The Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil will not produce the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Games in Vancouver. (CBC)

Cirque du Soleil won't produce the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games because the world-class performance troupe cannot devote the time needed, the Olympic organizing committee said Wednesday.

A media report suggested that tight creative control by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) prompted the Montreal-based circus to pull out.

But VANOC's vice-president of corporate strategy said Wednesday that control over the artistic direction of the shows was not an issue.

"The creative control didn't come up in the whole process," David Guscott said.

"What they told us was they were launching new products, they were striking in new, bigger corporate directions [and] they couldn't devote the time that is required," he said.

"Producing Olympic ceremonies is a long process and they just felt they couldn't devote enough time to make that work."

Ever since Canada was portrayed as a nation of ice fishermen at the end of the Turin Winter Olympics, Vancouver's Olympic planners have faced intense pressure to make sure the country will be better represented in 2010.

"I know that Canadians will be really, really proud when they see what we put on. We got a process that is pulling people in from across the country," Guscott said.

But plans for the opening and closing ceremonies will remain top secret, he said.

"Remember, part of the magic of the ceremony is the secrecy around it so for the next 18 months we're not going to give you any hints."