Mississauga mayor says more information needed for Olympic bid

mississagua.com
Sept. 1, 2015
By Iain Colpitts

With the deadline for Toronto to apply for the 2024 Summer Olympic bid looming, Mayor Bonnie Crombie issued a statement regarding Mississauga's support of a potential bid.

“Before deciding on whether or not Mississauga would support a Toronto bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, my Council would need to first study a comprehensive business case which details the budget implications and financial requests Mississauga taxpayers would be asked to commit to as part of this collective effort," Crombie stated.

“We would also want to engage residents and hear directly from community groups and local businesses, about whether or not an Olympic bid makes sense for Mississauga."

The deadline to apply to the International Olympic Committee is Sept. 15 and the IOC will name the host city in 2017.

So far, Los Angeles, Paris, Hamburg, Budapest and Rome are said to be in the running. Boston was planning to put in a bid, but bowed out in July, claiming there wasn't enough public support as well as concerns over taxpayer spending and debt.

Toronto, meanwhile, doesn't seem to have much support from the public or city council. On Monday, The Toronto Star reported that not a single member of the city's budget committee endorsed a potential bid.

The Star also has an ongoing poll on whether the city should bid on the Games, to which 71 per cent of voters responded with no.

The fee just to apply for a bid is estimated to be between $50 million and $60 million. Hosting The Games could come with a bill between $3.3 billion and $7.7 billion according to a 2013 feasibility study commissioned by the City of Toronto.

Of course, Toronto, along with other municipalities in Southern Ontario including Mississauga, recently hosted the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, which sparked speculation of a possible Olympic bid down the line.

Crombie has asked that the topic of a possible 2024 bid be added to council's General Committee meeting next Wednesday (Sept. 9).

“Hosting the Olympics is an enormous responsibility which will have lasting implications for communities across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area - long after the games have concluded. I need to know what those implications will be for Mississauga.”

Toronto has expressed a desire to host the Olympics previously. The city finished second to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics and third behind Atlanta and Athens for the 1996 Games.