Ken Read

Originally Published Feb 24, 2023  

In Calgary’s Olympic journey, it is important to reflect on where we came from.

When Frank King boldly put forward the motion to pursue an Olympic bid in late 1979, it’s essential to remember what Calgary had to offer at the time. The region had three local ski resorts in the mountains, with only Norquay having hosted a World Cup in 1972. We could hold hockey tournaments in the Stampede Corral, but not at an international level. We had hosted Skate Canada events in figure skating. We could stage national events in cross-country.

And precious little else. No Flames. Very few indoor gyms.

Few could imagine that four decades later, the winter of 2018-19 would be the busiest international sport year on record for Calgary and region. Sixteen World Cup events were confirmed. Canadian teams in 11 winter sports made use of the legacy facilities of the 1988 Games, plus newer training and competition venues. Paralympians from the five core sports are fully integrated into programming.

Five national sport organizations (NSOs) now call Calgary or Canmore home. The first to move was Alpine Canada, followed by Hockey Canada, Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined Canada, Cross Country Canada and Biathlon Canada. Executive leadership, technical leaders and sport specialists populate the head offices.

The Canmore Nordic Centre, Olympic Oval, Canada Olympic Park and multiple ski resorts — including Lake Louise, Panorama, Norquay and Nakiska — hum with activity, filled with athletes of all levels, from aspiring Olympians/Paralympians to recreational enthusiasts and families.

The Canadian Sport Institute based at Canada Olympic Park and a satellite facility at the Canmore Nordic Centre is now Canada’s largest, serving 580 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, with 173 representing Canada at the Beijing Winter Games of 2022 and Tokyo Summer Games of 2021. World-leading sport services are provided in coaching, nutrition, medical, physiotherapy, monitoring, teaching and community outreach — professionals recruited from Calgary and around the world.

The Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary is considered one of the leading centres of high-performance sport in the world, with a roster of leading academics who have chosen Canada focusing on biomechanics, high-altitude training, medical research and guiding Canada’s high-performance programs.

In the broader Calgary and Canmore communities, coaches, physiotherapists, leading professionals in sports medicine, and sport practitioners in all aspects of sport — from recreational to development and elite — populate our hospitals, recreational centres and sport venues, providing our community an incredible access to sport knowledge.

How much sport infrastructure existed in Calgary in 1980 when the Olympic bid was a dream? Almost nothing. And what did exist in alpine, hockey and figure skating in 1980 was primarily regional.

My active years with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team were from 1974 to 1983. Facilities for physical training and on-snow training and competition existed, but were basic and certainly not world-class. Physical training in the off-snow months were mostly field work — outside — on the University of Calgary campus. I could access a grimy, quite stinky, free-weight training room in the basement of the phys-ed building.

On-snow, we did all of our training in Europe or in the southern hemisphere, as there was limited snow-making facilities and few proper training venues at our existing ski resorts. Canada did have a core capability to run events, but limited experience at the major international level.

I competed against programs based in Europe that could access glacier venues for summer, national training centres for physical training and monitoring, and multiple winter venues. Fortunately, we were able to access many of these locations through the generosity of other nations but we felt the sting of not only a lack of facilities at home, but also the fact we could not compete in Canada at a World Cup level.

The same was true in the other sports. No Flames. No ISU Grand Prix. No World Cup events other than in alpine.

Winning the 1988 Olympic bid was the watershed moment. Now, venues and facilities were required in all the Olympic sports. Staffing to operate was essential. Volunteers needed to be trained for events. Officials needed to be trained and certified to run pre-Olympic events and support international officials at the Games.

Building this legacy took time. The 1988 Games stimulated the basis for building necessary sport infrastructure. With the venues, the rest could follow.

Sport has an enormous web of human resources that rolls into place, not just to support athletes but to run events, organize event logistics, administer budgets, and oversee medical and technical aspects. Officials need to be trained. Volunteers need to be trained. The ratio of support to the number of athletes in a competition is typically 100:1.

