Whistler is one step closer to securing a local rendition of the X Games, after council agreed this week to kick in $250,000 annually for three years towards hosting costs.
In a recommendation brought to council by staff at Tuesday’s (Feb. 7) meeting, council unanimously committed to funding the event — so long as local tourism funding continues to come from the Province.
The money can either come from the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI), or something similar — so long as they’re from the provincial government, council specified in the motion.
“This is exactly what the RMI funds are for and this is really a no-brainer,” said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden following the vote.
Whistler Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler have also each agreed to contribute $250,000 each towards a Whistler X Games. The local organizing team is also hoping to raise an additional $2 million from stakeholders.
“I know people are concerned about if we can build on our TWSSF (Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival) and if we can we pull in additional people, and in my mind, there’s no question,” said Coun. Jayson Faulkner.
“My only caveat is that… playing devil’s advocate, I wonder what the interest in the television viewing audience would be for a winter sports event in April. I don’t know if the audience would be the same as it would be in January…but I think we will be the biggest one. It won’t take long before the Whistler event is the marquee event, the finale.”
Coun. Jack Crompton also raised the question about what would happen if the RMOW stops receiving RMI funds in a future year
“If we don’t receive those in 2015 (for example), it would come out general revenue then?” asked Crompton.
In response, CAO Mike Furey said, “I think at that time we’d have to explore other revenue sources in the event the RMI funds weren’t there in 2015. But we have every expectation that they will be.”
To help remedy the concern council decided to amend the original motion, which was to simply provide the annual funding from RMI money, to have it also include “something similar.”
When asked about whether the provincial or even federal governments are open to helping fund a Whistler X Games, Wilhelm-Morden said there was a positive interest from both levels of government during a recent meeting with federal and provincial officials. How that may translate into funding, though, remains to be seen.
“We were pushing against an open door as far as selling the idea,” she said of her meeting. “Of course, both levels of government are challenged by lack of finances, so we’ll see what happens.”
MAC reiterates focus on seniors
Also on Tuesday’s meeting agenda was a presentation from the head of Whistler’s Mature Action Committee (MAC) revisiting the needs of seniors in the community.
According to Sue Lawther, MAC president, Whistler’s over-65 population is estimated to shoot up 244 per cent by 2027.
“It’s like a freight train coming down the tracks,” Lawther told council. “Whistler is new — it has not had a senior demographic and so we have a clean slate in front of us and a chance to be really cutting edge for how we open doors to seniors in the community.”
Lawther said MAC would like the municipality to look into creating a seniors’ centre somewhere in Whistler, creating a website dedicated to seniors’ services and increasing bus service to aid housebound seniors.
“We have existing services, but many seniors don’t know about them,” explained Lawther. “Many seniors feel isolated because of this.”
She ended the presentation by requesting that council create a seniors’ support advisory council.
