First, despite the misuse of public resources in staging these games, the fact remains that Canadians have a higher living standards than majority of those living in the United States and Russia. Such indicators as access to qaulity education, healthcare, security and respect for law and order are much stronger in Canada than both Russia and the U.S.Yet, RT has invited an American activist to rant about Canada for the last two weeks. Now, Russia is offering hundreds of thousands of euros of its athletes of they win metals of any colour-do Russian people have say on this? Also RT knows that it is more thank likely that Russian citizens would not have similar chance to voice their opposition to the misuse of public money in staging the Sochi games four years from now. Thus TR Canada bashing is nothing short than a pure hypocrisy. It is clear there is bad blood between Russian and Canada when it comes to winter sports. I think it has to do with the some of the unpleasant events in Salt Lake City such as the controversy over the judging in pairs figure skating, the doping of two Russian biathlon female athletics which denies a Canadian female from the glory of winning the gold metal. This injustices had been recertified later. But Canadian is a big country with much smaller population than Russia but it is highly developed country and it has brighter living standards than both the United States and Russia. RT hardly reports about Canada where Russian culture and language is much respected but RT has no problem pumping up fluffy stories from the United States as critical reporting. I love Russia and this will never change but bashing Canada seems to be new Russian obsession. Last night in Vancouver was a great night Canada and it was a night black women with “real” unprocessed processed hair! We wait how Sochi represents Russia to the world.

Absolute rubbish! I'm tired of this 'right to protest" argument. Canadians and especially British Colombians, and certainly Vancouverites object to these games because we and the homeless, sick, drug-addicted, aged and poor cannot afford it, and know it to be an act of self-aggrandizement on behalf of Premier Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Both are extreme right-wingers who have no time for the poor, or even the middle class. For a growing underclass life is very grim and uncertain. Campbell and Harper are bearing down on the poor and now one in five children lives in poverty. The biggest transfer of wealth in modern history, which began in Canada with Prime Minister of Brian Mulroney in 1979 has continued with tax breaks for the rich which has been funded by increased consumption taxes and a massive reduction in public services which is not over yet. Further privatization, which will eventually include our universal single-payer health care, is on the list. If Katrina can't protest in Sochi, then she should fix that in Sochi, not level down everyone to Sochi's level. Further, I can guarantee you will never see an Olympic athlete signing a petition on Care2, or doing anything but daily obsessing over shaving a tenth of a second of their time and getting a medal for themselves. Their "dream" is about themselves, not humanity or a better world or an end to the seal-hunt or other cruelties against people and animals. These self-obsessed people are very bad role models for children. They are also vehicles for the perpetuation of patriotism, what GBS said is the conviction that a place is superior because you were born there, and for which the politicians have persuaded us to die. Nationalism almost destroyed the human race during the Cold War on at least 15 occasions. It is a redundant concept.

Colin Smith I do share your views of Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Harper: both are right wing reactionaries. And these games have been used to mask land grab and corporate misuse of the public money. I have never denied that. what I do object is RT’s deliberate focus on finding something bad to say about Canada and Vancouver Winter Games but hardly saying anything about the similar processes taking place in Sochi and other cities which hosted these corporate games. And yes, despite the homeless and cutting down public funding to education and healthcare, BC residence have higher living standards than those living any city in Russia and the United States. There is no city in Russia today with the quality living standards of British Colombia. The reason is simple. In Russia, the rich and the powerful have near monopoly in power and they often misuse the resources of the people. Recently, I saw documentary about Siberia which was aired at RT. I what I found shocking is that outside the oil built modern cities, ordinary people living in villages lead lives of abject poverty. Why this utter disparity in living standards of the majority of the Russian people is tolerated in Russia while billions of roubles are poured into Sochi games? How much real freedom Russian citizenry has to depend that the immense wealth of the nation be used to rebuilt the social infrastructure? Perhaps, RT needs to bring some of reporters to Canada rather than pumping U.S fluff day in and day out. This is hard for some of us who often come to RT to escape from the same U.S propaganda only to be served with the same U.S propaganda diet by RT.