A ‘Volunteer’ from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics Games Opening Ceremonies told me “besides the obvious budget restriction there was a feeling of ‘It just wasn’t the same’ in the air. If I were a Parolympia I’d be more than just a little pissed off with the discriminatory dictatorship approach the I.O.C. takes on staging the games. And no matter how many times or ways the I.O.C. & VANOC say they embrace athletes with physical disabilities the numbers prove different. CTV, the Olympic broadcast consortium, reported record breaking viewer ship during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics but were not in any position to break contracts for other programming during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics.

CTV’s consortium includes TSN, Rogers Sportsnet & OLN. During the Paralympics opening ceremonies CTV ran Access Hollywood, TSN ran the Tim Horton’s Briar & Sportsnet had NCAA collage basketball.