You heard it here first on January 11th, which is the date I brought you the NY post story that detailed the first real hint of trouble for Whistler/Blackcomb resort owners, Intrawest, whose creditors are threatening to foreclose on them and seize control.
Well, today CBC has the followup story as a result of this weeks article in the NY Post that say VANOC officials are considering pulling their financial support as a result of the mess. If that happens, the Olympics might not be able to take place in Whistler!
So how bad is it? Well, the creditors have rejected a repayment proposal and may move to foreclose on the resort in 10 days – putting everyone into crisis mode with only weeks until the games begin.
Sources tell The Post that creditors holding $1.4 billion of debt on Whistler owner Intrawest are planning to foreclose on the company within the next week and a half, casting a shadow on the resort, which will host the alpine events of the 2010 Olympics. “It will probably happen within 10 days,” a source said.
The Vancouver Olympic Committee (Vanoc) guaranteed that it would make Intrawest whole for the time that its events take place at its resorts. But now, according to a source, Canadian officials are threatening to pull that roughly $50 million guarantee. That, the source said, has compelled Edens to privately say he has a legal right to keep the Games from taking place at Whistler.
“We have a 2002 agreement with Vanoc to host the Winter Olympics and have every confidence that Vanoc will honor its financial commitments,” Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen said. “Intrawest is looking forward to a successful Olympic games.”
Fortress has already written down most of its Intrawest investment, but some of its investors have co-investments in Intrawest, making its survival still important to Edens, a source said.
Fortress declined comment, as did the Canadian government and Lehman
And yes, I’m still officially on a break, but this is too good to pass up.
Should this not be a topic of discussion at the water cooler? CKNW? And if I were the editor of a large local daily, I would certainly have this on the front page, which it is not. But hey, that is just me…because as detailed in the NY post story I brought you on the 11th, some people are expecting a bail-out from the Canadian government, who refused to respond to the NY post story.
So, the questions remain:
Is the Canadian government going to fork over some rescue cash to Fortress to save the Olympics?
Or is that something the provincial government is working on behind the scenes? Why no response?
And more importantly, why have I had to rely on the NY Post for these stories – until today ? Thank God for east coast news outlets!
** Businessweek is reporting that Intrawest is headed for the auction block Feb. 19th- smack dab in the middle of the 2010 Olympics…… ; )
Let the Games begin!
PS: I know you have all read this MANY times prior to this, but humour me again,especially in light of current developments- this is for those NY post writers scoping the blog all day…. https://lailayuile.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/the-key-to-the-bc-rail-sale-lays-in-premier-gordon-campbells-beginnings-in-real-estate-and-land-development/
Like I said, sometimes.. things that are old, become new again. You be the judge
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Just heard on Global BC that the banks are going to seize in Feb.
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What is this gong show Campbells private partners sure are text book are they not , what is the cost to taxpayers now , we cant afford education , medical services are being stripped cut and destroyed and now we will be bailing out whistler like there is a choice this crap .
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You know SB, I emailed someone at the NY Post with exactly those same questions today, because it seems they have been much more interested in this story than the local press for some time, who all seemed to jump on it today when it was quite apparent that it had become a story that could no longer be ignored.
It will be interesting to see if they are interested in looking into the darker implications of all this Olympic spending – I sent them a list of just a few of the massive cuts we’ve seen since the budget came down, and have offered more up to them.
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BC citizens, will of course, have to pay for, Campbell and Hansen’s lies, about the provincial deficit and the Olympic deficit. There were 300, more layoffs just, last week in, our northern mill town. The, HST, will cripple these people, as, well as, low income citizens and seniors, who will have the HST shifted onto their backs. There, are no jobs, people are losing their homes. However, we must still pay for Campbell, and Hansen’s screw ups. There is going to be, 800, teachers laid off, because of cut backs. Health Care, has been slashed so badly, our hospitals are dirty and, the house keeping staff, has also been cut. Hospitals, have patients beds in, shower rooms, T.V. rooms, lined up in hallways and in Emerg, waiting for beds. Everything Campbell and Hansen touch, turns to disaster. The bill for the Olympics, will kill BC. There will be many of us going homeless when the HST, is forced on us. Campbell, has sold BC out, and, has made our province terminally ill. Even Harper’s bribe money, wont be enough.
