Royson on the matter, from the Star:
Shout it out: Let's get Expo 2015
Jun. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROYSON JAMES
It's coming up on 40 years since Canada had its coming out party with the staging of Expo 67. And this summer is the 30th anniversary of Canada's first and only summer Olympics experience, the 1976 Games.
It is no coincidence that the Canadian city that hosted these two world-scale mega events is Montreal, a town willing to take a chance and not afraid to fail.
Toronto has twice tried and failed to host the Olympics and the world's fair. And this week, a delegation led by Mayor David Miller lands in Paris to begin the city's bid for Expo 2015. You'd never know, though. So low key is the effort, understated the goals, and modest the effort; so timid the approach that few in our vibrant, changing city realize the civic aspirations.
Montreal's culture is totally different. It lives by the motto, "Go big or go home." The result is the city's known around the world; the city wins, it loses, but always it makes an impact. Expo 67, a spectacular success, is viewed as one of the best world's fairs ever. The `76 Olympics was a financial fiasco, a boondoggle example of how not to manage megaprojects. Montreal embraced them both.
Can you imagine fretful, timid Toronto facing a similar fate?
First, we would blush if the world goes ga-ga over us. And we'd be aghast and apologetic and self-loathing if we were to stage a deficit-loaded Olympics. It's just the way we be.
If Toronto had the option of staging the `67 Expo and the `76 Olympics, with the same results delivered by Montreal, our city would decline. The negatives would overwhelm the positives. Montreal, I suspect, would do it all over again.
Just the thought that we might be seeking the right to host Expo 2015 has some of us fretting already. Oh, the deficits, the cost of security. One esteemed colleague of mine worried in the Star recently that going after these megaprojects was akin to "bowing and scraping and endless feet-kissing of people who have no right to decide what happens to our city."
How disappointing.
What confident, progressive cities have figured out is how important it is to leverage major events to local benefit. The International Olympic Committee and the Bureau International des Expositions do not decide what happens in our city. They award Olympics and World's Fairs. If you like their franchise, you plunk down your shekels and ride the train to deliver whatever goals you've set.
It's unnecessarily naive to think that if Toronto ignores these megaprojects the city will somehow use all that cash earmarked for Olympics security to revitalize at-risk neighbourhoods and improve community safety. More likely, we'll have no Olympics and no money will be used to revitalize neighbourhoods.
Nothing focuses attention more resolutely than a deadline. Nothing loosens the purse string and spurs a sprucing up of one's home base as an invitation sent out to all comers. A major event spurs spending and capital investment in worthy projects that might otherwise languish for lack of will. Other cities seem to understand this. Provincial, Presbyterian, sensible and cautious Toronto continues to play the role of bean counter.
We could learn from others. Vancouver is the new Montreal. Confident and self-assured, the city is opening to the world. It has hosted the world's fair (the B-class, smaller version of the one Montreal hosted and Toronto is after). And in 2010, the world arrives again for the Winter Olympic Games.
Will the Olympics cost more than Vancouver organizers predicted? Absolutely. Is it a bother? Well, of course, if your concern is the traffic and masses of people coming to your house for a party, and security fears. But, such matters — and the cost of the events — do not deter cities with pride and vision and drive and passion.
Moscow lost out in the bid to host the 2012 Summer Games. Now, President Vladimir Putin has indicated his premier city might go after Expo 2015 to demonstrate to the world how Moscow has embraced a whole new era of global co-operation.
If Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not match Putin's enthusiasm for Expo 2015 — the feds are reviewing Toronto's bid and have not yet decided if they will front it, a necessary first step to officially bid for the fair — Toronto might as well shut down the bid now.
For Expo to soar, the city needs strong federal government buy-in. It needs the province to continue its support. And Mayor Miller has to create a buzz around the event, even though it is nine years away.
"The new Toronto is young and vibrant and colourful and daring," says Councillor Brian Ashton, who's city council bid leader. "People want to be seen as winners, not passive losers."
Miller will be accompanied by provincial Tourism Minister Jim Bradley, and they'll get five minutes to address the general assembly of the BIE on Friday. The delegates from the 98 countries already know Toronto is capable of delivering a superb world's fair. But there's this:
"They'll look you in eye and say, `Show us you want it.'" Now, there's a challenge.
AoD