This was Calgary’s secret weapon: our volunteer ethic.

This is a tremendous legacy, one we rarely speak of in Canada, yet it is widely valued in the world of international sport. Our volunteers and officials have served as the backbone of Canadian sport for more than 35 years. They are key recruits for the International Sport Federations of Olympic, Paralympic and World Cup competition in all sports. Hundreds of Canadians that came to Calgary earned their certification and continue to serve, regularly, throughout the world.

And then, there is training. Our region has become well-known for reliable delivery of pre-season training in alpine, cross-country, biathlon and speedskating. The draw of international and national athletes to our region has spawned an industry that has grown beyond Nakiska, the Olympic Oval and Canmore Nordic Centre to encompass Panorama, Lake Louise, Norquay and Castle Mountain. The pre-season revenues from one of these venues over the four weeks of operation before opening to the general public draw in excess of $1.5 million per season — and is growing.

While not on the scale of the oilpatch, the sport sector has grown from nearly zero — no employees at a national level and few events in 1980 — to a thriving industry populated by highly trained professionals and athletes that annually brings more than $400 million a year into our economy.

From a tourism perspective, with respect to the cross-country or alpine World Cup events, the worldwide exposure is staggering. The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Lake Louise reaches an audience in excess of 200 million for the six events. Cross-country’s audience is similar, biathlon’s even larger. Calgary and region is well-known and valued throughout the winter sporting world, thanks to our annual events.

Now, 35 years after the ’88 Games, we are at a crossroads. The referendum of 2018 was clear.

While I’m disappointed we chose not to embark on a new Games journey, I argue we do not need the Olympics and Paralympics to sustain and continue to build sport in Calgary.

We need our politicians at every level — municipal, provincial and federal — to recognize that sport goes on, every day, year-round, supported by sponsors, donors, families and substantial support from TV and marketing rights for the broadcast of major events run in our community. We have an enormous, internationally respected and vibrant sport sector that lives, works and competes in our region. We have thousands of dedicated volunteers and officials who are highly engaged every year in sport. We are respected hosts of multiple annual World Cup events. We stage hundreds of lower level sport events at multiple venues throughout our region — Continental Cup, international sanctioned events, development events — for hundreds of thousands of development and recreational athletes in our winter and summer sport community.

Sport can be an integral part of the economic goals of our province. Alberta’s 10-year strategy aspires to double tourism receipts to $20 billion by 2030. A healthy sport sector can contribute significantly.

And to our sport community: We don’t need an Olympic/Paralympic bid to galvanize our planning and vision. It is time for sport in our city and our region to sit together, organize one voice to advocate to our province and to speak for the interests of the region — to articulate a vision of where we want to see sport in 2030 and beyond.

There are multiple messages that are critically important to share, and an independent voice that brings together the venue operators, the sport organizations, the service providers and the sport community can objectively share the vision.

It is a message of how we maintain and enhance our existing sport infrastructure without relying on the Games, and to carry that message of the importance of events — at all levels — to our governments and to the community at large. The messages from athletes, coaches and the sport services community are vital. It’s key to articulate what it means to have elite athletes living next door, how this inspires next generations, and how this benefits the community at large with better medical services, recreational facilities and cost-effective access to sport.

Let’s borrow from the late Frank King. Now is the time to be bold. Stick up our hand and call for an initiative that can act as a new catalyst, to energize our sport community to examine how we renew and how we continue the important job of lifting Canadian athletes to do our community and nation proud.

Ken Read is a long-time sports leader in Canada, alpine ski racer, Olympian and five-time World Cup winner.

The rising sun cast a breath-taking glow across the front ranges of the Rockies as we wound our way up the switchbacks of Norquay Road. It prompted memories of frequent trips in years past, racing to get to the lodge to be ready in time for the early load on Mystic Chair.