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Good work Laila lets have international news reporters show up armed with questions about our govts record and really make our local MSM look like the asses they have become hmm we have Global, CBC and then CTV who all should be banned as fakes they catered to this and maybe some real journalist and editors who wouldnt do so need to ask why
tell em all Laila tell em all
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Where are te Liberal connections because this same company gets contracts for teh village and takes its spoon fed millions and is broke , now its whistler we will be bidding on to save where is campbell tied in he was a developer did he ever have connections to any players involved or did any other Liberal insiders and based on what transpired what were they doing it wasnt like Intrawest trouble popped up overnight and any good property developer would have been watching closely waht the hell is going on in Victoria and i again say Laila tell all the contacts you ahev what happened and how make sure teh questiosn during the Olympics are not so fun for the govt
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And to think that one of the big players in this mess is now working for Belkorp…and they were just awarded a 100 Million dollar contract by Campbell !!! Watch that one too…you can bet that it will run way over budget and need rescue by the taxpayers too, the same as the convention center did – when the same man was responsible.
They are truly making me sick! To say nothing of angry beyond angry.
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Don’t get me started on that convention centre, nor the big blue raindrop that went with it…. remember?
https://lailayuile.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/do-we-really-need-another-raindrop-in-a-city-where-it-rains-for-months-on-end-do-we/
Check it out. It is even funnier now that we have this lovely, balmy spring weather, that Whistler/Blackcomb is being auctioned off, and that they may have to drop snow from helicopters just to make it work……
Yep, Mary was right in her comment under that link. It is a teardrop, the size of the one that Gordon Campbell will be crying when his big show for the world turns out to be a big flop of an international nature….
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Just to note, only the alpine events and certain others are on the Whistler Blackcomb resort; the Sliding Centre is adjacent to Blackcomb but SFAIK not on its property; the Olympic Park is in the Callaghan Valley and not geographically close to the resort. So the phrase “the Olympics might not be able to take place in Whistler” should be understood to mean not the Resort Municipality, but only the Whistler Blackcomb resort property, e.g. the downhill, slalom, Super G, ski cross and moguls and whatever else is being held there.
This whole escapade, like the Athletes’ Village fiasco, is another demonstration of the dangers of dancing with hedge funds with bad reps (Fortress)…….
the $50 million VANOC is being asked to guarantee is piffle in the context of the trillion-dollar debt burden of the overall context, though….I can’t see VANOC opting out of that commitment if it would prevent the events from being held….this is a really strange situation enit?
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Here’s a thought – what were the campaign donations to the Liberals by any of Intrawest? Fortress Investments? Millennium Development Corp? ….. maybe even Lehman Bros?
For any who continue to think that the world subprime mortgage fiasco didn’t impact on Canada, Fortress’ shilly-shallying over the Olympics is (according to Corky Evans, as i recall) proof that the tendrils of hedge fund voodoo were and are everywhere in this country….the Olympics continue to be presented as if in a bubble of success and happiness; I’m exposed to the national coverage of the torch relay hoo-hah and the “growing excitement” leading to the Games; there is no coverage outside of BC (in Canada) of anything else to do with the Olympics, except here in Nova Scotia whether Premier Dexter should be going or not (since he said, in campaign, that he wouldn’t). It’s not ironic at all that a New York paper featured this news item, it’s typical of the Canadian media’s p.r. machine…
As for Darrell Dexter, I hope he keeps Gordo at a healthy distance except for prerequisite photo-ops……
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hmmmmmmmm…how many times did Gordo go to New York? And on whose behalf?
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Leah, I’d venture the social or diplomatic columnists for the New York rags probably kept files on that sort of thing, even if nothing got into print. Visiting heads of government do not go unnoticed by good reporters (who are many in New York) even though what they keep notes on might not make it into their columns…..and there’s more than one maitre d’ known for encyclopedic, photographic memory…..
Somewhere between the New York Post and New York Times and the Financial Times and various magazines, SOMEONE in the New York media circle will know who Fortress execs and/or Lehman Bros execs had dinner/meetings with; they may not keep files on Canadian premiers, but they DO keep files on THOSE guys….
The unkonwn agendas at the many meetings between Dick Cheney and Gordo and others will unfortunately probably remain unknown (though I’ll bet dollars to Tim Horton’s donuts that some of it had to do with Olympics security contracting).
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Ooops. Financial Times is, of course, a UK paper (not that they don’t have NY correspondents). I was thinking of the Wall Street Journal….
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Dammit we had a chance to have Cheney take him hunting thinking he was aLiberal quack man we blew it.
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as per previous post sorry Laila couldnt help it lol
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