Former mayors support secrecy surrounding Olympic Village bailout

Two former mayors of Vancouver are trying to reassure taxpayers there is nothing unusual about a proposed $100-million loan approved by city council to bailout the company developing the Olympic Village.

Phillip Owen and Larry Campbell said it is standard process to keep negotiations with developers private until a deal is signed.

"There was nothing differently done about this property transaction or the previous hundreds that have been done in the last three decades," said Owen.

Campbell, who is now a Liberal senator, said he is more concerned about the breach of confidentiality that allowed news of the proposed deal to become public late last week.

If he were still mayor, Campbell said he would be calling for a criminal investigation because he is so concerned about potential damage to the city's future negotiation capabilities.

Campbell was elected mayor of Vancouver in 2003 and served one term. Owen was mayor of the city from 1993 to 2003.

Perfect storm hits development

The controversy over the loan has heated up the debate between the main civic candidates as Vancouverites prepare to vote in the upcoming Nov. 15 civic election.

The billion-dollar residential development on the shores of Vancouver's False Creek will serve as the Olympic Village during the 2010 Winter Games before being sold off as condominiums units.

But the project by the Millennium Development has experienced a perfect storm of cost overruns, credit problems related to the global financial crisis, and political intrigue.

Much of the political firestorm that has raged since the loan negotiations became public has focused on why the negotiation and the details of the $100-million bailout were kept private.

Report went missing

Earlier this week it was revealed that the information about the loan guarantee became public after a single copy of a confidential city report on the development mysteriously disappeared following a closed council meeting.

The missing copy was the one assigned to councillor and mayoral candidate Peter Ladner, who said he left his copy of the report on a pile with others after the meeting, and never removed it from the room.

Staff said they noticed the numbered report was missing shortly after the meeting. It later turned up on the desk of Coun. B.C. Lee, who said he found it after noticing the papers on his desk had been disturbed.

Details about the negotiations and the loan were later published in a Globe and Mail newspaper column, which also claimed that the city's director of finance, Estelle Lo, had resigned from her job over the council's handling of the development.

Thus far, Lo's resignation has been denied by outgoing Mayor Sam Sullivan, but she has been out of the country and not available to confirm or deny the rumour herself.

Mayor defends secrecy

Meanwhile, Sullivan has also defended the secrecy around negotiations between city officials and the village developer, saying it's the law to keep such matters confidential.

In an open letter released on Tuesday, Sullivan said as soon as lawyers give the OK, details of the deal will be released.

Ladner, who is running for mayor for the governing Non-Partisan Association, has said he won't comment directly on the loan, also citing confidentially agreements related to the ongoing negotiations.

Ladner did say the funds would come from the city's property endowment fund, which is healthy enough to support such a loan.

The other main candidate running for mayor, former NDP MLA Gregor Robertson of the rival Vision Vancouver party, is calling for an emergency council meeting to deal with the loan.

Robertson, who does not have a seat on city council and was not at the closed meeting about the negotiations, said an independent auditor should be appointed to review the financial situation.

Campbell bought Olympic Village condominiums

CBC News has also learned Campbell has a personal connection to the development.

Campbell purchased two units and intends to live in one of them, but told CBC News his choice to speak up now has nothing to do with his financial investment in the development.

"When this happened, when I bought, I mean, it's like a year and half ago, so no, I mean, I think this is a good development. It's going to be probably one of the premier places in Vancouver, and let's face it, this is where the athletes are going to stay," said Campbell.

He said he is focused on informing the public about proper city process in these kinds of negotiations and is concerned Vancouver's reputation has been hurt by the leaked information.