Torontonians want Olympics, but are leery of paying the bill

Majority want the city to host Summer Games, but don’t want taxpayers to foot the cost.

Thestar.com
Aug. 6, 2015
By Geoffrey Vendeville

Although most Torontonians recently said they would like their city to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, a new poll suggests a slim majority doesn’t want to foot the bill.

Forum Research asked 892 people last weekend: “Do you support or oppose using public funds to host the Olympic Games in Toronto?” Some 53 per cent were opposed, 36 per cent were in favour, and 11 per cent said they didn’t know.

“There is a group of people in the middle, they want the Olympics, but they’re concerned about how to pay for it,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president and founder of Forum Research. “And I think the key thing going forward is going to be the financial aspect of this. I think they need a financial plan and they’re starting to get scared.”

The poll doesn’t account for possible benefits of hosting the Olympics, such as increased tourism, he said.

Respondents’ opinions didn’t vary much by income or location - although they were slightly more negative in Scarborough (55 per cent). “It’s surprising, because we almost always find this city-versus-suburbs division, but there isn’t one on this issue,” Bozinoff said.

There was more opposition among Doug Ford supporters (63 per cent), Conservative voters (58 per cent) and Torontonians with a British background (57 per cent).

The results of the interactive voice response phone survey are considered accurate plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

In another Forum poll last week, just after the Pan Am Games, six in 10 Torontonians said they wanted the city to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Thirty per cent were against the idea, and 9 per cent said they had no opinion.

Mayor John Tory said there would be a “broad consultation,” including with city councillors, residents, businesses and sports organizations, before deciding whether to bid.

Tory’s approval rating stands at 72 per cent, according to the Aug. 1 and 2 Forum poll, two percentage points lower than last month.

Tory couldn’t say if city council’s approval is necessary for Toronto’s bid to go forward. Council isn’t scheduled to meet until Sept. 30, after the deadline to nominate host cities
Canada hasn’t hosted the Summer Games since the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

Boston, a contender to host in 2024, dropped out of the running last week after residents and the city’s mayor, Martin Walsh, had expressed concerns about the cost to taxpayers. Paris; Rome; Hamburg, Germany and Budapest have all announced they intend to bid.

Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Massachusetts and author of Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, said hosting the Games doesn’t pay off.

There have been cost overruns at every Games since 1960, he said. London, the host in 2012, started with a budget of $5 billion and spent $18 billion, mostly of public money, he added.
Toronto could save money by using some of the same venues as the Pan Am Games. Nevertheless, “it’s a still a very elaborate and involved and expensive venture, even if you end up saving a couple of billion dollars,” he said.