New Brunswick's minister of sport and culture is defending the government's decision not to become a provincial partner at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

New Brunswick is the only province that opted not to sponsor the Winter Games.

Spending money on the sponsorship program to be called a provincial partner would have given the New Brunswick government the right to use the Olympic logo and to select some torchbearers for the Vancouver portion of the torch relay.

Sport Minister Hédard Albert said it would have cost $1.5 million for the sponsorship deal plus a lot more to send officials to Vancouver and Whistler to take advantage of it.

Albert said the province decided instead to take part in Atlantic House, a pavilion funded by the four Atlantic provinces and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

He said it's less expensive and will give the province more exposure than the sponsorship deal.

"We will be present there, very active. The province will be represented," Albert said.

"And in the $1.5 [million for the partnership], one day for New Brunswick only, to put maybe a medal on the neck of people coming from France or United States. You know, it costs a lot of money for those things."

The province is also joining in another Vancouver Olympic pavilion, the Place de la Francophonie.