Olympic bid a no go for T.O.

Tory to bid farewell to 2024 games.

Toronto mayor John Tory puts his foot down at City Hall on Tuesday - with a big "NO" to the 2024 Olympic bid.

Toronto mayor John Tory announced recently that the city will not put forward a bid to host the 2024 Olympic games.

Mayor John Tory confirmed Toronto will not be bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“Toronto can be an Olympic city and already is a world class city, but not today,” Tory said at a press conference.

The decision comes after a lack of support from council members, who were either undecided or against the idea.

Following Tory’s announcement the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) released a statement supporting the final verdict.

“We respect the mayor’s decision today and appreciate the thorough consideration given to a potential candidature,” Marcel Aubut, President of the COC said.

NoTO2024, a coalition for an Olympics-Free Toronto, is also happy with the Tory’s decision.

Dean Rivando, a member of NoTO2024, said he is pleased that Tory came to that decision, and that it is the right decision but not necessarily a permanent one.

“We are going to be watching to make sure any future bid has the amount of public consultation that we think is required for this to be done in a democratic way,” Rivando said.

The success and spirit brought in with the past summer’s Pan Am and Para-Pan Am Games initially ignited talks to pursue the Olympic Bid. But after the games concluded, there was not enough time to submit a proper bid.

“Toronto is capable of great things,” Tory said. “Whatever we decide to bid for we’ve got to do it right, be prepared and convinced we can win. Tory said he will focus his attention on housing and transit in the mean time.

Cities in line to host the games include Los Angeles, Rome, Budapest, Hamberg and Paris. The International Olympic Committee will announce the host city in 2017.

About this article

By: Sayada Nabi and Kelsey Cheng
Copy editor: Geremy Bordonaro
Posted: Sep 16 2015 11:18 am
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