Vancouver's Olympic bid is Canada's bid, say organizers

Hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver should be seen as an all-Canadian affair, say bid organizers and supporters.

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"This is Canada's bid. This is for the young people of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba," said B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell at a Toronto news conference on Wednesday.

Campbell and other officials, along with Olympic medallists Catriona LeMay Doan and Ross Rebagliatti, were in the city promoting what they now call Canada's bid.

Jack Poole, who heads the corporation spearheading the bid, realizes that with 56 days to go until the vote in Prague, they have to spread their message around the country.

"It's really critical to sustain the level of support from our federal government and sponsors from around the country," Poole said, adding, "If anything, we should be criticized for not coming here often enough."

Mike Holtzman, a public relations consultant from New York, said portraying the bid as a Canada-wide one will impress the International Olympic Committee.

"There's obviously a fine perception of Canada around the world as being a nation that is a trusted international partner. In this business, those images are very salient."

Campbell described the Vancouver venues as spectacular. He didn't think the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak that touched Vancouver albeit not as hard as it did Toronto would be a factor.