Hello from Halifax!

Canada Games 2011 Kick Off
by Michele Walker, SIRC

After many years in the planning, the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Nova Scotia gets kicked off tonight with its Opening Ceremony which will be held in the Halifax Metro Centre.

About 3,200 athletes from 800 Canadian communities will compete over the next 16 days in 22 sports. A unique aspect of the Canada Games is how it splits its sports programs into two separate weeks. In Week 1, there will be 11 sports taking place consisting of about 1,500 athletes. In Week 2, there will be 12 sports and an estimated 1,800 athletes. Halifax also expects that over the next two weeks there will be 7,000 to 10,000 visitors, who are expected to come and cheer the athletes on.

The Canada Winter Games has a budget of $46 million. Many of the 13 competition venues are in downtown Halifax, but the biathlon, cross-country skiing and snowboarding events will be held at Ski Martock ,while freestyle and alpine skiing are at Ski Wentworth. Ringette will be played at Cole Harbour Place, with short-track speedskating and figure skating at the St. Margaret’s Centre in Upper Tantallon, and target shooting and archery at Sackville High. Curling events will be hosted by the Mayflower Curling Club.

For tonight’s Opening Ceremony, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will speak to the Halifax Metro Centre crowd, and Halifax native JRDN, an R&B singer and former St. Francis Xavier basketball star will sing the national anthem with francophone artist Elyse Delaney. Tonight’s two-hour event will be broadcast live on TSN2. The Closing Ceremony on February 27 at 1 p.m. will also be held at the Halifax Metro Centre, and will be shown on TSN. The budget for the two entertainment ceremonies is about $600,000.

Check out SIRC's Canada Games 2011 webpage for more information!