Apple Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Province 'gave up' on Expo: Tory 'Nobody's meeting,' says PC leader City says it's pushing hard with only one day left Nov. 1, 2006. 06:46 AM JIM BYERS CITY HALL BUREAU With the deadline for submitting a bid for the 2015 World's Fair just a day away, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory has blasted the province for not doing enough to save Toronto's Expo dream. "I think they've dropped the ball on this and they've thrown in the towel," Tory told the Toronto Star in a telephone interview last night. "The notion that nobody's meeting, nobody's trying (to save the bid), to me means they gave up and I don't get it." Tory said if he was Ontario's tourism minister or premier — a job he hopes to have after next fall's provincial election — he'd call everyone together and work 24 hours a day to find solutions. A Toronto Expo would provide jobs and boost tourism and would provide the deadline needed to clean up the city's waterfront, Tory said. "The signal that it (the bid crisis) sends about our ability to get our act together ... is very negative to the world," he said. "Mr. (Jim) Bradley (Ontario's tourism minister) said in May that this would be great for Toronto and great for Ontario and I agree with him." Expo officials say they have to indicate the city's interest in the 2015 event by noon tomorrow, Toronto time. That's when a letter has to be received by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions, which organizes world's fairs. The city, which is leading the charge for the fair, says it can help on some costs but that the provincial and federal governments must share most of the $1.8 billion in capital spending. They also have been asked to cover an expected deficit of $700 million to $2.2 billion, as well as pay for any cost overruns. The province has paid half of the $2 million the city has spent so far on the bid, while the rest has come from the City of Toronto. Ottawa hasn't been asked to help pay bid costs. Michel Frappier, chief operating officer for the Toronto 2015 World Expo Corp., said Ottawa would have to pay most of the capital costs as it gets most of the tax benefits from the fair. The province would fund a smaller but still significant portion of the capital budget, while the city would pay a smaller amount as it only gets a fraction of the tax benefits that a fair would bring in. Expo backers argue a fair would generate some $5.3 billion in taxes, more than enough to cover costs and any deficit. Ontario tourism ministry spokesman David Oved said the province hasn't yet talked to the city about sharing capital costs. Frappier agreed there's been no formal deal on the issue. But he said the real problem with Ottawa and Queen's Park has been who will cover a deficit and not who will pay the capital budget. The federal Tories say a 1995 guideline prohibits them from picking up deficits from such events and that Ontario should pay. The province says it can't afford it but that Ottawa has more than enough cash. Frappier said the city has tried to come up with solutions to the federal-provincial logjam. Tory suggested there's not enough action, but Frappier said meetings were continuing yesterday. Asked how strong the city is pushing, he replied, "I'd say nine-plus out of 10." "We're working very closely with the federal and provincial governments to try to bridge the gap," Mayor David Miller told the Star's John Spears. Tory said he was told the province sent a lower-ranking official to an emergency meeting last Friday with the city and federal governments. Last ten 3 hrs until Toronto better submit their bid in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 John Tory for Premier!!! I should have voted for him for Mayor of Toronto when he was running against David Miller. He seems to know what he's talking about and what he's doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Last-minute race to save Expo Nov. 2, 2006. 08:50 AM JIM BYERS CITY HALL BUREAU Progress has been made this morning in the quest to save Toronto's bid for the 2015 World's Fair, and officials are hopeful they can meet today's noon EST deadline for sending the bid overseas. "There's lot of buzz this morning," said John Macintyre, Director of Special Projects for Toronto 2015 World Expo Corp. "There are more conference calls planned in the next hour to hour and-a-half and we hope we're getting close to where we need to be." Representatives from the city, provincial and federal governments met late into the night and resumed again bright and early this morning, talking about creative solutions to the financing dilemma regarding Toronto's bid. None of the three levels of government want to commit to covering a projected loss estimated at between $700 million to $2.2 billion. But it's believed officials will agree today to put aside their differences and decide to proceed with the bid and work out the financial details in the next few months. "There is goodwill," Mayor David Miller told reporters Wednesday night. "You need goodwill first, and with goodwill there's often a way." Although there's no agreement on deficit protection as yet, all three governments appear eager to get on with the bid and not be seen as the ones who killed a project that could provide billions of dollars in tax benefits and boost jobs at a time when economists are warning about a slowdown in the Ontario economy. Bid documents have to be sent to the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions by noon today, Toronto time. Also in the running for the 2015 fair are Milan, Italy and Izmir, Turkey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Miller is holding a press conference for 1:15 p.m at the Mayor's Office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Miller is holding a press conference for 1:15 p.m at the Mayor's Office. I wonder what the verdict will be. Why would you hold a press conference if your not going to go through with the bid. My guess is that Toronto's bid has been submitted and they're back in the race since there is a called press conference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 My guess they didn't submit the bid in and therefore Miller made the press conference to lash out to the feds and province. If they did submit a bid there should be some sort of short announcement by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Let's say if they didn't submit an offical bid. Does Toronto still focus on landing International events? Should they bother forming an Olympic bid for 2016 after this fiasco or was this part of their overall scheme to actually bid for 2016 since they knew they couldn't bid for both? hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Imagine if the Summer Olympics is 2015 imagine trying to get the province to cover the deficit. Wouldn't look good especially who's in charge of the federal and provincial government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Imagine if the Summer Olympics is 2015 imagine trying to get the province to cover the deficit. Wouldn't look good especially who's in charge of the federal and provincial government. I don't understand, do you mean 2016? