2010 Olympics Business News for the Vancouver and Whistler regions of British Columbia. Plus, Alberta, the rest of Canada, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana & California

OlyBLOG Features:


Health Care Challenges in an Olympics Region
Necessary Illusion, Checkbook Journalism & Juxtaposition

Rent Your Home & Get Out of Dodge in 2010
But Before You Do - Read This

VANOC RCMP Security Chief Fired? Yes? No?
Another Director Bites the Dust
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2010 Health Care on Life Support
Adopt-A-Reporter *How to Fool a Vancouverite


The Vancouver Sun published a story on August 13, 2007 that was researched and written by investigative reporter Jeff Lee. And although I am sure he would disagree with the following statement, he is one of the reporters that has recently (based on our professional opinion) very subtly changed his reporting style. Considering that so far we are one of his most vocal critics, and although our conclusion is purely anecdotal, it stands to reason that the change is partially a result of the "reporting we've done on his reporting." His work has been addressed in this blog a number of times. (Google "OlyBLOG.com Jeff Lee Vancouver Sun Olympics")

Before you mistakenly think that my ego is bigger than Stanley Park, we fervently acknowledge that his change in reporting style is also a natural evolution as a result of the pressure that all citizen journal style blogs and websites put on the mainstream news industry in general. I do however take partial credit because we know through sources that our observations and comments filter through his newsroom. Apparently they used to laugh at this blog. I have even received email from a Sun reporter who called me an idiot. Well, I may be crazy for challenging mainstream news media as powerful as CanWest, but an idiot? Hardly. I have their attention, as well as that of the small business community, and that is a very good start considering we are still two and a half years away from 2010.

The average person wouldn't normally be aware of the things we share until the Games were long-gone and had moved to the next victim, err, I mean city. OlyBLOG.com is an Olympics first, and we break new ground every day. We invite citizen journalists to do what we do, in fact if our community is going to survive 2010, it is imperative that more local citizens in Olympics regions become actively involved. At this stage we have concentrated on helping small business owners, but soon we will switch gears and help people who are considering becoming Olympics volunteers. We address the challenges of volunteering in our book at length, and we share information that Olympics organizations definitely DO NOT want you to know. We began full time research in 2003, which is a first in itself, because until we did it, no one has taken the time to write a book about a specific Olympic region until well after the Games have come and gone. At that late date, it amounts to little more than whining. We give away more books than we sell, but we predict that as citizens become more frustrated, they will look to sources like ours for accurate information.

We use a citizen journalism tactic that anyone can easily manage called, "adopt-a-reporter." I'm not sure who coined this term. I've only seen the phrase relatively recently even though I've been inadvertently doing it since 2004. In fact in Mr. Lee's case, I didn't even remember I had reported about him until a reporter who demanded to have their identity protected called and wanted to know why I was targeting Mr. Lee. I immediately responded to say that I wasn't targeting him. The person came back with, but you keep blogging about him, to which I replied with something to the effect of, "Yes, I'm really overwhelmed correcting misinformation propagated by local news media in their effort to fool the community and manufacture consent, and it is difficult to keep up, but now that you mentioned it, it seems I have addressed a couple of his stories. Thanks for pointing it out." Then I thought, maybe I should keep a closer eye on Mr. Lee, especially considering that he is the "official" 2010 reporter for VANOC, err, I mean The Sun." That's just a joke. VANOC doesn't pay Mr. Lee's salary - directly.

I went on to say something like, "I'm not trying to undermine anyone's career." (*I have however changed my perspective somewhat since then regarding certain individuals because in the beginning, I naively thought local news media would realize they were selling out our community and that they would eventually step up.) I continued, "When I see something, I deal with it immediately and move on. If a reporter keeps showing up on my radar and consequently my blog it is not because I am gunning for him or her. It's because they wrote something in that moment that needed to be expanded upon and brought to the attention of our community."

