Embarrassing

So you heard that Halifax has pulled out of the Commonwealth Games bid? Pathetic and shameful is my reaction with no one doing themselves any credit whatsoever.

According to this timeline, Halifax was chosen as Canada's bidding city way back in December 2005. So that's about sixteen months of subsequent work and investment wasted. Sixteen months that Hamilton, Ottawa and York could have used to do a better job. I bet those cities and their residents are pissed at Halifax right now. And what about the other Commonwealth countries? As Halifax was on the exclusive final shortlist of three bidding cities from three bidding countries, it prevented another city from another country to get on that list. According to Wikipedia, my trusty source for most 'facts' countries including Singapore, New Zealand and Wales were considering a bid back in the day. So are these countries gonna be pissed at Halifax for taking a spot away from them and then passing their opportunity away? Maybe.

I tell you who else is pissed at Halifax - Halifax athletes. Now I know the young lady in this article quite well and know how badly local athletes wanted the games to come here so they could have access to better facilities and not have to relocate across Canada to improve, as so many have. If you think that's not the most elegant picture of Leanna, try this one instead.


Or this one, with her lover.


Now I'm not criticising Halifax for not winning the Commonwealth Games, but for making such a huge farce out of their bid. Seriously, who are these analysts who estimated the games would cost $700 million? The job centre is where I think they should be. Seriously, the costs of getting the bid have not risen from $700 million to $1.7 billion - the 'experts' just fucked up. Bigtime. Why not get me to estimate how much the games would have cost? It seems that I could have picked a number out of the sky and had as much chance of creating a realistic estimate as those who are paid to do that.

And what about Cossette Atlantic? This is the marketing company who was in charge of promoting the Halifax bid. Yeah, their reputation must be doing well this morning. Cossette are also the company I was supposed to be working for last September but couldn't find the cash and though I was incredibly excited in working for them and am not bitter in any way, if I worked there today, I wouldn't go round shouting that from the rooftops.

So what now? Well, several journalists have correctly pointed out both Nova Scotia and the HRM were willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars towards Halifax - improving infrastructure, facilities, housing etc etc etc. So do it. And get a CFL franchise or something to build that stadium you were on about. It doesn't really matter that the Commonwealth Games aren't coming here, the city could still improve itself for the benefit of its residents and appease people like Leanna. Seriously, I'm willing to bet Nova Scotians aren't too happy with their Government right now for the embarrasment they've caused through their amateurishness (spot the hypocritical amateur journalist) so this cloud gives quite the opportunity for the city to redeem itself.

As for me, I'm going to expand my horizons further and continue to try new things in life - I'm playing dodgeball on Sunday with Cole, wicked!