Toronto considering bidding for Olympics & World Expo

As Toronto prepares for the 2015 Pan Am Games, council voted in favour of studying the feasibility of hosting two larger international events: the World Expo and the Olympics.  

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam pitched the idea of studying the pros and cons of holding the 2025 World Expo in the GTA. Councillors Denzil Minnan-Wong and Michael Thompson added to the proposal by asking also for a report on the feasibility of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The news was given a thumbs up by the mayor of London, where the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in July.

“I think that’s a great move,” Boris Johnson told The Canadian Press.

“Go for it, Toronto. You won’t regret it if you get it.”

Toronto has twice before thrown its hat into the Olympic ring — in 1996 and 2008 — only to be disappointed. It did not try for the 2020 event.

If a decision is made to try to land the Games in 2024, Johnson urged the city to “make a case” for staging them to the International Olympic Committee that goes well beyond the athletics.

“What the IOC wants to hear is that this is something that will be transformative for the life chances of people in your city,” Johnson said.

“They want to feel that the arrival of the Olympics will be a great thing, not just for sport and for international sports bureaucrats and the global TV audiences, they want to hear about how it will be of huge social benefit in Toronto.”

The motion passed at Friday’s Toronto city council meeting. City staff has been asked to gather input from the federal and provincial governments and various agencies on the economic impact of the events on the GTA, as well as information on possible competing host cities, the process by which sites are selected and planning considerations for transportation.

The report is scheduled to be presented to the city’s economic development committee at a meeting in March 2013.

The upcoming Pan Am Games have a budget of $1.4-billion. The plan for that event includes 11 municipalities and three universities hosting 36 sports.

With files from The Canadian Press

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