As thousands of fans flocked to Vancouver for the city’s first-ever FIFA World Cup game, Canada’s secretary of state for sport is defending the tournament as an investment in “our ability to welcome the world.” Adam van Koeverden, who is also a former Olympian, spoke with Your Morning Vancouver on Monday about concerns over the significant price tag. “We’re not just investing in this sporting event, or these 13 matches, we’re also investing in the infrastructure,” he said. In a report last month, the parliamentary budget officer estimated the federal government’s contribution into Vancouver and Toronto’s hosting duties at $473 million, with another $593 million funded by other levels of government. Van Koeverden says the investments include doubling the number of elevators at BC Place, turning it into a more convention-style centre. “Improving that infrastructure is essential to make sure that we continue to be a world class sport hosting destination, or a hosting destination for business events, for large conventions and trade shows and things of that nature.” Other aspects of the tournament’s legacy are harder to measure, with Van Koeverden touting it as “an investment in who we are.” He says the free cultural celebrations and fan festivals are leaving a mark in the community. “When I see the look on a kid’s face when they’re either watching a game, or in particular when the young ones are carrying the balls out with the players, like that’s just incredible, those moments, those core memories being produced are so good,” he added. Not included in the tournament costs is the recent investment in improving access to youth sports. In the spring economic update, the federal government announced a separate $755 million would be spent over the next five years. The large majority of those funds will be spent on growing participation in young people in sports. The rest will go towards supporting high-performance athletes, and working towards bringing more world-class sporting events to Canada. “We know that sports are expensive and sometimes they’re a little bit exclusionary and people don’t necessarily feel like they belong and there’s not enough sport infrastructure to go around, so we’re building more and we’re doing more to support young athletes at every single stage of their journey,” van Koeverden said. The next World Cup match in Vancouver will take place on Thursday, between Canada and Qatar. With files from The Canadian Press.
