Break out the champagne and poutine! Montreal has just paid off the olympic stadium built for the 1976 games, previously nicknamed ‘the big owe’. Thirty years is a nice round number don’t you think?

The original estimated cost for this beauty was $250 million, but the final cost came in a teensy bit higher at $1.5 billion. Now that they own it, whats the plan?

The Canadian Olympic Committee would not comment on the final payment. But CTV Montreal’s Tania Krywiak said “they did tell us they would continue to use the Olympic Stadium as a venue to host sporting events as well as commercial events.”

As far as the City of Montreal is concerned, “they tell us they are just not ready, they are not willing and don’t want to take over the Olympic stadium.”

Meanwhile here on the westcoast we’re gearing up for our own little party in just a few years, and despite the negativity of an earlier report from the BC auditor general, Vanoc CEO John Furlong says we’re on schedule and under budget!

Furlong said that despite the conflicting numbers, VANOC is still on track to finish on time. His assertion the project is so far under budget comes partly from the fact VANOC has yet to rely on any contingency money..

VANOC said it will try to finalize a detailed business plan next month, but it won’t be release the plan to the public until February or March 2007.