Paralympic closing ceremony will include Chantal Kreviazuk and Tanya Tagaq

The Paralympic Games will close in Whister on Sunday (March 21) with Canadian musician Chantal Kreviazuk performing "Today".

This will be followed by Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq doing a traditional Arctic song.

These are some of the details released today at a Vanoc  news conference in Whistler. The closing ceremony will take place in the Whistler Medals Plaza and will be broadcast nationwide on CTV beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday.

Quebec folk band La Bottine Souriante and Whistler Youth, which includes 45 singers from the Sea to Sky corridor, will perform to coincide with the  beginning of  the athletes' parade.  Whistler resident Ali Milner will sing "O Canada" as a huge Canadian flag will be unfurled above.

The producer of the event, Patrick Roberge, told reporters that the show has the theme "With Glowing Hearts". He said  that his team is  prepared for all types of weather.

"I think Expo 86 was my good training when we did 40 days and 40 nights in the pouring rain,"  Roberge quipped, adding that his team has also staged a ceremony in minus-30 degree weather in Whitehorse during the Canada Games.  

Light rain is in the forecast for Sunday, with one to three centimetres of snow expected  over a 24-hour period in the Whistler area.

"If it is wet, we want everybody to come ready for wet,"  Roberge said. "With glowing hearts, we are going to persevere through no matter what the weather is. It would be great if it was just a little dusting of snow, though. It would make the show look spectacular."

He stated that some performances will take place outside among the audience and the athletes. However if the weather creates technical challenges related to the electronics, Roberge said these parts of the show will be moved closer to the stage.

"Other than that, we won't be cancelling anything due to weather," he said.

Roberge revealed that there is a $4.8-million budget for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Games. A Vanoc official mentioned during today's news conference that there was a $67-million budget for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, noting that this figure may also include the medal presentations.

The Paralympic closing ceremony will last for 70 minutes, according to Roberge, which ensures it will fit within CTV's 90-minute broadcast window.

He said that the closing ceremony  was initially planned to begin at 6 p.m., but it was moved an hour later so the entertainment can be presented at night.

"We do prefer to have it darker so we can use our theatrical-technical abilities in the venue," Roberge said.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.