The City of Vancouver says the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to shutter the long-running Pacific National Exhibition if the non-profit organization isn鈥檛 able to secure emergency funding from the province.

It says in a statement the 111-year-old exhibition stands to lose nearly $15 million after closures throughout the last year and it requires $8 million in aid.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart says the city has been extending the PNE鈥檚 鈥渆ver-growing line of credit鈥� and it needs provincial support if it鈥檚 going to continue hosting music, cultural, sports and other events each year.

The exhibition鈥檚 management says it would take more than 15 years to eliminate the forecasted deficit, jeopardizing the PNE鈥檚 ability to organize events.

Acting president Stacy Shields says the exhibition has survived two world wars and the Great Depression, but the challenges of COVID-19 have pushed it to the brink, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Andrew Leger, president of the CUPE local union that represents most PNE workers, says the annual fair is B.C.鈥檚 single-largest employer of youth.

鈥淔or many, it鈥檚 their first job 鈥� work that helps pay for their education, or even gets their family established in Canada,鈥� he says in the statement.

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