Little changes over the years: athletes gearing up, coaches already out the door and one step ahead of the crew. Gates to be slung up the chair and a few keen parents already with helping hands to assist with the set while athletes focus on warm-up.

It’s a routine found in ski club programs at every mountain or slope across the country. Getting ready for a day of gate training, to hone skills, bank miles on snow and prepare for the excitement of racing to come.

There is a lot of time and effort invested each and every day an alpine ski racing puts in an honest day of training. Safety must be in-place for the entre training area. The track is not just groomed, it needs to be groomed thoroughly with the goal of a firm surface. Start and finish areas built and closed off.

After three months chasing the snow and calendar on the World Cup, returning home to the routines of the ski club can be a welcome break. Familiar surroundings. Friendly banter about recent races. Getting caught up with old friends and meeting newcomers to the FIS Team. A chance to relax, enjoy the old, familiar haunts and decompress – all while keeping in mind the purpose of coming out for a day of training with the “old” Team is to keep skills sharp while on break.

Everyone is keen to see you back. Plenty of questions about Bormio, Val Gardena and Beaver Creek. Was it really that slick? How big is the Kamel-sprung? This is a chance to bring insight from the European Tour back home, to make the World Cup real to the athletes in the club. To provide insight and inspiration. The fodder that helps build the next generation of champions.

At the start, once the course is set and everyone is in place, a little tension surfaces. One of our own is home from the Tour! A chance to measure up against a World Cup athlete! Maybe show a little extra speed… and the die is cast as the entire crew puts on their best face. Pushes a little harder, takes a few extra risks and lays down the best they can offer. The competitiveness lifts a notch.

There is a different set of eyes taking it all in. It’s built into the DNA of every coach to offer what they see. New eyes watching is always good, because it goes two ways: a different perspective and drinking in what drives the elite level. Everybody wins.

The training group is efficient. Turnaround on Mystic is fast and the morning zips by. Times measured, jokes fly and the group bonds. Now there is no World Cup or Ski Club – everyone is a Banff Alpine Racer, putting in the time and working towards a goal of excellence.

Session is over, and the coaches express thanks for coming out. But it really is the other way around. They did the work, providing the training environment and group. They made sure all was ready for the early start. They hefted the gates and set the course. Every time out, the gates were in, timing operational and video ready.

This is the legacy of a high performance ski club. Great coaches, ready to offer training on a moments notice, making time and space to welcome back an alumni of the ski club. Knowing, the athlete will set a tone of excellence in being on-time, prepared and ready to make the most of the training session. Provide a good example to the younger athletes, be a rabbit.

It’s the joy of coming home: a welcome back to the old stomping grounds. A boost of encouragement and the “thank you” for training with are always welcome.

By Ken Read Published On: November 21st, 2022 in Ski Racing

The Lake Louise World Cup

It’s been more than a great run; it’s been awesome.

As the world gathers in Lake Louise, it may be the final visit of the “White Circus” to the Canadian Rockies. However, the cherished event and its 42-year run originated most unconventionally. The inaugural Lake Louise World Cup ‘make-up’ race changed the course of Olympic history.

The event has served as a valuable pathway to the podium for generations of Canadian and American speed event skiers. Additionally, it has played a significant role in the careers of many of the stars of alpine ski racing.

The “Winterstart World Cup at Lake Louise” played a vital role in the evolution of World Cup competition in North America. “The Lake” joined Vail as the first annual World Cup stops outside Europe. Both sites proved valuable when, in the early ’90s, the tour shifted from spring races to early winter events.

The Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Alberta proved reliable for delivering great racetracks in the early season. Additionally, they nurtured a bustling early-season training industry built on reliable conditions beyond the competition slopes.

From today’s vantage point, it is hard to imagine a World Cup Tour without annual visits to North America. Yet in the 1970s, the “White Circus” was only a decade old and still forming into the premier winter circuit. Primarily volunteers ran the events. The FIS built the calendar through negotiation, political trade-offs, and a few historic venues. Snowmaking had not yet influenced the reliability of competition venues.

