LAKELAND – The possibility of the Winter Games coming to the Lakeland in 2026 could be a reality with the Regional Sports and Tourism Committee getting closer to submitting a regional joint bid to host the games.
The Regional Sports and Tourism Committee (RSTC), which is made up of delegates from the Town of Bonnyville, City of Cold Lake, MD of Bonnyville and Village of Glendon, passed a motion on Oct. 2 to recommend to each of the partner municipalities to proceed with funding for a proposed bid to host the 2026 Alberta Winter Games.
So far, three of the four partnering municipalities have agreed to supply the regional committee with a letter of intent to host the 2026 Winter Games.
The letter of intent must state that the bid is a joint municipal bid and that the bidding municipalities acknowledge that the ultimate financial responsibility for the cost of staging the Games rests with the municipalities.
Cold Lake, the Town of Bonnyville, and the MD of Bonnyville’s portion of the bid, if it were successful, would be up to $250,000 each. Glendon would contribute $25,000 to the joint bid, if approved.
The Village of Glendon council passed a motion on Oct. 3 stating that they would commit to the $25,000 portion if the bid to host the games was successful.
At the Oct. 10 regular council meeting, City of Cold Lake council also passed a motion to approve their portion of costs in the amount of $250,000.
The Town of Bonnyville also approved supplying a letter of intent acknowledging their contribution to a joint bid to host the 2026 games during their most recent meeting on Oct. 24.
The MD of Bonnyville council is the only municipality that is part of the Regional Sports and Tourism Committee that hasn’t made a decision on the matter.
On Oct. 10, MD council directed administration to bring back the $250,000 request for the 2026 Alberta Winter Games to the 2024 municipal budget deliberations for council’s consideration. The budget deliberations took place from Nov. 1-3.
“The typical cost of hosting a Winter Games is approximately $1.8 million,” stated Renee Stoyles, the general manager of corporate service for the Town of Bonnyville.
“Host communities receive base financial support from Alberta Sport Connection in the amount of $420,000. Hosts societies are also eligible to apply for provincial casinos and other government grants such as Community Initiatives Program project-based stream.”
During the Town of Bonnyville’s Oct. 24 council meeting, Coun. Neil Langridge, who is the Town's delegate for the regional committee, explained that the committee is continuing to look at ways to alleviate more of the costs, if the bid is successful.
"When looking at the structure of the games, it would be pretty much an equally split opportunity between the City of Cold Lake and the Town of Bonnyville, while a lot of the skiing competitions and anything that requires large spaces would be in the MD of Bonnyville, and then there would be some events held in the Village of Glendon as well,” said Langridge.
