B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell was in New York on Friday to promote the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CBC)British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell stopped over in New York City on Monday morning to promote the 2010 Winter Games, as part of his official trip to Greece to bring home the Olympic flame.
Campbell made a two-minute appearance on NBC's Today Show, assuring hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira that there will be enough snow when the Games open in 116 days.
"I think snow is not going to be a problem, not because we are not going to have good weather, but because we have snow-making equipment like you would not believe," Campbell told the hosts.
NBC is the U.S. broadcaster of the Vancouver Winter Games, and the Today Show will be broadcast from the ski lodge on Grouse Mountain.
Campbell also showed off one of the Olympic torches and some red mittens, similar to those to be worn by 10,000 torchbearers during the upcoming cross-Canada torch relay.
"These red mittens are going to help our athletes own the podium," he answered, when quizzed about Canada being the only country not to have won a gold medal while hosting an Olympic Games.
UN resolution for peace
Later on Monday, Campbell will be at the United Nations General Assembly when John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), introduces the Olympic Truce resolution — a modern Olympic tradition that draws from the ancient Greek tradition of declaring a truce during the Olympic Games.
Campbell and the rest of the Olympic representatives will then take a flight to Greece for the lighting of the Olympic flame.
That ceremony will take place in Olympia on Thursday at the Temple of Hera using the power of the sun in a parabolic mirror. The flame will then travel through Greece, arriving in Athens on Oct. 29, before being flown to Victoria, B.C., to start the longest Olympic domestic torch relay in Olympic history, at 106 days long, on Oct. 30.
Campbell said hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an unparalleled chance to market B.C., and he plans to take full advantage of that potential.
"This is a time to introduce the world to Canada. We think we are going to have a spectacular Olympic Games."