So how did a band of volunteers from western Canada, with little international experience, build an event that became one of the most influential stops on the World Cup?

Olympic, in spirit

The Lake Louise speed venue is named the “Olympic Downhill,” but the sweeping, high-speed slope that snakes down the southwest face of Whitehorn Mountain has never hosted an Olympic event.

Designed by the legendary Willy Schaeffler in the early 1960s for the 1968 Banff Olympic bid, sixty years later, the current track closely follows his original proposal. It is a testament to his vision for an incredible speed venue.

Through the early years before 1980, Lake Louise frequently hosted the Canadian Championships and a handful of FIS events.

A convergence of circumstance and chance opened the door

Chamonix was the venue for the final World Cup downhill of the 1980 season. However, valley fog blanketed the lower slopes of the Arlberg Downhill of Les Houches on race day. With only seven (yes, only 7) downhills calendared in this Olympic year and the discipline title still undecided, World Cup Subcommittee Chair Serge Lang issued a call for a ‘make-up’ race to be squeezed into the final weeks of the season.

Initial responses came from two resorts. The favorite was Bad Kleinkirchheim, known as the “home track” of superstar Franz Klammer. The second site, viewed as unlikely, offered an untested speed venue in Canada. Conventional wisdom suggested that the speed tour would make another trip back to Europe.

Serge always had a sense for ways to grow the World Cup

Circumstances aligned to boost the underdog. Calgary had just launched a bid to host the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. Realizing the city’s low profile compared to the Italian luxury resort and former Olympic host Cortina and the Swedish National Training Centre in Falun, Sweden, bid Chair Frank King immediately expressed strong support for the Lake Louise make-up race. Two long-time sponsors of Canadian skiing – Molson and Alcan – stepped up to back the bid. And the controversial cancellation of a downhill calendared for Whistler in March 1979 lent sympathy towards a Canadian bid.

Boosting the bid was the fact that Canada had never hosted a World Cup downhill or major international speed event. Additionally, the Crazy Canucks had emerged as a speed event powerhouse.

Peter Andrews, Canada’s World Cup subcommittee member, led a courageous lobbying effort. Andrews had developed a close relationship with Lang and lobbied extensively on the benefits this could bring. His efforts worked. Serge Lange agreed to the Lake Louise World Cup. Lang knew it was an opportunity to build a World Cup presence in Canada and North America.

The underdog, Lake Louise, won the prize.

Click the top of images to enlarge

Immediately, a Canadian Championship race organizing committee pivoted into hosting a World Cup with four weeks’ notice. The organizers needed to secure every hotel room and arrange the TV broadcast. And to make it more challenging, the organizers only had a few sponsors. Additionally, the slope had no snowmaking capacity. The organizers had limited major event experience and limited safety equipment. And they had less than 30 days to put it all together. 

The intrepid band of volunteers, made up mostly of ski racing parents, rolled up their sleeves and the community came together—race Chair Bill Wearmouth handmade “A” nets in his basement. The Chateau Lake Louise closed for renovations, then opened rooms to house volunteers. 

The gondola base terminal was converted to space for the ski technicians. Sponsors stepped up to cover costs. Whistler shipped in additional safety nets. CBC agreed to broadcast the event using the latest and greatest fiber-optic cable technology. However, that required them to string the revolutionary cable from the top to the bottom of the downhill.

A pivotal moment arrived when Peter Baumgartner, FIS technical delegate assigned for the event, met with the race organizers. The retired Swiss general, well known for his precision and firm manner, declared at the end of this first meeting, “We will hold this race.” This was the spark that drove the band of volunteers into overdrive.

Tuesday, March 4, 1980

A make-up race was squeezed in on a Tuesday between the end of the Lake Placid Games and the final weeks of the World Cup Tour.

When racer #1, Sepp Ferstl, father of current World Cup star Josef Ferstl, pushed out of the start on the upper slopes of Whitehorn, Canada finally became a full-fledged member of the international ski racing community.

