TEAM SLAMS CITY’S DECISION TO SINK NEXT YEAR’S DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

Iconic Local Event Clashes with FIFA World Cup Schedule

VANCOUVER, Aug. 5 -- TEAM for a Livable Vancouver says it’s outrageous that the city’s hugely popular Dragon Boat Festival is being cancelled next year because it conflicts with the FIFA World Cup.

 "The City's priorities are out of whack,” says former TEAM City Councillor Colleen Hardwick. “This is yet another example of how Ken Sim and ABC cater to special interests.”

Seven World Cup matches will be held at BC Place Stadium between June 13 and July 7 next year. The Dragon Boat Festival is usually held in late June in False Creek, but the City’s contract with FIFA bans sports and cultural events during the tournament period.

Once again, City Hall supports private interests instead of local communities – a kick in the teeth for an event that has deep historical roots in Vancouver. The first Dragon Boat Festival was held here in 1986 with the aim of building intercultural harmony and understanding, and is the biggest such event in North America.

 “We had a plebiscite leading up to the 2010 Olympics,” says Hardwick. “We should have had a plebiscite for the FIFA World Cup, because the impact is so profound and should not have been approved without public consultation.”

The Dragon Boat Festival is free to watch, compared to tickets costing thousands of dollars for one World Cup match. And it won’t put taxpayers on the hook for the estimated $624 million the B.C. government now admits hosting the FIFA blowout could cost us. Peer-reviewed research shows the World Cup is ineffective in promoting tourism, as opposed to the province’s arguments that it will bring in more than $1 billion in additional visitor spending by 2031. And mega-events like it and the Olympics tend to benefit only big corporate sponsors – not local businesses.

TEAM believes tax dollars should be spent wisely for the benefit of residents – not on boondoggles that cancel popular local events like the Dragon Boat Festival and are too expensive for most people to attend.