Majority of Canadians believe Vancouver Olympics will end in red

Vancouver - A new poll released suggests that most Canadians believe the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics will finish in the red and will go over budget but will also have a positive impact.

The Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics will begin soon and the retail stores are filled up with attire representing the Canadian team, however, a large number of Canadians believe the Olympic and Paralympic games will finish over budget, according to Bloomberg News. A new Canadian Press-Harris Decima poll suggests 84 per cent of Canadians think the games will finish in the red, while the highest number of respondents, 90 per cent, came from the hosting province, British Columbia. Only six per cent of respondents think the 2010 Olympics will break even, while three per cent believe it will come under budget. Harris-Decima senior vice-president Doug Anderson, said, reports CP24, “That was a pretty consistent view in all walks of life, in all parts of the country. It doesn't matter where you come from, what age you are, there are very few people who buy into the notion that this is going to be on budget, let alone under budget.” Another survey released on Thursday by Angus Reid Public Opinion shows more than a quarter of British Columbia residents, 31 per cent, think the Olympics will have a mostly negative impact on the province, however, 50 per cent of BC residents felt it would have a mostly positive impact, reports CTV News. Across the country, though, 73 per cent of Canadians say the 2010 winter Olympics will have a mostly positive impact. The Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents between Jan. 21 and Jan. 24 and contains a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.