I'm more like a sharpshooter, not a politician or academic. 2010 is now only two and half years away and closing fast. All that counts for me are results. I am sometimes very rude with people because time is running out. Al Gore says we have about twenty years before we hit the wall regarding climate chaos. I don't have his patience because at the time of this writing, Vancouver has less than three years before we hit the wall like Salt Lake City, Athens and Turin, who respectively suffered Olympics deficits of $1.2 billion, $12 billion, and in Italy the 2006 bill is so large they still can't figure it out. The other difference between Al Gore and I is that he puts the pressure on the little guy to make changes, while I put pressure directly on large corporations and ask the little guy to help build momentum. Al Gore's world suffers from high blood pressure, while Vancouver has a severed artery and is quickly bleeding out.

As I mentioned, I am definitely not a politician. VANOC and Mayor Sam would prefer that we talk about it, while I prefer to first zing one over their heads, and then lower my aim when necessary. The article below is one of those times where I'm going to put yet another shot right between local news media's eyes. Unfortunately, these guys are like zombies. They take a hit, but keep right on coming, although I have caused a few to stumble recently.

The reason we decided early on to connect directly with local small business owners is because you make up 98% of our community, which means that the average person on the street works for a small business, and like me, they need these companies to remain healthy. We also knew through extensive and very costly research that the Olympics has a serious negative impact on many small businesses, which led us to believe that "eventually" people would pay attention to what we were saying when they were so fed up that they did not know where to turn. Critical mass is approaching fast in this respect, but unfortunately not as fast as we had hoped, and not fast enough to keep the community healthy. In the interest of full disclosure, and I've repeated it many times, I contract my media communication services to many small businesses, and if they are not healthy, I am not healthy. I'm doing this to save my bacon too, and wish I could say I was as wealthy as and that my values were purely altruistic as Al Gore's, but without hesitation I have always stated that I am pragmatic and want to survive 2010 in good financial shape. If I were selfish, I have more than enough business experience to align with VANOC and make a killing manipulating the community by working their system. I can't though because I would not be able to sleep at night and it would not only be bad for my health, but also the health of our community.

And speaking of health, on August 13, 2007, Sun reporter Jeff Lee wrote about how VANOC is going to pull medical professionals out of our hospitals and clinics, and transfer their skills, time, and our tax money to Olympic projects. In other Olympic regions it is usually a "hidden cost," and rarely if ever reported by local news media in a timely manner.


OK … I'm lying.


Mr. Lee, a well-respected experienced senior investigative journalist for the Vancouver Sun, never quite put it in these terms. He should have, but unfortunately, he never presented it that way at all.

Instead, in the opening paragraph of his advertorial Mr. Lee wrote, and I'm assuming his editor and publisher gave it approval, "When an athlete, official, volunteer or member of the media get injured at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, as inevitably will happen, Dr. Jack Taunton is determined not to let it affect an already overloaded public health care system. But being able to say how the Olympics will affect public medical services is not an easy job, according to Taunton, the chief medical officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee. That's because in the past Olympic Games haven't kept computerized records, to the point that, in some cases, treating physicians don't even know the blood type or medication history of athletes that come into an emergency ward" end of quote

My hat is off to Mr. Lee for giving readers a very tiny hint that taxpayers could be in for sticker shock, but considering he's a senior investigative reporter, it's not good enough. In the past, if blogs like this, or sites like TheTyee.ca and NowPublic.com hadn't put local mainstream news media under a microscope, disclaimers like his quote above would usually be placed towards the end of the article and well after many people quit reading. You will notice that Dr. Taunton also uses a disclaimer by saying he is "determined" not to let it affect an already overloaded public health care system." Determined? Nice try doc, but could you please try to be a little more committal and at least tell us what you are doing to make sure it won't happen? It seems like the good doctor is being coached by a PR specialist. Wishful thinking is a cop out. We've already heard the "determined" speech from VANOC when they told us everything is on time and budget, except of course for that pesky little $2 billion overrun BC's auditor general brought to everyone's attention last year.

