, due to the complex design and structure of the Stadium, it continues to cause problems to this day. The roof, the most problematic of the sections, has had an absurd amount of problems. It’s mechanism for retracting and extending the roof would often fail and get stuck. A pair of Rolling Stones concerts were cancelled in 1998 when large chunks of ice fell through the roof, and during the Montreal Auto Show in 1999 part of it collapsed, forcing the Auto Show to move …show more content…
It was also ruined for many by Canadian exclusion of Chinese and Taiwanese athletes from competing. When the Games were awarded to Montreal in 1970, Pierre Trudeau had a Liberal minority government. However he gained a majority government in 1974. A majority government means that the head political party has much more power than a minority government, and can promote their point of view easier. The Olympics Games are traditionally funded and managed by the host city and municipal government, not the Provincial or Federal government. However, the majority Liberal government took over a large piece of the planning and management part of the Games. Because they were freer to make decisions and promote their point of view, they had a much more involved role in the Games than would be traditional.
When the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) athletes showed up, they were refused entry under their name because Trudeau claimed that the IOC had only recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC, Mainland China) and not the ROC. This lead to an escalation where Trudeau barred the Taiwanese athletes from competing under the name and banner of The Republic of China. As Trudeau, Taiwan, and the 1976 Olympics quotes,
“The American press joined in the fray, calling the Canadian