No sour grapes on the Games: Not!

“The fix was in.”

“Stink town got it.”

This bidding for tournaments stuff is nasty business. Comments came fast and heavy to the provincial government’s Livestream website during and after yesterday’s announcement that Prince George will host the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

The online real-time feedback was the most interesting part of the Vancouver press conference held to reveal whether Kamloops, Kelowna or P.G. would be declared winner of the hosting sweeps.

Many of the comments were good-natured jibes from one city to another; some were unflattering, like the one that said, “Prince George you have to be kidding. What a hole.”

“Big White sucks,” opined another.

Many of the swipes at rivals were based on geography or weather.

“Kamloops is a desert, not a winter capital,” one commenter wrote.

“Lots of snow in Kelowna,” said another. “And fog.”

As Premier Campbell took to the microphone, the tone and focus changed from city-to-city rivalry to political commentary, and there was nothing very light-hearted about it.

“Shut up Gordon and tell us who gets the Games,” one impatient viewer wrote during his speech. Another wanted to know how much the HST would be on the Games.

“He is going to announce the Games decision is going to a B.C.-wide referendum,” predicted one wag.

They even criticized his technique as he applauded a parade of costumed young people who were part of the ceremony. And when he swayed in rhythm to the music, quick reviews came in, concluding that Gordon Campbell can’t dance.

Surprisingly, nobody picked up on the premier’s reference to the 1993 “winter Games” held in Kamloops. Those, of course, were summer Games.

When it was over, and comments of the “stink town” variety subsided, there was something of a reconciliation.

“Can’t we all just get along?” urged one commenter.

“Group hugs,” suggested another.

My two cents: nobody can possibly say politics didn’t come into it, when the city with far-and-away the best sports facilities and organization, together with a proven track record, is passed over.

But let us pity poor Prince George, which has been going through some tough economic times, and besides that is, well, Prince George.

To borrow a line from Winston Churchill, “Tomorrow morning, Madam, Kamloops will be Canada’s Tournament Capital, and you’ll still have to live in Prince George.”

THE TIES THAT BIND: Meanwhile, back at the gasification plant. . . .

In my books, Glen W. Bell, lawyer, is a pretty sharp cookie. He’s the Vancouver attorney who belatedly agreed to take on Ruth Madsen’s appeal of the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp.’s environmental permit on her behalf.

Faced with an unwinnable appeal, Bell has snatched something akin to victory from the jaws of certain defeat, and — with the co-operation of the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board — stuck it to ACC.

As of Thursday, Madsen’s appeal is on indefinite hold, plunging ACC into never-never land. Bell, it would seem, discovered a couple of weeks ago that ACC has no intention of building a gasification plant in Kamloops, but wants to hang on to the permit to help smooth the way for finding another location and, probably, new investors.

Madsen’s appeal has been irrelevant since the day ACC president Kim Sigurdson promised to leave town. What took Bell so long to become aware of this, I’m not certain, but a conversation on that point between reasonable people might have gone something like this:

LAWYER: Let’s all save ourselves a bunch of time and money. How about you promise in writing not to build in Kamloops, and we’ll drop the appeal.

ACC: Done. Draw something up and we’ll both sign.

That would assuage the fears that ACC might change its mind, and leave ACC unencumbered in looking for a new home.

Instead, Bell made another proposition: “On behalf of the Appellant, I offered to abandon the appeal if ACC would abandon the permit.”

Of course, if ACC didn’t want the permit, it would simply have told the environment ministry months ago. The “offer” was a non-sequitur.

“Rejection of our offer” in hand, Bell went to the appeal board with the claim that Sigurdson was “manipulating the permitting process,” and asked for an indefinite adjournment.

The appeal board, ever ready to accommodate Madsen, ruled in due coarse that it was all right with them. And it went even further, adding an extra set of handcuffs: “This order (for indefinite adjournment) may be rescinded on the presentation of substantive or compelling evidence from any party that the rights under the permit are being . . . exercised in Kamloops. . . .”

So, Madsen doesn’t have to spend another dime, much less prove her case.

As Sigurdson said yesterday, “For a $25 (appeal) fee, you can stop everything.”