Calgary’s bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics is “dead,” the city’s mayor said, after 56 percent of Tuesday voters were against hosting the Games.
“I was hoping for a ‘yes’ vote tonight,” said Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, wearing a red Canadian Olympic team shirt late Tuesday. “This is very clear direction where we go from here.”
Nenshi said he anticipates the bid being officially suspended at a Monday city council meeting.
“It’s pretty clear that we saw a clear number,” he said of the 300,000-plus votes in a city of 767,734 eligible voters, though official results aren’t expected until Friday.