Three Communities Advance to 2011 Canada Winter Games Selection Process

NOTE: A list of the Provincial Review Committee members follows the release.

The Halifax bid, the Highland Region bid (Antigonish), and the Hub Central Nova bid (Truro) will advance to the Canada Games Council, where one will be named host of the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

The province selected the three bids from among four regional contenders, based on the recommendations of an expert panel.

Canada Games Council policy allows a province to submit a maximum of three bids for consideration as Canada Games host. Nova Scotia had four regional bids that were interested in hosting the Games, and the province worked with the four bid committees to develop a fair and transparent process to select which three bids would advance.

"We are pleased by the professionalism, dedication, and time commitment made by all bid committees," said Barry Barnet, Minister of Health Promotion and Protection. "I would like to thank all the bid committees for working so hard to improve the state of sport in our province. The process was fair and the comparative analysis and rankings produced three strong bids for moving forward."

A highly respected committee of sport and venue experts was created to conduct a site visit and review of each bid. The review committee ranked each bid and submitted a comparative analysis to the Minister of Health Promotion and Protection for consideration. The report and rankings were based on five key areas:

• leadership and community support,
• care and comfort,
• finance, budget, and marketing,
• logistics, technical operations and administration,
• legacy.

The reports and rankings were accepted by the minister and the top three bids will advance to the Canada Games Council for their official host selection process.

All four bid committees will have the opportunity to meet with the review committee to debrief, ask questions and seek input on the strengths and weakness of their bid. The three advancing bids will use this time to improve their bid for the official Canada Games selection process.

"Now we have our three bids we will be supporting each community to make their bid the best it can be," said Lindsay Hugenholtz, director of games. "We are confident that all three bids have the ability to host a terrific Canada Winter Games."

Note: Below is a list of the members of the 2011 Review Committee

• Marie-Claire Pierce: Ms. Pierce is from New Brunswick. She worked on the 2003 Canada Winter Games and was instrumental in New Brunswick's successful bid to host the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics.

• Blair McIntosh: Mr. McIntosh is the director of games for the Sport Alliance of Ontario and the chef de mission for Team Ontario for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. He has lead or evaluated more than 100 bids for major sporting events for Ontario.

• Bob McMahon: Mr. McMahon has assisted in organizing many major sporting events such as the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games, the 2003 Western Canada Games, the Canada Summer Games in 2005 and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

• Chris Morrissey: Mr. Morrissey is the general manager of the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon. He is responsible for all aspects of the organizing and delivery of the Games.

• Edmond Richard: Mr. Richard recently retired from the Quebec Ministry responsible for Sport and Physical Activity where he was involved in developing Team Quebec and supporting several major events. Since 2005 he has consulted in a variety of areas such as sport management, promotion, communications and strategic planning.

• Dena Coward: Ms. Coward is currently living in Vancouver and working for the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as the director of paralympic games.

• Kim Browning: Mr. Browning has extensive games experience that ranges from community, provincial, and international events. Currently he lives in Winnipeg and is the director of marketing for Sport Manitoba.