Bid opponent Druh Farrell is among those added to the panel ©City of Calgary

Two well-known opponents of Calgary's bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games have been added to a panel charged with coordinating relations between the City Council and bid leaders.

A new Olympic Oversight Subcommittee was convened earlier this week to ensure better engagement between the City Council and a potential Calgary 2026 Bid Committee in the build-up to a plebiscite likely to be held later this year. 

Of the five members elected on Monday (April 23) - Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Councillors Evan Woolley, Ray Jones, Diane Colley-Urquhart and Peter Demong - only Demong is considered in any way an opponent of Calgary 2026.

This was despite the Council having only voted 8-6 in favour of continuing the Olympic project last month. 

Joe Magliocca and Druh Farrell have each consequently been added in an attempt to address the balance. 

"I'm hoping that now we can put a certain amount of diversions behind us and actually focus on the job at hand, which is deciding whether this Olympics should go forward or not in a thoughtful, cohesive manner," Demong told CBC,

Farrell had tweeted before being added: "Pretty hard to get balance on the Committee when the critic who was willing to serve wasn't appointed".

Others, though, have pointed out that she and Demong were the only bid opponents to show interest.

A Council vote to scrap the bid entirely held earlier this month failed by a 9-6 majority. 

The window for holding a plebiscite, expected to cost CAD$2 million (£1.2 million/$1.5 million/€1.3 million), will be between October and February 2019. 

This ballot, which will be a non-binding vote, will only move forward, however, should the Council agree to continue pursuing the Olympic bid.

They are due to hold another vote in June after studying more details about the potential financial implications of hosting the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1988. 

Sion in Switzerland is already due to hold a referendum in June on whether to bid or not.

Graz in Austria, Sapporo in Japan and Stockholm in Sweden are among the other contenders for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Erzurum in Turkey have announced plans to bid.

There may also be a joint Italian bid from Milan, Turin and Cortina d'Ampezzo

A host city is due to be chosen by the International Olympic Committee in 2019.