At least this time Mr. Lee gave us a hint upfront, which is a great improvement in his writing style and why we feel OlyBLOG.com is making a big difference in how journalists report the news. Unfortunately, it is not good enough, so once again I have no choice but to tell you what Mr. Lee left out. Information was omitted either by design or ignorance. Choose either, unless you can come up with another reasonable explanation. I can't think of anything plausible, but maybe The Sun would like to suggest a reason. If they do, and as I've offered in the past, I would be more than happy to publish it. Unfortunately, they have never taken me up on the offer.

Lee's story omits critical information our community NEEDS in order to understand what is happening in OUR Olympics region. Regardless of what he says, VANOC CEO John Furlong, through his actions, thinks the Games are his, and his sponsors like HBC, RBC, GM, and Rona to name a few, but they are not. They belong to Canada, and especially Vancouver and Whistler considering we are paying the greatest price to host the Olympics in our community. 2010 is our Olympics, which means we should have a say in how it is managed. Lack of transparency and secrecy are counterproductive to helping our community understand what is transpiring. In this new media era we think it is possible for our community to manage more control over the Games. If VANOC continues to ignore and disrespect our community, more and more people will take the information we've collected and run around the world with it like what recently happened in China respective of the Tibetan protest on the Great Wall. The issues are different, but the outcome will be similar.

Back to The Sun newspaper; On the surface we could have a whole lot of fun with Mr. Lee's advertorial just by drawing on common knowledge. For example, respective of the last line of Lee's quote above I immediately thought, "of course they don't know the medication history of the athletes. Dick Pound at WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) has been trying to figure that out for a long time without much success," but that would be too easy and not really relevant.

The timing and placement of Mr. Lee's advertorial is a good example of what Noam Chomsky describes as necessary illusion. And considering that The Vancouver Sun newspaper since June of 2007 is now officially on VANOC's payroll, it could also be construed by some as checkbook journalism, although in the strictest sense, the connection would have to be more direct in order to qualify. Necessary illusion is when a news media company uses the fine art of misdirection to temporarily lead a person to believe one thing, but over the course of time the newspaper is really selling you something entirely different. Sort of like a magician mysteriously changing an elephant into a beautiful female confederate, except in this case it is your tax money being changed right before your eyes into gold and placed in the news company's vault. As you watch the flash paper burn in their left hand, they remove your money with their right.

Here's what Mr. Lee told readers. He said that VANOC is planning to set up a special hospital within Olympics facilities to treat" athletes, officials, volunteers and members of the media." He conveniently left out VIP's because I am sure it would have raised ire, but that's small potatoes. History indicates that Olympics organizations will probably also treat spectators within this proposed system, but he never mentioned that either, which means that now he's gone from small potatoes to making potato salad. Mr. Lee did however make a HUGE deal out of VANOC creating a first-ever plan to do everything "in-house" and reasoned that it was going to be done "within the Olympic fence" so it wouldn't burden our health care system. Thanks for your concern, but I'm wondering where Mr. Lee thinks VANOC will find doctors and nurses? It sounds like they're setting up a monopoly to treat patients just like they sell T-shirts or Mcfood, and that they will raid our system for talent.

Basically though, we're still only talking potato salad with sliced eggs on top.


Here's the entrée he failed to serve up;

At past Olympics events, it is well documented that elective surgery was canceled for a month or even longer so local medical practitioners could volunteer at the Olympics.

Let me explain it in case you can't read the menu in the dim light.

IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY THAT NO ELECTIVE SURGERY WILL BE OFFERED DURING THE 2010 OLYMPICS GAMES ANYWHERE IN OUR REGION.

WHICH MEANS; IF YOU HAVE CANCER OR A SERIOUS HEART CONDITION YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE OLYMPICS ARE OVER. WHY? BECAUSE DOCTORS AND NURSES ARE VOLUNTEERING THEIR TIME SO THEY CAN EXPERIENCE WHAT VANOC CHARACTERIZES AS A "ONCE-IN-A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY."

Once in a lifetime for whom? Apparently it is not critically ill patients.

