[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto council committee agrees not to pursue Expo 2025 bid"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Betsy Powell reports on how Toronto city council has opted not to look into trying to gain Expo 2025. Thank God!

The city’s executive committee has voted to accept a staff recommendation not to pursue a world’s fair, despite intense lobbying by an ardent downtown city councillor alongside business and community leaders.

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong moved the motion Wednesday evening that the committee adopt the conclusion of senior city staff that the risk of hosting Expo 2025 outweighed potential benefits.

“We can’t afford to get this wrong, the cost escalations could be huge,” Minnan-Wong told committee members. A consultant’s report found it would cost close $1.9 billion to stage an Expo.

“If you were to ask any residents if your choice was to build more transit or to have a world’s fair, which would you choose? I think the choice would be pretty obvious to the public, they would choose more transit.”

The final decision lies with city council next month.