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Toronto's Expo bid dead Last minute progress sours, source says Nov. 2, 2006. 12:21 PM JIM BYERS CITY HALL BUREAU It's game over for Toronto's Expo bid. After a tense week and-a-half of often bitter negotations and a marathon series of calls that ended this morning, city, provincial and federal officials today failed to reach an agreement to allow Toronto to bid for the 2015 World's Fair, according to a source close to the bid. "It's dead," said the source. Bid officials could not be reached for confirmation. Mayor David Miller is schduled to address the media at 1:15 p.m. to talk about Expo and a newly-released report on Toronto's waterfront. Bid backers this morning said they were making progress and were optimistic about a deal. But things appear to have soured sometime in mid-morning. None of the three levels of government were willing to protect the bid against what a deficit projected at between $700 million to $2.2 billion. There was talk that they'd okay the bid in principle and worry about financial details over the next few months. But officials apparently weren't able to come to terms on wording of a federal letter that had to be sent to the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions by noon Toronto time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Guys this is such a hotly contested race for Expo now. Milan and Izmir..hahaha....Might as well just hand the Expo to Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Pretty much figured this would happen with the media conference called lol. Miller is in during an election so he has to protect his ass and watch he'll get all mad and throw a tantrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Pretty much figured this would happen with the media conference called lol. Miller is in during an election so he has to protect his ass and watch he'll get all mad and throw a tantrum. Probably, but I still ain't voting for him again. I don't like any of the candidates running for Mayor this time around but I'm just going to vote for Jane Pitfield out of spite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cesco_82 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Guys this is such a hotly contested race for Expo now. Milan and Izmir..hahaha....Might as well just hand the Expo to Italy. thanx for the trust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 thanx for the trust Well I'm Italian myself, I'd rather Italy host it rather than Turkey. Plus, I've never heard about Izmir in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Toronto's Expo site has been re-launched earlier. I guess they believed they would have submitted a bid by today. http://www.tedco.ca/expo/about.html They even uploaded an interactive map and tour of the proposed Expo grounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cesco_82 Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Well I'm Italian myself, I'd rather Italy host it rather than Turkey. Plus, I've never heard about Izmir in my life. if my mind doesn't trick me they're bidding for universiades or mediterranean games too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 awwww.....i was hoping for a bid from Toronto. well, will it be the Commonwealth Games? the Olympics? nothing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 awwww.....i was hoping for a bid from Toronto. well, will it be the Commonwealth Games? the Olympics? nothing? The thing with Toronto is that they think big therefore, wouldn't want to host the little cousin "Commonwealth Games" when they could host an Olympics. But who knows, maybe if Halifax loses their bid for 2014, Toronto and the surrounding region may put for a bid for 2018. It wouldn't be a surprise since "York Region" bid for the Canadian 2014 rights. York Region is the city above Toronto. But then you got Hamilton which desperately wants to host another CWG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 This CBC article says it all: World Will Not Come To Toronto In 2015 Oh, well. All we need to know now is whether Moscow will join in the fray. If not, then it will be a "two-horse" race between Izmir and Milan for the honor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 This CBC article says it all:World Will Not Come To Toronto In 2015 Oh, well. All we need to know now is whether Moscow will join in the fray. If not, then it will be a "two-horse" race between Izmir and Milan for the honor. The deadline to submit a bid has passed. It's between Milan and Izmir. No other bids can be submitted now therefore Moscow is out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 If that is the case, then the Expo 2015 bid race goes like this: 1. If Turkey, with Izmir, wins the bid, then the nation will have hosted its first World's Fair. Also, it could be the first big one for the Islamic world. 2. However, if Milan wins, it will be the city's SECOND World's Fair. The first time Milan hosted one was way back in 1906. In fact, it was Italy's first Expo ever. Since then, Italy hosted this many World's Fairs: - Milan in 1906; - Rome in 1953; - Naples in 1954; - Torino in 1955 & 1961; - Genoa in 1992. Looks like Italy loves hosting World's Fairs. Six of them so far in its history with the possibility of number seven, with this latest bid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cesco_82 Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 well... Milano 1906: Universal EXPO Roma 1953: Special EXPO Napoli 1954: Special EXPO Torino 1955: Special EXPO Torino 1961: Special EXPO [100years from unification of Italy] Genova 1992: Specialized EXPO [500 years from America discovery by Cristoforo Colombo] as you can see it'll be 109 years since last real EXPO in Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faster Posted November 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 Excellent, now maybe Toronto can get back to what it does best, bidding for the Olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave199 Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 Word is coming from Italy that Milan has won by default as Izmir's bid has been rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.