Toronto’s Olympic talk could prove pricey
Re: Chatter Growing Over Possible Olympic Bid, July 25. I can relate to Toronto’s excitement at the prospect of possibly hosting Olympic Games in the near future. I also have been really excited at the prospect of some day buying a fancy Porsche automobile. However, until my personal budget allows such an extravagant and unnecessary expenditure, I will defer to common sense. Toronto and Ontario would be wise to exercise similar economic prudence and defer this expensive wish until the province is out of its current financial doldrums. Canada must decide by September whether it wishes to host the 2024 Olympic Games. Toronto Mayor John Tory has already made up his mind.
I don’t wish to pay, again, for games in Toronto. The only people who attended the Pan Am Games were the politicians, the rich and the organizers, all of whom had the benefit of limousines or taxis to convey them to game sites. As proof, I offer the reservation of HOV lanes to limousines, taxis and three-passenger vehicles.
But the only people who paid for most of the Games’ expenses were taxpayers in Ontario and Canada. Toronto did not carry the cost; the rest of Canada did.
Tory said all the needed Olympic venues are now in place. He is wrong. Many more nations will participate, and their representatives and competitors will need accommodation far in excess of what is now available. With Mideast nations in attendance, security will become a major concern, requiring the Canadian Armed Forces and most of Canada’s police to guard those threatened by suicide-minded terrorists. Security alone will be expensive and terrorists will get through — you can’t stop someone bent on dying.