Peru Wants Toronto To Postpone 2015 Pan Am Bid

The Embassy magazine reports Peruvian Ambassador Jorge Juan Castaneda Mendez sent a letter July 23 to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn, and Michael Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and a Toronto 2015 bid board member, asking the city to postpone its bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

The ambassador said Canada's sport and infrastructure development is more in line with games like the 2010 Winter Games and called on the Canadian government's Olympic spirit to support his argument. In the letter he wrote, "considering the Olympic Principles of encouraging equal participation and involvement...Peru has requested the Canadian Olympic Committee to consider postponing its bid and support the one from Lima for the organization of 2015 Pan-American Games. Peru has never organized a major sporting event at either world or hemispheric levels. That is why the people and government of Peru see with enthusiasm and great expectation the possibility of organizing - for the first time in our history - the 2015 Pan American Games in the capital city".

Toronto, Lima and Bogotá, Colombia are competing for the 2015 Games held every four years.

The letter says a positive response to the Peruvian request would be "a gesture of generosity from Canada", reports Embassy.

Mendez wrote that hosting the event "would highlight what our country has achieved to consolidate its socio-economic development, in which sport plays a significant role as a vehicle of understanding among the people of the America. In addition, the investment to build and renew the infrastructure connected to the games will have a very positive impact in boosting sport as a whole in Peru".

The ambassador says it's Canada's right to bid for the games and that Peru will respect the decision to continue the challenge for host country.

David Peterson, chairman of Toronto 2015, says he's aware of Peru's request but that the Toronto team will continue its bid. He said, "there's no question about that. They have every right to request that but we've got a very, very strong bid and I'm very optimistic".

Sport Minister Lunn said that even though Canada will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, the last international sporting event hosted in Ontario was in 1930.

He added, "I understand their request. They've never hosted international games before and they're quite keen. We have a very good relationship with Peru, (but) I've responded through the ambassador that that's not something we can entertain. The government of Canada is very committed to 2015 bid for the Pan Am Games". He said Canada is "in this to win" but that Canada would consider supporting a future bid by Peru.

But Mendez reportedly isn't giving up hope when he said, "we can expect until the last moment that the decision will be made that maybe Canada could change their minds. It is being considered and when we get official reply then we will know how Canada has done, officially".

But it appears Toronto's Pan Am bid will continue with reports that Dalton McGuinty, Premier of the Province of Ontario where Toronto is located, secretly flew to Mexico City last Friday to lobby for Toronto's bid. Aides of the premier said he deliberately left the trip out of his official itinerary because he didn't want to tip off Toronto's competitors, Bogotá and Lima.

In a statement released Tuesday the premier said, "I travelled to Mexico City at the invitation of president Mario Vazquez Rana of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) to discuss Toronto's bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games. I impressed upon the president that Ontario is fully committed to hosting a successful Games in 2015. During our meeting president Vasquez Rana mentioned difficulties being encountered by the 2011 Pan Am Games being held in Guadalajara, Mexico".

The Toronto Star reports McGuinty said he told the PASO boss that Ontario "is ready, willing and able to offer assistance, including helping to plan and provide logistical and organizational help to ensure the best possible experience for athletes. This type of support for the Guadalajara Games would not add any financial burden to Ontario, but would come in the form of in-kind contributions from the public service", he said.

The host city of the 2015 Pan Am Games will be announced later this year.

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