Canada's smallest province is hoping to make a big splash at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, courting the hearts, minds and palates of athletes, officials, media and the public with the rich bounty of its natural resources and a cultural program officials believe will be second to none.
The scope and the diversity of P.E.I.'s presence at the Olympics was showcased for stakeholders and media at the Culinary Institute of Canada Friday.
Premier Robert Ghiz said the province is taking full advantage of the opportunity the Olympics have provided to show the rest of the world what the Island has to offer.
"This is the first time in over two decades that P.E.I. has been able to capitalize on the Olympic opportunity," Ghiz said. "In addition to P.E.I.'s two-week presence at Atlantic Canada House during the Olympics, beginning on February 17 and 18th, we get to promote the province to the world as we host P.E.I. Days. Our Island's culture, tourism, talent, culinary, business and hospitality will be showcased to visitors and media worldwide."
The stages of Atlantic Canada House will feature a veritable who's who of East Coast music.
The P.E.I. contingent will include, among others, Catherine MacLellan, Rose Cousins, Lennie Gallant, Meaghan Blanchard, John Connolly, Grass Mountain Hobos, Vishten, Tim Chaisson, Two Hours Traffic and Richard Wood.
Centre stage as well will be the Confederation Centre Young Company which will present Abegweit - The Soul of the Island, which had its premiere at the Charlottetown Festival last summer.
Centre officials say taking the Young Company to the Olympics represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these talented young performers.
The culinary component of P.E.I.'s presence at the Olympics will be equally impressive.
Thousands of visitors to the Olympics will get a chance to sample P.E.I. potatoes, oysters, mussels and lobsters.
During the two weeks Atlantic Canada House will be in operation, most menus will be pan-Atlantic in nature, but during P.E.I. Day, Feb. 18, specific recipes and products from P.E.I. will be featured.
"The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will be our largest international audience," said Kevin Boyce, chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of Canada and the culinary project manager for Atlantic Canada House.
Boyce said it is his hope that a lasting impression will be left with all visitors to Atlantic Canada House.
The gastronomic delights of P.E.I. and its three sister provinces in Atlantic Canada will also be incorporated into the Olympics' overall culinary program.
Internationally acclaimed P.E.I. chef Michael Smith, host of such hugely popular television shows as Chef at Home and Chef Abroad, will be among the elite chefs from across Canada preparing meals for Olympic athletes and officials.
"This is probably the greatest team of chefs that has ever been assembled in the country," Smith said. "There are lots of Islanders going. I'm proud, in particular, that four student interns from the Culinary Institute of Canada will be on my team."
Smith and his fellow chefs will be preparing 50,000 meals a week in Vancouver.
And products from P.E.I. will definitely be on the menu.
"Our supply chains have been in place for a year," Smith said. "At Atlantic Canada House particularly they will have an excellent opportunity show off all kinds of very specific products from the Island. All of the producers we know and love on the Island will be out there and be represented."
Approximately 100 chefs in total will be involved, 10 from P.E.I.
Smith said P.E.I. will have a glorious opportunity at the Olympics to tell the world what those who live here already know.
"We will remind the world that P.E.I. is a very special place, that's it's worth coming here to visit, it's worth coming here to put down roots, it's worth coming and being part of a vibrant, growing economy."
P.E.I. plans gold-medal showcase at Olympics
P.E.I. plans gold-medal showcase at Olympics
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- Published on January 11th, 2010
- Published on June 15th, 2010
- Doug Gallant
- Number of views : 66
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Comments
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- Costs ? the BS Olympics
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:38:28
Like Mulroney- Ghiz Just the sight of him makes me sick. Your STILL Paying for that BS business investors Summer Olympics scam SO TELL US-TELL YOUR CHILDREN-YOUR DISABLED And/Or Dying relatives and friends, WHEN You gonna have THAT Bill paid off. 2025?
TAX PAYORS Paying for Canadas smallest province HOPING To make a big splash at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, haven't been told how much of OUR Public Money has been already spent and what the Total Bill to US is Costing US.
AND hey all You Dialysis and Cancer patients-Islanders struggling to say alive that need off Island medical treatment - get out on the streets and beg for money, if you get enough hey!Tou can take the shuttle/bus.
If you need to eat and need personal items, I hear the Commons-Spring Garden Road area is a good place to beg for money. Send Ghizbo a postcard let himknow how your doing-because you know just how much he'd care. -
- laraine
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:34:49
You should all be proud to share your wonderful Island with those who have not had the benefit of a visit there, my grandmother who was born in Little Pond would agree with me. Poverty is not a good thing for sure, but patriotism is free!