Hosting the “Olympic Downhill” at Lake Louise became a seminal moment for the 1988 Olympic bid. At the time, Calgary was primarily unknown on the international sport stage for hosting international hockey and figure skating events.

Many Canadians’ efforts over multiple years deserve the credit for “winning” the Olympic bid. Their dedication and work won the hearts and minds of IOC members.

However, to FIS President and IOC doyen Marc Hodler, it was the volunteer effort to take on an enormous task in such a short time frame and then deliver an exceptional event. In Marc’s words, this was a critical event to influence decision-makers within the IOC.

Securing a slot on the World Cup calendar

The Lake Louise track returned to its roots for the subsequent two seasons by hosting more Canadian Championship events. However, the 1982-83 winter saw Lake Louise on the official World Cup calendar for the first time. The world had changed. Calgary was now host and in full planning mode for the 1988 Games. 

These were the early days of the World Cup. There were few ‘annual’ or classic venues beyond Val d’Isère, Kitzbühel, Wengen and the Arlberg-Kandahar. The concept at the time was to rotate venues. But financial necessity and experience dictated that annual, high-quality venues were essential to stage successful World Cup races. A longer-term commitment enabled the organizer to constantly improve the venue and make capital investments, including the ever-important safety equipment.

Beginning the 1992-93 season, Canada became the annual host of women’s World Cup races at Lake Louise. The following season, “America’s Opening” also became a tour feature. America’s Opening included tech events for both men and women in Park City, followed by the women’s speed opening at Lake Louise. 

After three years of valiantly trying to make an early season date work at Whistler, beginning in 2001, the men’s speed events were permanently moved to Lake Louise.

Providing leadership in athlete development

The progression for younger athletes to the World Cup is always challenging, especially in gaining experience on the most demanding tracks in the world.

From the 1994-95 season, the Winterstart crew at Lake Louise incorporated Nor-Ams into their program. A deliberate effort to provide valuable experience. The selection of the forerunners for the World Cup is from the younger ranks. Additionally, the forerunners for the Nor-Ams are the 1^st and 2^nd year FIS competitors. For decades this system has offered development athletes high-level speed event experience. 

Lake Louise became the first World Cup venue to incorporate the continental cup level (Nor-Am) into their program annually. This provided a safe, efficient, high-quality training and competition opportunity. The Canadian and US Ski Team athletes have significantly benefited from the program. More athletes from these two national teams have reached the World Cup podium at Lake Louise than any other venue on tour.

To Chip Knight, Alpine Development Director for the US Ski Team, “There are few high-quality speed venues available to the Nor-Am level athlete in North America, so a venue like Lake Louise is invaluable to give those development team athletes a ‘real’ World Cup experience.”

The willingness to provide development opportunities to the next generation is now incorporated at several World Cup venues. These venues include Kvitfjell, Wengen, Kitzbühel, Garmisch, Cortina and St. Moritz. It’s an efficient use of the extraordinary human and capital investment in the World Cup tracks. It provides a stepping stone for younger athletes aspiring to compete on the senior tour.

For the athletes, who have precious few locations in the world to prepare for a long season of competition, Lake Louise is a welcome opening to the winter: a slightly forgiving track providing the wind in your face and preparation of the legs for the subsequent four months of competition.

Best record hosting WC races of the entire tour

The push to move the North American Tour to late November/early December in 1993 was a bold gesture to address the mercurial planning of the World Cup calendar in the 1980s. The goal was to establish a strong presence in alpine ski racing in Canada and the US through annual events held in classic venues.

Early-season races are always subject to the vagaries of the weather. But the advent of enhanced snowmaking systems and the altitude of Colorado and latitude of Canada provided an extra level of security for the tour.