Even doctors get sucked into the Olympics hype-fest. Apparently some are not as smart as we thought. You notice above that I wrote, "It is highly likely" because Mr. Lee failed to bring it up in his advertorial because he probably didn't ask. At least I suspect he didn't ask because if he did and failed to report it then that is something entirely different and much more serious respective of journalistic integrity. If you want to play citizen journalist, call Dr. Taunton to find out if Mr. Lee asked, and if he didn't ask, pose the question yourself and please let me know.

Jeez, Mr. Lee, don't you think it might have been appropriate to share information like this with our community? If you had read Helen Lenskyj's research you would have had this info and question at your fingertips. Oh, I forgot, you've already gone on record to undermine Dr. Lenskyj's credibility in an effort to promote violent protest. Well if you don't believe her, you could have read this blog or my book, or a dozen other papers and publications that address this very serious issue. But you didn't and you won't, because now that your boss, The Vancouver Sun, is an official Olympics booster, you have little financial incentive to report information that would make it uncomfortable for VANOC. Whose side are you on? VANOC's, or our community's? It's obvious you are not reporting in a nonpartisan way, because if you were, you would have at least asked the question. It's exactly why I characterize this piece as advertorial, and reflective of a passive psychological process that Village, in a Tyee post brought to my attention as an exercise in manufactured consent.

I have a solution. Considering that we have so many foreign medical practitioners driving cabs in this region, why doesn't VANOC conscript them to volunteer at the Olympics Hospital compound? It would allow our regular doctors and nurses to continue to reduce the backlog that is already overwhelming our community. Think about it. Many of the athletes will be from foreign lands too. In fact I'm pretty sure that's the whole point of Olympic competition, but it's hard to tell these days considering everyone's scramble for gold. Maybe all we have to do is pair the Olympic patient up with a taxi driver of similar origin. It will alleviate language, race, and social confusion, and everyone will be happy. I'm just kidding. It will never work because who would drive the taxis?

In the old days (pre-blog), newspapers could get away with half-truths because there was no way for the average person to figure out what was happening in their Olympics host region until it was way too late. But today … well thankfully we have citizen journalism.

Vancouver does not have a healthy health care system to begin with, one that can even remotely absorb the added pressure of pulling even one doctor or nurse off the front lines. As it is, wait times for surgery are critical. Patients are sleeping in the halls. How, Mr. Lee, do you think "critically ill" patients in our Olympics region will cope with having to wait for an added month, or possibly even much longer?

It is quite possible that VANOC has a plan, but did you even ask?

Will we ship patients on deathbeds to Kelowna, or Seattle? Or maybe a floating hospital would work?

When you have a critical health condition it means you can't wait for the figure skating competition to end.

How dangerous is it to keep this type of information from Vancouverites?

Well it is so dangerous that the next day in The Sun, there wasn't one mention of this in the "letters to the editor section." Zip. Nada. Nothing. Is CanWest trying to tell us that not one Vancouverite responded to your article regarding health care? Doesn't anyone with a brain or conscience read your newspaper. It's possible too that things could be way worse than we thought regarding your circulation. Maybe I am the only one left reading your newspaper. The only other explanation is that you have succeeded in brainwashing an entire community. I anxiously await your response, but I'm not holding my breath.

On August 17, 2007 an editor was fired, and a writer resigned after a local business owner complained that the newspaper they worked for published a story that offended the used car business community. Read the story here from PublicEyeOnline.com ...



Get Out Of Dodge

Regarding further clarity respective of juxtaposition and necessary illusion, on the same page that Mr. Lee's advertorial about Olympics hospitals was published, directly below it in a "letters to the editor" section, a local resident named Brian J. Price wrote to say that he was concerned that 2010 wouldn't have enough security in place to keep him and his family safe during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. So his plan is to rent his condo for a small fortune to some rich foreigners and get the hell out of Dodge for the Games. I hope Mr. Price doesn't have a health condition too, because now he has even more reason to flee.

