[wyliepoon]

The Star

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Toronto submits business plan for world's fair
Aug. 10, 2006. 01:00 AM
VANESSA LU
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Expo officials have sent a business plan to Ottawa that they hope will help kick-start a decision by the federal government on whether to underwrite Toronto's bid to host the 2015 world's fair.

Michel Frappier, newly hired chief operating officer of the Toronto Expo 2015 corporation, said the business plan was sent to Heritage Canada officials yesterday.

In addition, Toronto officials will be making a presentation to bureaucrats in Ottawa today.

"We'll walk them through the vision, major events and cost estimates," said Frappier.

Last month, there was much confusion over whether Toronto had submitted a business plan.

At an event attended by both Mayor David Miller and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Miller insisted that one had been submitted — but just a few metres away Flaherty said none had been handed in.

"The minister has been pretty adamant that he's not going to move this forward without a business plan," said Flaherty spokesperson Dan Miles yesterday.

"Our anticipation is that we're going to get a business plan."

It turns out the city submitted a consultants' report done by Price Waterhouse Coopers outlining projections from how many jobs would be created to potential tax revenues for the federal and provincial governments.

Under the city's plan, Ottawa, Queen's Park and the city need to share $2.8 billion in upfront costs to clean up contaminated soil, build pavilions, upgrade public transit and make other improvements. Even though the fair would generate $2.7 billion in income and sales taxes for Ottawa and $2 billion for Queen's Park, it is still projected to lose up to $700 million.

Frappier, who just started last week, said the numbers in terms of costs "may be exaggerated" and "the returns highly conservative."

He argued that the projected $700 million deficit is probably too high.

Ultimately, the city needs Ottawa to sign on to the bid, which must come from the national government.

The deadline to bid is Nov. 3, but Toronto Councillor Brian Ashton, who has been leading the city's bid effort, said the sooner one can be submitted the better.

"Politically, you need to impress upon the BIE (Bureau International des Expositions) that we're extraordinarily serious," said Ashton.

"Other cities and other countries are watching."

So far, only Izmir, Turkey, has officially said it will be bidding, though there are rumours Moscow or Milan may bid, he said.

 

[building babel]

I do so hope the Turks get this thing. They've been trying for the Olympics I don't know how many times, trying to join Europe, trying to join anywhere that'll have them, poor dears. Their squalid, cloying neediness, their hunger for acceptance and a sense of self-worth based on what others think of them exceeds anything even our own "world class" lobbyists can dream up.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

I have almost no confidence in this project. The interest that once existed in Expos is long gone and the whole venture seems like a sad waste of time. I haven't seen any leadersip behind the project or ideas being put forward that make me care in the slightest.

But failure is a part of life and at the very least I hope Toronto gets the funding for this project. I wouldn't pay any amount of money to walk through the gates but the fun or watching how an Expo would turn out is worth a couple dollars of my taxes at least.

 

[toforumer]

I just don't get the feeling that the federal government, more specifically the Finance minister is excited about Toronto's Expo bid. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the bid does not get supported by the feds. Maybe it is best that it does not go through, Expos are big financial losers and do not bring the amount of international exposure other World events bring to the plate.

 

[thenay]

I still have hope, glad its still in the news

 

[MetroMan1000]

The interest that once existed in Expos is long gone and the whole venture seems like a sad waste of time. I haven't seen any leadersip behind the project or ideas being put forward that make me care in the slightest.

If you'd attended the public meetings, you'd see that there is strong leadership from within the city ranks, there is good organization of the bid and best of all, there are some incredible ideas.

You my friend are the one who is disinterested and lacking of ideas so you assume that this project has no steam.

It is unfortunate that the Harper govt' isn't jumping on this and supporting us strongly, but I'm not surprised that a party that got completely shafted by Toronto is less than enthusiastic on helping us out.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

If you'd attended the public meetings, you'd see that there is strong leadership from within the city ranks, there is good organization of the bid and best of all, there are some incredible ideas.

I wasn't there so I can't argue the ideas presented. If there are so many great ideas though, should they not be doing a better job presenting them to the public? If you are going to propose that the various levels of government get behind this large scale project and invest billions of dollars, it might help to gain strong public for the project. The two Olympic bids made a great deal of noise and generated a lot of public support pretty much from the start. I know Expo is in the early stages but if they want to make a serious go at it they should fire their PR people and get a group of people who can get the city and its citizens to rally behind the idea.

 

[tudararms]

Babel: "Their squalid, cloying neediness, their hunger for acceptance and a sense of self-worth based on what others think of them exceeds anything even our own "world class" lobbyists can dream up."

Just love the "Let them eat cake" brand of sensitivity here.

 

[adma]

It's Turkey time, gobble gobble

 

[thx1038]

^stealing BW is for losers.

 

[adma]

Fixed. Unless it de-fixes itself...

 

[MetroMan1000]

The two Olympic bids made a great deal of noise and generated a lot of public support pretty much from the start.

The Olympic bid was supported by the COA and the federal gov't from the start.
First things first: they need to submit a bid before spending any money on promoting the bid. They have a limited budget that allows for them to do sustainability studies, gauge the interest of the public (which they did through their public forums), and put a business plan together to submit to the gov't.

Once the feds give their support, the bid can submit itself to the BIA and from there it'll be time to bring the bid to the general public through comprehensive promotions. At that point, there will be funding for the bid and getting it in front of Torontonians will be the priority at that time.

As I've said, if people would take the time to be in the loop, they'd know what's going on and what's going on is the proper chain of events and actions. Toronto has an excellent chance at hosting this and the benefits will far surpass those of hosting an Olympic games with exception to exposure which no other event can rival other than a World Cup.

Olympics are better at showing off to the international community. World Expos are better at improving the local community.

I encourage everybody to look into this as it will be big in the public eye in the next few years ... being in the know in advance could have its benefits. If you'd rather wait to hear about it through the regular channels, then please be patient as its time will come.

 

[Duplicitous]

Blech, I hope Toronto never gets an Expo or Olympics, our politicians are too bush-league and fiscally irresponsible not to put us in worse debt than Montreal was left in post '76.

We have the worst civil governance of any Canadian city.

Imagine people like Miller appointing fiscal managers for that project? God help us all.

 

[rbtaylor]

Projects like these don't fall into any one politicians basket. The design and implementation timeframe spans many political leaders. A substantial chunk of this proposal was built during the Lastman years as overseen by Lastman, Harris, and Chretien staff.

That is, they've started from the old Expo and Olympics packages and are modifying to fit todays costs.

But in reality it is the politicians in charge in 2015 that will make or break it. If they slash the advertising budget or otherwise make it difficult for the event to bring in tourists, then it will be a failure.

If they go those extra steps to ensure it is operated smoothly, well known, and easily accessible; it will be a huge success.


Aside from all that, Toronto has been pretty good at completing large projects on time and on budget. The local staff of the big general contractors (PCL, Ellisdon, etc.) have lots of experience with implementing multi-billion dollar construction projects, as do city staff, and this one is really easy to break down into many individual sub-project tenders.

Price escalations are almost always the result of demands of the voters increasing project scope during the EA process. If you're worried about this, goto the meetings and make sure to argue against those types of demands being made by the general public.

 

[afransen TO]

Haven't most large projects (like the subways, current Pearson renewal) been on time and on budget? I think projects like SkyDome are the exception and not the rule in Toronto.