To John Cassels, retired Race Chair for the Lake Louise World Cup, “We rarely meet the snow control deadline (7 days before the 1^st training run). We often scramble to be ready for the 1^st day of training, but we’re always ready on race day. The reality for us was that we had earned the respect of the FIS race directors, and if we were not ready at snow control, they gave us a pass and let us move forward to training and race days.”

The evidence bears it out. Lake Louise has the best hosting record of the entire World Cup Tour. Since 1980, only four races have been canceled. All four of the cancelations were due to too much snow.

Because Lake Louise, Killington and Beaver Creek could host successful and exciting world-class speed and tech events in the early time slot – when few other venues in the world can – these resorts were cemented into the calendar and also team planning for pre-season training in November. Politics were out; practicality, efficiency and intelligence shaped a reliable calendar for the FIS race directors.

A legacy of volunteers and workers

Their names became synonymous with the Winterstart, and their reach supported Olympic and World Ski Championship events worldwide. They volunteer their services beyond “The Lake.”  The “Sled Dogs” (volunteers) and “Net Monkeys” (event staff) built their reputation for delivering exceptional events at Lake Louise. Their expertise, however, has been willingly shared from Bormio to Beijing.

Many World Cup venues rely on an army of professional staff. However, Lake Louise Winterstart is notable because it is run by a passionate community that has grown to over 400 dedicated volunteers assisting a small, determined work crew. This is how Canada’s World Cup is managed, built and run.

As of October, as they awaited snowfall, the “Net Monkeys,” the renowned core staff for the World Cup, have been on-site, erecting safety equipment: repairing cables, staging padding, air fences and “B” nets. The magic moment came on October 16, when permits allowed snowmaking with adequate temperatures. The volunteer contingent, known as the “Sled Dogs,” joined in for hill cleanup and staging, working alongside the Net Monkeys to ensure preparations progressed smoothly.

It’s the TV audience …and innovative ideas

Lake Louise is often criticized for its small crowd size. But knowledgeable observers of the World Cup know nearly all events before the Christmas holidays deliver enormous worldwide TV audiences.

This is the organizer’s dilemma: securing the best slopes often requires deep intrusions into a resort’s best skiing. Hosting major events has typically been best in the shoulder seasons, where accommodations are available for all teams and the event entourage. The focus can be to deliver an outstanding track and use the profile to attract attention to the snow sports community.

Lake Louise is always a home run with a global television audience. According to the annual evaluation provided by Nielsen, it exceeds 60 million viewers.

Enthusiasts anxiously anticipate the broadcast of Lake Louise. The audience numbers are enhanced by prime-time weekend time slots in European ski racing viewing markets. Lake Louise has provided a reliable launch of the World Cup to large European TV audiences, able to tune in at 8:00 pm.

There is a unique twist to Lake Louise. Based in Banff National Park, every participant – including athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers – are in hotel rooms. This leaves limited availability for spectators.

Organizers are partnering with key community leaders to explore innovative ways for targeted attendance.

The World Cup Business Forum, now celebrating its 20^th anniversary, brings business, political, environmental, aboriginal, and sport leaders together to discuss weighty topics such as climate change, first nations leadership in energy, pipelines and social media impact. This idea grew from the reality that nearly every hotel bed in the Lake Louise townsite is occupied by athletes, coaches, team support, volunteers, staff and officials.

With this limited ability to draw a large crowd to the event, the idea was to create a world-class forum and invite a select community keen to hear from leading business and political leaders while also taking in the excitement of a world-class event in Banff National Park.

A legacy of excellence

The stars of our sport made their mark at “The Lake”: Svindal, Vonn, Kucera, Seizinger and Eberharter. Lake Louise has now hosted more World Cup races than any venue in North America. As the “World Cup Speed Opener,” these races provided the preview for the season.

For now, it’s so long, but perhaps not goodbye

Lake Louise has had an extraordinary run. That first race committee only focused on delivering a quality event. They had no expectations that the first race would become established, mature and grow to become a celebrated part of the tour.

