A lot of blah blah blah in the article, but I like the title. I am all for Canada Boycotting.
About time.
Either that or somehow force the IOC to relocate the games from Beijing.
Cool article .
With the covid 19 and civil unrests we are not getting the proper amount of news going on with this giant and human rights .
It doesn't help when global corporate giants are so heavily invested there and using that aspect to use our own greed for cheap goods against ourselves .
Didn't something like this happen in the 1980s? The Olympics were in Moscow and some group just organized an "alternate Olympics" for any country wishing to boycott the Moscow Olympics. Then it happened again in 1984, with some countries boycotting the Olympics in Los Angeles. Perhaps that is an option, but it does make both Olympics worse off.
In my view, to keep all of our winter athletes, who may not be young enough for the 2026 Olympics or otherwise unable to participate, out of the 2022 Games, there has to be some other alternate games, (holding the added bonus of nearly completely delegitimizing the Chinese-hosted Olympics) or there has to be legitimate fear for the people that we're sending's lives.
If China starts kicking out our American friends, or some other countries, out of their Games, then by all means join them and get out. Otherwise, I think that the Olympics should be above boycott.
Edit: Also, Canada's leadership is pretty tight with China, so I don't think that anything of that sort would ever happen.
If it was tight, then the Huwai executive should have been released in exchange for the two Micheals.
Good on Canada for holding their ground. Challenging time for sure.
I would say relationship is not tight, its more like constant pandering and butt kissing by certain politicians and businesses in this Country.
Unlike, China, as much as the PM may like to, I don't know if he has the authority legally to get involved. He may be able to influence, but legally not sure if he change it.
Boycotting China and China made products is a possibility if options are found especially as long as they keep the kidnapped Canadians prisoner. Not to mention the forgotten Canadian prisoner that was serving 20 years that around the same time, had his sentence moved to death penalty even without new evidence.
I don't support boycotting the Olympics. This hurts Canadian athletes. I would be recommending though that the athletes stay on Olympic grounds for their own safety and not to provide additional dollars to the government that holds Canadians hostage for no apparent reason.
Another reason for us not to go other than the obvious reason of the pandemic .
.....
Dutch Olympians warned to keep phones, laptops out of China
Advice was issued to deal with any possible interference by Chinese state agents
AMSTERDAM ā Dutch athletes competing in next monthās Beijing Winter Olympics will need to leave their phones and laptops at home in an unprecedented move to avoid Chinese espionage, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Tuesday.
The urgent advice to athletes and supporting staff to not bring any personal devices to China was part of a set of measures proposed by the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOCNSF) to deal with any possible interference by Chinese state agents, the paper said citing sources close to the matter.
āThe importance of cybersecurity of course has grown over the yearsā, Slot said. āBut China has completely closed off its internet, which makes it a specific case.ā
Dutch team members will be equipped with unused devices in China, to protect their personal data from Chinese surveillance, the sources told De Volkskrant.
Still not sure why China was awarded the games in the first place?
The IOC must have been desperate as they ran out of cities to fleece money from.
Surprised FIFA hasnāt awarded a World Cup to China yet but Qatar has them this year.
Strange times indeed.
Yep who wants the games and all the debt that goes with it .
Calgary voted it down .
I think Calgary can come to regret that decision somewhere down the line.
Personally Iām glad they voted it down but yes, there is an argument as always that in doing so they are turning away a lot of federal dollars for facilities and perhaps some infrastructure.
ā¦this is meā¦as a calgarian I voted for the 2026 games solely for the fact that for every dollar my city spent another three would be given from Ottawaā¦the cash flood wouldāve been awesome for spending on toysā¦
ā¦but now as I reflect on it I think not hosting the games was probably the best decision in the endā¦
I was interested to read the article but the link has disappeared. Is it possible to find it again?
Without knowing what it said, my general principles are that China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the IOC, along with FIFA, is one of the most corrupt sports organizations in the world.
Long ago, however, I decided firmly against sports boycotts, as they hurt the athletes and the countries not participating and do very little. The integrity of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games was non existent, with pseudo record medal hauls for the USSR and USA respectively. It could just as easily be argued that the Sochi Olympics should have been boycotted or that the upcoming World Cup should be as well, and if we take this stance there would be virtually no events such as these.
I support the sentiment behind the boycott notion but do not think that a boycott is the correct forum for objection, and as history shows, it is completely ineffective. My view is that the organizations that place these events in questionable places need to be held to a certain basic international and human rights standard, so that these events do not go to these places to begin with.
ā¦Iāve always argued that years ago (probably after the ā72 games) the Olympics shouldāve just bought an island off of Greece and developed it as the permanent home for the gamesā¦it wouldāve become an entity unto itself, and beholden to noneā¦a city-state, like the Vaticanā¦
Not a bad idea. Given their respective finances, they probably should just buy Greece itself. The Olympics could then always be held at their original home.
If this is the ābestā way for a city/municipal area to get money from Ottawa, from holding a sporting event of some sort, something is definitely wrong, seriously wrong, with the system of how payments for whatever go from Ottawa to cities/municaplities across Canada.
The Federal government needs to stop putting everything collected in taxes straight into general revenue.
Never understood the idea of transfer payments either. Based on what formula?
Can anybody out there explain this and thank you.
Like last summer, there are a few quiet joys if like me you are interested in some of the sports.
The hockey would have been tops for me but the NHL made absolutely the best and right decision, and there is something appealing about watching skiiers race every few years.
But now there is this secret joy - watching the sports and news media try to paper this over and dance around the growing elephant in the room amidst the mammoths, so to speak, already in China.
Our Olympic Hockey team
They may need some Geritol in the water bottles!
They must have scouted these guys at oldtimers games! Just Kidding
Bring home the gold!
Wow! Some of these guys must be in their 40ās if not ā50ās. I had no idea they were in shape enough to even attempt this. Maybe they arenāt. Iām still hoping the games are postponed, but itās not looking that way.