VANCOUVER - Canadian mayors say there's no way they'd turn down a chance to host the 2010 Olympic flame, despite the protests dogging the current torch relay to Beijing.
Letters are going out to 200 places chosen by Vancouver's Olympic organizers as celebration sites for the Winter Games torch relay as it makes its way across the country.
The flame will pass through 1,000 communities but Olympic organizers are hoping that official parties will be held twice a day to honour the torch run in cities and towns across the country.
Among them will be Sarnia, Ont., where Mayor Mike Bradley says he's not afraid protests will come to his town like the ones facing the relay for the 2008 Beijing Games.
He calls the 2010 torch relay a great opportunity to include, rather than exclude, all groups in the Games.
Olympic organizers aren't releasing the names of the 200 communities chosen as celebration sites until an official ceremony in the fall.
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Article online since May 14th 2008, 0:00
Steven Guilbeault - Environment Column
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