In the words of Peter Obernauer, former Chief of Race for the Hahnenkamm and frequent visitor to Lake Louise, “This is a special place. It’s not Kitzbühel and never will be. It’s different. All the athletes and staff stay at the same amazing hotel. The location is breathtakingly beautiful. No venue can host a downhill at this time of year. It’s not Kitzbühel, but then Kitzbühel could never be Lake Louise. And that is what makes the World Cup Tour so unique.”

Over the years, there have been several hosting gaps at Lake Louise. But in time, the value of a reliable and challenging race track draws the World Cup back to “The Lake”: To the beautiful vista of the morning sun breaking on the upper ridges of the Canadian Rockies, the wildlife shots of deer and lynx, where snow is reliable and the friendly camaraderie of volunteers, officials, spectators and the ski community gather to celebrate the world’s best athletes who dare to test the limits of their speed.

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I’ve been thinking quite a bit of my father of late.

My Dad was a physician, but spent his entire professional life teaching. It was his passion. So while he did practice within the University Health clinics, his primary focus was teaching.

Our family life and the many opportunities we experienced were shaped by his work. From his leadership role as Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Queens University — how was that for a mouthful to explain to your friends what your Dad did for a living — to the Team that established the University of Calgary Med School to investigating traffic accidents, setting up First Nation Health Units or serving as camp doctor at Camp Horizon; he loved working with people and helping lift our community.

Education, prevention and guidance were themes that rang through out house regularly. My Dad believed in the basic willingness of people to “do the right thing”, if they were informed and given good advice.

Case in point: In the mid-1970’s the debate ranged about seat-belt legislation. As a provincial responsibility, it was up to provincial governments to make the call. Alberta was one of the last holdouts for universal legislation. My Dad, at the time, was leading the Accident Research Unit in Calgary and the stats were quite clear that seatbelts saved lives. But rather than tilt politically against the wind of a reluctant government, he focused his efforts to child restraint legislation, something new at the time. No jurisdiction in Canada had effective laws in place. His goal, was to urge the government to establish the best child restraint legislation in North America, on the basis that 1) children rely on adults to make the choice 2) the statistics clearly supported that properly installed child restraint in vehicles saved lives 3) that parents would embrace legislation to do the right thing and protect their children.

He succeeded.

My Dad liked to take on tall challenges. When Calgary was named host city for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in 1981, like many in our city, he was actively involved in the sport development side of the Games. But with the advent of a tobacco sponsorship in skiing ignited his community health background and put him on the pathway to encouraging the Calgary Organizing Committee to establish a “Smoke-free Olympics” policy. At the time, there was limited legislation and no “smoke-free” spaces. He saw the Olympics as a high visibility opportunity to promote smoking cessation. But my Dad was pragmatic. He understood that smoking is an addiction which at the time snared some 30%+ of the population. If the concept of a “Smoke-free Olympics” was to succeed, it needed 100% compliance. So his tactic was to call for ‘smoke-free’ spaces for athletes competing at the Games. Something people could understand and appreciate – keep the competitive space for the athlete clear of smoke – to get community buy-in. OCO’ 88, the Games Organizing Committee embraced the proposal, followed shortly by the International Olympic Committee, who urged the Seoul 1988 Summer Games Organizers to also implement a “smoke-free” policy.

The “Smoke-Free Olympics” are now standard policy for all Olympic Games, implemented by every Games organizer since 1988.

Today, faced with enormous challenges to deal with a calamity of global proportion, now, more than ever, we need to be sensible, pragmatic and respectful to gain and maintain full compliance of the public. We need honesty. We need clear information and we need to hear a message of hope for better times.

That’s why I keep thinking about my Dad.

His life was education. Taking on enormous public health policy issues meant patience and education to build a dialogue:  to get people talking about the right stuff.

He was respectful.  Built around the firm belief that if people have all the facts and understand, they want to do the right thing.