Mr. Price's letter is inflammatory and very alarming, and as a result it might seem like The Sun is giving us all a heads up regarding his fear. It truly sounds like this guy really hates the Olympics, and it leaves the impression that The Sun tells both sides of the Olympics story, but realistically, it is exactly what the real estate industry wants to read, because once again, what The Sun fails to tell us is that real estate rental agents will help people rent their homes to corporate sponsors and spectators. Keep in mind that House & Home sections keep newspapers afloat in these very trying times for mainstream news media.

Renting your home for a big fee is a good thing Mr. Price, but what you must know before you spend even a nickel preparing your property, is that your plan could easily backfire. In Salt Lake City the real estate market deflated and residents were left holding an empty balloon after banks made a fortune lending people money to fix up the old homestead before the crowds arrived. Unfortunately, no one showed up. The market heated up so fast upon winning the Bid, that as the Games approached it flipped and went cold. Sound familiar? In a three-month period surrounding the 2002 Games, Park City (our Whistler), never sold one house. It broke an all time record in North America. Even worse, five years later the entire region has still not fully recovered. And guess what? Spectators never showed up in Athens or Turin either. Three strikes in a row, but I'm sure Sam and John have a solid plan for the 2010 inning.

The Sun didn't share this little Olympic secret with us Mr. Price, but by printing your letter without qualifying it they did lead readers to believe that anyone can make a bundle of ca$h. News media will soon start to promote a series of stories proclaiming that everyone should rent their homes and leave town during the Games. It will kill two birds. First it will provide room space, and second it will make residents feel better about taking a vacation whether they want to or not, because what you might not realize is that transportation in the region will literally grind to a halt and you won't be able to do anything anyway, including going to work. It is part of the necessary illusion / manufactured consent campaign where, with their left hand, mainstream news media on the Olympics' bankroll toss in little bits like this to demonstrate they are concerned for our community, while with their right hand they sell advertising to VANOC, and also to Olympics sponsors like RBC and real estate marketing companies who will all make a killing off your back and mine Mr. Price.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck renting your property, and it is entirely possible it could play out the way you envision, but a red flag should go up immediately if your real estate rental agent thinks it is a good idea to spruce the place up a bit before you rent. Keep in mind that on top of already paying higher property taxes, and a dramatic increase in the cost of living, plus having to deal with the expensive inconvenience of preparing for the Games, it might cost you more than you think to set up and manage a rental deal. The instances of people making big profits are relatively rare. These stories are irresponsibly circulated by Olympics organizations and their news media partners like The Vancouver Sun to keep everyone hyped up. Don't fall for it and use common sense. For safety reasons it might be a good idea to go somewhere else during the Games, but don't fool yourself into thinking it will be that easy to rent your condo for a profit during an Olympics event. It's risky business. Air fares alone will absolutely skyrocket in and out of Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Seattle for months surrounding the Games, so unless you're driving to Dodge, make sure you incorporate that cost into your rental fee too.

Remember, pre-ticket sales for the last three Olympics Games never materialized. Olympics organizations like VANOC had to give away tens of thousands of tickets at the last minute to make it look like events were popular. In entertainment parlance it's called "papering the house." You also have to remember that the Games will be held in the middle of our rainy season, and also that we live in a rain forest. Heavy rains might not scare off British spectators, but you can guarantee it's going to be a hard sell for the rest of the world when it is easier, cheaper, and now according to you, safer to watch from a distance.

It is entirely possible that the rest of world will stay home and watch the Games on their computers, but I hope not. We need foreign spectators to help bail us out of the mess local news media is getting us into. I cover this issue in great detail in my book. Email me Mr. Price and I'll send you a free copy. *My best advice is to not invest one nickel in updating your condo if you are doing it only to make it more attractive to Olympics renters. You might also want to consider waiting as long as comfortably possible before you commit to anyone, especially a rental agent, who will probably be working in partnership with Olympics organizations. Once you sign with them it is usually exclusive, and you are locked in and joined at the hip regardless of what happens in what is often a very volatile market. You might even be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement which would prevent you from telling anyone how well, or poorly you did. So be wary. The bears are circling, and now that you went on record in the local newspaper, you have the bait tied around your neck. Consult a good lawyer before you commit to anyone. Don't forget too that you will have plenty of competition from your neighbors, and every time they place a rental space on the market your profit shrinks unless you have one really extraordinary home with a great view and easy access. The people who make a profit rent to corporations who want to house their VIPs, not independent rich spectators as you described. Focus on the big companies instead. Spectators are not as wealthy as you think. One of the big events for spectators at all Olympics is the trading of pins. Pins Mr. Price. When was the last time you saw a wealthy person standing in line to barter over a $20 pin?

