Westward Ho to Expo 86

Two years ago, the waterfront along Vancouver's False Creek, a narrow inlet off the city's main harbor, was covered with rusting railroad tracks and a few ramshackle factories. Garbage was strewn everywhere. Today the 173-acre site is the home of Expo 86, the Canadian world's fair that opens May 2 and runs through Oct. 13. The fair's theme is transportation, and visitors will be able to gaze at exhibits ranging from a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft to a Japanese high- speed passenger train that can travel more than 250 m.p.h. Moored in the harbor are dozens of boats and ships, including a Malaysian canoe and a Portuguese fishing boat. The Chinese pavilion features stones from the Great Wall and a 2,000-year-old bronze chariot.

Whether or not Expo 86 is an aesthetic triumph, it promises to be a business bonanza for British Columbia. The fair, which cost $1 billion to mount, is expected to attract more than 8 million visitors, some 60% from Canada and 35% from the U.S. The fair will undoubtedly generate a flurry of business for local hotels, car-rental firms, restaurants and the like. British Columbians hope that it will also serve as a powerful publicity tool, persuading businesses to open offices in downtown Vancouver and inspiring families to travel through the province on their next vacation. Says Carpenter Jim Hawkes: "Expo 86 is going to put us on the map." The region is in sore need of an economic boost: since the early 1980s, its two leading industries, lumber and mining, have been in a deep recession.

Unlike many previous world's fairs, including the poorly attended 1984 New Orleans fair, which filed for bankruptcy, the Vancouver exposition seems to be soundly financed, thanks largely to substantial government backing. British Columbia has invested $578 million in Expo 86, and the federal government in Ottawa has provided $180 million more. The fair's 34 corporate sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Motors and Xerox, have kicked in an additional $114 million.

Observers praise the financial management of James Pattison, president of the Expo 86 corporation, which has supervised development of the fair. Pattison has personally overseen thousands of details, approving every exhibit design and reviewing all cost estimates. One of his most impressive achievements: completing construction of the fair for $283 million, or $6 million under budget. Boasts Pattison, a 51-year-old entrepreneur who owns a Vancouver-based real estate, communications and financial services conglomerate, which had 1985 sales of $1 billion: "I'm not saying this is a no-risk proposition, but I think I can say that no world-class exposition has been better set up than this one."

Not everyone would accept that assertion. Indeed, the fair has been controversial from the start. Critics charge that the $1 billion investment would have been better spent elsewhere, or perhaps not at all. Many Canadians are also alarmed because the fair is expected to run up a $225 million deficit. Says Lewis Booth, an insurance agent in Vancouver: "At the end of the fair, we'll find we're all in hock up to our ears."