Yellowknife abandons bid to host Canada Winter Games

Yellowknife abandons bid to host Canada Winter Games

'Extensive feasibility assessment' found substantial costs outweighed benefits

Yellowknife will not be hosting the 2035 Canada Winter Games.

On Tuesday, the city and the N.W.T. government jointly announced their bid to host the biennial sporting competition would be dropped, citing the "significant investment required" and its potential impact on "other territorial and municipal priorities."

The decision comes on the heels of a "substantial feasibility assessment" which engaged sports and recreation groups, community advocates, and Indigenous governments.

"While the assessment identified potential benefits associated with hosting the Games ... it also highlighted substantial financial, operational, and infrastructure requirements," it continues.

"The required investment and infrastructure would make it difficult to deliver the Games responsibly and sustainably at this time," Vince McKay, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, says in the release.

The territorial government has been pursuing a bid to host the national competition since April, when it was granted an extension on its bid by the Canada Games Council.

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The idea met with a mixed response from residents, with two-thirds of respondents to an online city survey rejecting the idea.

A cost estimate prepared in 2016 for the 2023 games put the price of hosting at more than $50 million, not including the cost of expanding hotel and housing stock or renewing aging facilities.

More than 3,000 local volunteers would have been called upon to help staff the event.

While the bid will not proceed, the release notes, the results of the feasibility study will be used to inform future investments and partnerships in the territory's "sports and recreation system."

"Yellowknife is ambitious about the opportunities we pursue for our community," Ben Hendriksen, Yellowknife's mayor, says in the release, "but ambition also requires us to make choices about where we focus our efforts and resources."

The decision is not expected to affect the timeline for choosing an alternate host city for the 2035 event.