Prince George was named host of the 2015 Canada Winter Games by the Canada Games Council at a news conference held this morning at the Vancouver Convention Centre and through a news feed set up at the Atrium at the CN Centre in Prince George.
In 2015 Prince George will see the best athletes compete in 20 sports representing their province or territory.
"I want to congratulate Prince George for winning the privilege of hosting the 2015 Canada Winter Games and thank Kamloops and Kelowna for also stepping forward as potential host cities. As we saw during the Winter Olympics, sport has an incredible power to inspire and bring people together," said Premier Gordon Campbell, in a recent news release. "The Canada Games are an important building block in our athletes' training, and prepares them for future competitions. In fact, Canada Games alumni earned 16 of the 26 medals Canadian athletes won during the Winter Olympics."
Now the planning begins. British Columbia has hosted the games twice before, once in 1973 in New Westminster and in 1993 in Kamloops and this is the first time the province will host the winter games.
The Prince George bid community is now the host society that is responsible to plan the winter games, which includes making selections for the leadership positions and naming representatives who will attend the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax from Feb. 11 to 27 in order to participate in the mentoring program offered by the council.
The Canada Games is supported by the Government of Canada, provincial and territorial governments, host municipalities and the Canada Games Council.Check out the photo album of the event in the photo galleries.
