The Vancouver Aquarium's upcoming expansion plans are causing quite a stir here in British Columbia. The 89% approval for the $80 million was two years ago, and now with the economic crisis and an additonal $40 million added on to the grand total there is speculation that the entire project will crumble into nothing. However, the Winter Olympics are in Vancouver in February of 2010 and so the construction needs to start in the next little while if it is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. I know that the city has already spent however many billions on prepping for the Olympics ($1 billion just on a new convention center!) and the Vancouver Aquarium pulls in over 900,000 visitors a year and will be a huge draw for tourists...thus I still think that the proposed expansion will proceed as planned. On a side note, the aquarium already advertises itself as being in the top 5 largest aquariums in North America, and so with the additions to be added I'm not sure where it will rank in terms of overall size.
