B.C. under-reporting Olympics costs by $170M, auditor general says

CBC NEWS:
The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will cost at least $170 million more than what the province has budgeted, the auditor general said Thursday. John Doyle said the province's official budget does not reflect the full cost of staging the Games because it does not included some related costs and financial risks. Doyle was supposed to release a full report Thursday, reviewing the government's cost estimates for the Olympics. But he said the government has not given him all the information he needed to finish the report. "The province has linked itself to a narrow view of what is required to be presented," Doyle told CBC News in a telephone interview. "I am still of the view, as were my two predecessors, that there is a lot of activity that is taking place that needs to be disclosed, and I don't think it's difficult for the province to actually provide that information." Items that will hike the provincial investment include the costs of security, health services such as the new anti-doping lab, and services from BC Hydro, the B.C. Lottery Corp. and the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia, Doyle said. The budget should also factor in the costs of various cultural legacies, he said. The auditor general is recommending the government change how it defines Games-related costs and to report on them publicly.