Canmore residents wonder ‘what if’ after Calgary voted against hosting 2026 Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics are nearing the finish line in Italy.

The Games have led some Canmore residents to wonder what they would have been like had they been held closer to home.

Canmore and Kananaskis would have played a key role in a Calgary bid to host the 2026 Olympics. But Calgary voters eventually rejected pursuing a bid in a 2018 plebiscite.

“I’m disappointed the Games didn’t come here. I can’t say I’m depressed, but I’m really disappointed to watch all the athletes in Italy. I’d rather they’d be here,” said Ken Davies, a leading figure in Canmore supporting the bid.

Davies and Norbert Meier helped lead a local campaign in Canmore to build support for bringing the 2026 Olympics and Paralympics to Calgary. Both volunteered at the 1988 Olympic Games, and helped bring multiple international events to the Canmore Nordic Centre throughout the last four decades.

If Calgary had successfully bid on this year's Olympics, the Canmore Nordic Centre and the Nakiska Ski Resort in Kananaskis were being considered to host multiple events, and receive funding for necessary facility upgrades.

A 1,200-bed athletes' village in Canmore was included in the plan for Calgary's bid.

From that village, 242 units would be given to Canmore Community Housing for affordable housing, and 24 would have been looked at for future use by athletes and coaches. The new units would have more than doubled the amount the affordable housing agency had created in the previous two decades.

“We were going to get a ton of housing coming out of the Olympics,” said former Canmore mayor John Borrowman. “It would’ve been a massive impact for our community.

“Essentially, we would’ve been handed the keys to 200-plus units of good affordable housing for our residents.”

The athletes' village was estimated to cost $116 million, with Canmore chipping in $10 million.

Since then, the municipality has moved forward with plans to build affordable housing in the same area. The first units are anticipated to be finished in 2027.

Meier said an athletes' village could have been a “catalyst” to help Canmore’s housing.

“We weren’t building white elephants. We weren’t building toys. We weren’t building nice-to-haves. We were going after a legacy that meant something significant to the community and was a good match to what the community needed,” Meier said.