B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Toshiro Muto, the chief executive officer of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, said on Tuesday he was not ready to say if the cost of the Games would go higher than the official budget figure of US$15.4 billion.
The Olympics ended on Aug. 8, followed by the closing of the Paralympics just over three weeks ago.
"I'm not prepared to reply to your question," Muto said when asked by a Japanese reporter during a news conference. "I don't have the information yet. The people in charge are looking into this."
Muto said it would likely be early next year before the official cost of the Games is published. He said preliminary figures might be made available in December.
Organizers hoped for income of US$800 million from ticket sales. This was lost entirely when spectators were barred from the Olympics and Paralympics because of the pandemic.
Any shortfall from ticket sales or elsewhere is likely to be made up by Japanese government entities.
Muto was also asked if he expected added contributions from the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee. He indicated he did not.
He said the IOC had already made a "quite large" contribution and suggested the IOC had fulfilled its responsibilities, according to the so-called Host City Contract. This agreement spells out who pays what, with most of the leverage resting with the IOC.
According to the latest budget, the IOC contributed about US$1.3 billion to the Tokyo Olympics. It may have added contributions after the Olympics were delayed for a year, though it is unclear how much or in what form -- cash payments, or in-kind payments.
Even if the costs remain as is, the Tokyo Olympics were the most expensive on record according to a study from the University of Oxford.
Although the official cost has been listed as US$15.4 billion, several government audits have shown costs may be much higher.
Olympic costs are notoriously difficult to track, but no matter the actual cost, most of it is public money.
Private funds raised for the Olympics amount to about US$6.7 billion, about half of which was raised from more than 60 Japanese domestic sponsors.
"We will carefully review our expenses to deal with the one-year postponement, COVID-19 countermeasures and the last-minute decision to have no spectators," organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said at the news conference.
"I believe that we will need to fulfill our accountability on these points," Hashimoto added.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.