Canada Summer Games: A Dissenting Opinion
March 30, 2017
So Niagara has “won” the right to host the 2021 Canada Summer Games.
Hoo-ray.
Politicians from across the region from St. Catharines to Fort Erie tell me we’re supposed to be excited. And who isn’t? After all, according to the responses they got on a website, where the option to state a differing opinion was conspicuously absent, “we’re all in.” The true definition of a Liberal referendum.
Well, count me as one of those Niagarans who isn’t quite so excited. For some strange reason, seeing so many politicians doing cartwheels over the prospect of spending gobs of my money doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. Go figure.
For starters, admit it. You hadn’t even heard of the Canada Summer Games until all the politicos started shouting from the rooftops about how it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even those of you who might have happened to have heard of them likely had next to no interest in them. If they were to disappear from the face of the Earth, they’re likely something you’d miss about as much as that fly buzzing around your head. Or that cold you had this winter.
So if you hadn’t hitherto heard of or had any interest in them before, you can bet that some sap sitting in his recliner in Four Mile House, Saskatchewan hadn’t either.
Yet those same politicos would like you to believe that people like him all across the country are just rushing to their travel agents right now to book flights and hotel rooms, all so they can watch some rowers or high jumpers in four years time.
And if you really believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
No doubt, Niagara will be besieged by tourists in the summer of 2021, just as we are every summer. But they’ll be here for the many attractions the region has to offer.
Not for those games.
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