I'm truly sorry to put it in the following way Mr. Price, because it is true that in the past many parents were so scared for the safety of their children during the Olympics that they refused to let their kids attend school, but the Vancouver Sun leveraged your letter to sell their agenda and manufacture consent. I'm curious, when did you send your letter to the editor? If you sent it a while ago and they just published it, that should tell you something.

Juxtaposition and necessary illusion all in one neat package.

Just in case you think I'm making this stuff up; *The following day, August 16, 2007, The Vancouver Sun ran a big feature on the front page of the business section stating that because "the BC house market is expected to cool over the coming year, spending on renovations will likely increase substantially," and they use statistics to back up their claims.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Who do you trust?



VANOC Security Chief Fired - or maybe not

You probably also do not want to hear this Mr. Price, but today (August 15, 2007, buried in a tiny article on page two, section "B" in the Vancouver Sun, it was quietly reported by Linda Nguyen that the "2010 Games Security Chief: was ousted." Once again The Sun doesn't want to offend VANOC so they downplayed it, but once you get past the headline, and according to Nguyen, they fired the frigg'n guy who is supposed to protect us, because apparently, he underestimated how much it would cost to keep us safe. I went on record and warned everyone in 2005 that $175 million for security was a joke, and even though a Global television reporter interviewed me about it, the interview never made it to air. It was probably because when the reporter asked who makes the most money off the Olympics, I said, "next to construction and sport companies, it is mainstream news media." It slid downhill from there faster than an Olympian boarder on steroids, or pot. It's important to note that Global is a sister company to The Vancouver Sun and a property of CanWest. I'm surprised it took so long to oust RCMP Chief Superintendent Bob Harriman, but I am not surprised that The Vancouver Sun buried it on page two of the "B" section. First, VANOC's Human Resources Director Jeff Chan resigned under mysterious circumstances, then they fired Steve Matheson the Director responsible for construction, and now the head of security gets the boot. Maybe these guys know something we don't. Maybe they know that the IOC business model is flawed, and they protested a little too much about it. Opportunity of lifetime? Apparently not for these Directors. Who's next? John Furlong?

But wait! There's more! The next day in The Sun, August 16, 2007, another headline in the "B" section blares, "Head of Olympic security leaves." According to this article, Harriman had planned to "leave" for a long time, and it was not much of a surprise to anyone, except of course VANOC.

Guess who wrote the second article?

It was none other than Jeff Lee - official 2010 Olympics reporter.

So which is it? Was he fired, or did he leave? According to Lee, Harriman's departure has nothing to do with grossly underestimating how much it will cost to manage 2010 security. As reported by Lee, "Bob wanted to move on to other career opportunities." Jeez Bob, whatever happened to "An opportunity of a lifetime?" that is so warmly promoted by VANOC. You would think head of security would be an absolute plum job that anyone looking for opportunity would jump at? Apparently not.

I am sure we will never know what really happened, but here's something to think about, according to Lee's article, "as per RCMP spokesman Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre ... Harriman was not fired as some media outlets suggested." SOME MEDIA OUTLETS? ... SUGGESTED? How about your own news media company writing flat-out the day previous that , "RCMP Chief Supt. Bob Harriman has been fired as head of security unit at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, according to a CTV News broadcast Tuesday.

This is exactly why it is foolish to trust 2010 info from The Sun or VANOC.

No fact checking and chasing their tales to find a story.

I smell coverup. Perfect project for citizen journalism.


If you want the whole 2010 story, please read my book.

Talk to us before you talk to them ...
LeverageOlympicMomentum.com - the book





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