The Yukon government did not consult with the City of Whitehorse before deciding to pull the territory’s bid for the 2027 Canada Winter Games, according to both governments.

A memorandum of understanding stated the Yukon government and the City of Whitehorse would be co-hosts for the Games, as well as equal partners in “public communications, and engagement with representatives of the Canada Games Council.”

But Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn told the legislature Thursday that the cabinet had unilaterally decided to pull the bid after the federal government offered only a fraction of the requested $138 million in funding for the project. 

“Based on that, cabinet met and decided we could not afford to host the Canada Games in 2027,” he told the legislature.

“We informed our partners of that decision immediately, because we knew the Canada Games would have to find a new host city, and that’s what happened.”

The federal government offered $16.75 million, including $3 million in capital funding.

The territory’s bid estimated the Games would cost about $185 million. The government announced the bid withdrawal Monday via press release.

In an email to the Star Thursday, city spokesperson Oshea Jephson said the city was not consulted about the decision to withdraw.

“We were informed of the territory’s decision on the morning of Nov. 14,” the email reads. That’s the date the withdrawal was announced.

“Mayor and council did discuss the possibility of a Plan B, which included a scaled-back version of the plans for Takhini Arena.”  

Two pieces of legacy infrastructure the territory was hoping to gain from the Games were a larger, modern replacement for the 36-year-old Takhini Arena – estimated cost $111 million – and $60 million to $65 million worth of housing for athletes, which would then become residential units for Yukoners.

The 2007 Games left Whitehorse with the $43-million Canada Games Centre.

Mostyn told reporters Thursday afternoon that those pieces of infrastructure were essential for the Games to be worthwhile, and 18 months of work had produced the tightest possible bid with which the government felt comfortable.

“Cabinet makes a decision on whether or not we can afford it,” Mostyn said. “We’re fronting the money for the Games.

“The city came forward with $11 million. We made a decision whether we could front $160 million.”

Mostyn said cabinet ministers decided that price was far too high for the territory to pay alone.

The government then told its partners on the bid that it would not support it without federal funding.

“That was the tightest bid we could get with our partners meeting the needs of the games committee.”

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon was concerned that the territorial government hadn’t fully included the city in that decision. He wondered if a lower bid should have been considered when the federal government’s funding offer was lower than expected.

“That doesn’t live up to the MOU (memorandum of understanding) that the minister entered with the City of Whitehorse,” Dixon told reporters Thursday.

“I don’t think that the government did a good enough job looking at other options that could reduce the size and scope of the project of the bid.”

He said there should have been a reconsideration of the Takhini Arena replacement. He noted the 2007 Games didn’t have a 3,500-person capacity facility for ceremonies, or a bigger rink than what’s available in Whitehorse now.

But another sheet of ice would have been needed for the 2027 Games because the Stan McCowan Arena in Porter Creek was demolished after the 2007 event.

And, as Mostyn recalled in the legislature, the huge tent used for the 2007 Games was temporary, expensive and not energy-efficient.

Mostyn told reporters the bid in its original form was the tightest possible financially.

However, he later told the legislature’s committee of the whole Thursday afternoon that the city had come up with a backup plan.

“Last week, the administration of the City of Whitehorse approached and said that they might be more willing to look at a different option,” he told the committee, saying he’d only just been informed of that.

“As I said, I have not yet explored any scaled-back version with my counterpart at the City of Whitehorse, but that’s what went down there.

“Apparently, the City of Whitehorse is more amenable now to a scaled-back version.

“I don’t know precisely what that looks like, what the costs would be involved with that, or really, what the City of Whitehorse’s full plans or offers are on the table, but as I said, as far as the bid that we put before the Canada Games Council, which met the requirements laid out by Canada Games 18 months ago, that bid is still on the table with the Canada Games Council and does not have all three governments’ funding support.”

Earlier this week, Mostyn said the bid was likely dead, as time is running out to get work underway on the infrastructure required for 2027.

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