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- UNREAL
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:32:53
I can't believe the money this is going to cost Island taxpayers, more and more each day.
The MacPhail Homestead, a beautiful piece of PEI heritage, needs only a pittance of this amount to survive and I am sure there are many other places this amount of money could be spent to benefit needy Islanders. -
- farmboy
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:30:56
you show ghiz a cookie jar and he cant help but put his hand in it!!!
seriously there were 4 cookie jars and the jar you think we were talking about and taking from was not the jar we were actually meaning. We were having negotiatation, honest. no really -
- Look down the road a ways
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:29:48
In an effort to be fair to the PEI government I have to note that it is all of the Provincial governments that really don't believe that Canada has homeless and hunger problems. They all want to show each other and everyone else in the world the best scenarios - well-fed, healthy and smiling citizens, specialty foods, beautiful scenery, etc. We are too proud to mimic some of the worlds countries by showing off our homeless and hungry. We don't show our little children that sport hungry bellies and sad eyes. We don't show our hungry people standing in lines waiting for food handouts. We don't show our citizens with cancers that require drugs they can't afford to buy. We don't display our elderly in winter that huddle in blankets or extra layers of clothing because they can't afford heat.
When dollar amounts are tossed around, like the amount of money for these Olympics, I really believe a lot of Canadians are blind to our own shortcomings. If we don't look at it then it's not there. What makes us think that we can continue to use up this kind of money on sports and/or entertainment and never reach that destination where you live in a makeshift tent and watch the children starve while somebody from a richer country films it all ? Not all Canadians can experience the Olympic dream. Many are living in a nightmare already. Like I mentioned above - this kind of pie in the sky thinking applies to every province in Canada. We, in PEI, are not the sole owners of foolish thought and deed. And, no, I don't begrudge the young people their Olympic dream. I abhor the aim our politicians have of using the the young people's dreams as a way to spend lots of taxdollars to do no more than show off. -
- Hillbilly
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:28:36
Why is anyone shocked to see another waste of money from this group? Don't forget that at least half of the Island's MLAs and federal MPs will be attending all of this as well, on the taxpayers' tab.
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- 1,000,000.00
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:18:42
There is just something wrong with this selling job. Maybe it is that so many people in this province are struggling with poverty and the effects of poverty and we have this beautiful picture of these cats selling the island. There is something profoundly disturbing in this whole deal and I am not sure what it is - but it leaves me very cold!!! And not at all impressed. But the PNP crowd - i.e. the elite of this Island - will see this as an investment in their future financial success. But I still think of all those thousands of Islanders with nothing to celebrate in their day to day struggle. And I dram of a whole different approach to how we govern this place. Imagine if we start by placing people first. Sure would be a more healthy place. But that's a dream!
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- Quiet
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:17:46
So how much is this Olympic thingy going to cost us now?
First it was $500,000.
Then it was $1,000,000.
Now, on top of all this, there is the cost of hiring all these entertainers, Chef Michael, and all the other people who will be performing and showing out there.
Plus, there will be the travel for all of them, their hotels while there, their meals while there, all the promotional materials and supplies while there.
So what is the actual total of Ghiz's Olympic show? $2 million? $3 million? -
- everyman
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:14:03
Well this is gonna cost about $3,000,000.00
Thats about 2% of our annual budget.
Ghiz better get some sleep before he goes to party it up in Vancouver. He looks rather vacant.
And tell famous mike to get a shave. Mike of course is from new york where dirty or unshaven persons are allowed to prepare food, but on the island we like to see clean people in the kitchen. -
- Deb
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:01:14
bon appétit!
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- Lynn
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:58:41
WOW ......celebrate that you live on beautiful PEI and how wonderful you treat your visitors. You should be proud that you have Chef Michael Smith telling the world how wonderful PEI and the people who live there are. Stop talking and do something about the poverty and the taxes and gov't......get off the computer and do something otherwise......we Canadians do not want to hear it. We love PEI and Chef Mike and our Olympians.
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- bill
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:50:16
I think ghiz is grabbing for a chinese fortune cookie----------------------do not forget the fortune cookies
the little slip of paper inside could make you rich-- just send it in to any pei politician with your name on the back and you become eligible to be given free money -something like the pnp deal--receipts for political party donation are also accepted and are always given special attention
