Report: Olympics already creating economic benefits in Lower Mainland
Posted April 28, 2010 12:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Olympics have already led to a windfall of local business revenue in the Lower Mainland, according to Metro Vancouver Commerce (MVC), the group organized to collaborate on economic development after the Games. In fact, MVC says they’ve hit their 18-month target in just 60 days.
MVC is the initiative that saw the heads of about 70 international companies invited here for the Games to meet with business and political leaders, and enjoy a few Olympic perks. A total of nine municipalities across the region got involved with the program, showing a unified front instead of competing with each other for business…with help from federal government agencies.
Gerry Salambier with the federal government’s Western Economic Diversification program says it’s been an overwhelming success so far. “$60-million in deals gets us to our target in just two months, the 18-month target that we set for ourselves. We are all about results and outcomes at the federal level.”
Nearly a dozen business deals have been signed already. Some were already in the works before the Olympics, but have been finalized since the Games. They’re promising more deals to come in the near future.
