Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume up for sharing 2026 Olympic events

Quebec City's mayor says he has had discussions with his counterparts in Calgary, Vancouver and Lake Placid about sharing events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Régis Labeaume will be in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 11 to meet with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach to have preliminary talks aimed at a possible bid for the Games that year.

Labeaume noted in a statement Thursday that Bach sent out the invitation in early January.

The mayor has often said the costs of organizing an Olympics are far too pricey.

"People in Quebec City know my views on Olympic Games and, until further notice, they haven't changed," he said at a news conference later Thursday.

Quebec City wants to possibly team up Calgary, Vancouver and Lake Placid to lower the cost of infrastructure investments.

"We understand that the Olympic agenda would enable the host city the chance to partner with another city in order to share some events," Labeaume said.

"Three cities that have infrastructure that Quebec doesn't — such as bobsled tracks and springboards for ski jumping — could eventually be associated with Quebec's bid."

Labeaume added that such an alliance would "dramatically diminish the total costs of infrastructure investments, which would make the Games more affordable."

The Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980, Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010. The 2018 edition will be in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2022 Olympics will take place in Beijing.