He used the process of dialogue and education to build a pathway, so when policy was enacted by government it was not into a vacuum, but into a pro-active environment that could drive positive outcomes.

Now, more than ever we need our discourse to adopt forward thinking guiding principles that my Dad used so effectively. As we move towards ‘re-opening’ the economy and restoring ‘normalcy’. can we urge the following:

1. Respect: if we, the public at large, are properly informed we will do the right thing. “Physical Distancing” is a perfect example – a high percentage of of us understood and are doing their part to ‘flatten the curve’. Speak to us, inform us … don’t lecture us.

2. Educate: there will be new normal and we will all need to understand it. We should be using this time – not to speculate or engage in hubris – but to educate how we can understand how best to do our part so we can do the things we love to do. How this will work in our places of employment, in our recreational spaces, on the street, in retail. Combined with respect, I firmly believe people will understand and do the right thing.

3. Be hopeful: leaders set the tone and right now, tone is everything to a public that has made a commitment to “do the right thing”. Dr. Bonnie Henry, Chief Medical Officer for British Columbia, has emerged as one of the stars of our current challenge. Her tone is warm. She engages and educates. She holds out a beacon of hope. She is honest, which at times comes with tough news, but when delivered reasonably, honestly and with hope – is well received.

Scaring people is counter-productive, which is instills a culture of fear. To those who use these tactics, please stop.  Hectoring people, is already very old. The initial urgent moves to bar, limit, close, restrict and shut down were essential emergency measures. Almost universally, the public at large did the right thing. But the time of urgency has given us time to reflect …. and now we need to pivot, quickly.

If we want continued high levels of compliance – educate, offer solutions, shine a light on where we can get to if we do the right things now. Be positive.

We also have a once-in-100 year opportunity to create sustainable projects, think long-term, shape our cities and towns in ways that only a few weeks ago seemed unimaginable. Re-opening the economy presents enormous challenges.  The last great calamity of this scope – the Great Depression – Canada’s recovery plan was to dig holes and then fill them up. We can and must do so much better. Let’s stop the partisan harangue and collectively ‘re-imagine’ our nation.

On a practical day-to-day level, we must creatively discuss what we can do. Move beyond cannot and towards possibilities. There is work and there is play. We need to quickly find ways to restore the activities that feed our spirit – arts, culture, sport, recreation – and embrace how we can get back to a new normal through educating how to, demonstrating what is possible.  Our mental and physical well-being are essential – we need to very quickly spark a constructive dialogue how we can …. and move away from arbitrary closures or lock-downs which were essential several weeks ago.

It is heartening to see several leading Health Care officials emphasize the need for access to activity and recreation in recent days. We now need our political leadership to include sport, recreation and activity in the “opening up” of our society.

We need to think outside the box. We need to be visionary. We need to educate. We need to provide good guidance of “how to” and trust people.

And we need to be positive. Like my Dad.

Dr. John H. Read (1924-2002) – an advocate for public health and children throughout his life. Born in Joliette, QC, he served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II between 1943-45. After the war, he completed his medical degree in 1950 from McGill. He took a diploma in public health at the University of Toronto and finished his formal studies with a specialty in paediatrics from the University of Michigan. Through 35 years of education he was a teacher and leader through postings with the University of  British Columbia (1957-1962), Queen’s (1962-1968), and University of Calgary (1968-1989) as well as a visiting professor to the University of Lausanne and a variety of projects with the World Health Organization.

He was always happiest on the lakes and rivers of Canada in the stern of his red canoe.

Related to this story:

Opinion: It’s time to carefully reopen parks and recreation areas: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-its-time-to-revisit-the-closing-of-all-parks-and-recreation-areas/wcm/f8c985e3-2bd2-4dae-9619-fa4bdfdd1651/

Mount Baldy, California Reopens Wednesday, April 22: https://winter.mtbaldyresort.com/covid-19-guidlines/

Fonna Opens May 1st!: https://www.visitfonna.no/news/fonna-opens-may-1st