One thing's for sure though, these Pan-Am Games (in 2015) are about to become the biggest thing that ever hit us now that they're in Toronto!
BTW Toronto invested millions into *considering* a bid for the world expo 2015, before finally missing the deadline to confirm intention to bid.
There is still a hopeful section on a Toronto website entitled Major International Events that continues to give the impression Toronto has a bid alive for it.
Then Toronto/Hamilton looked into hosting the 2017 (smaller) Expo in conjunction with Canada's 150th birthday. Also interested were Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and perhaps others.
When it came time to confirm intentions with Heritage Canada only Edmonton and Calgary announced, Calgary's announcement coming as a surprise. Calgary pulled the plug on its bid a couple of days ago.
Edmonton is now the only city in the running to become Canada's official applicant for Expo 2017 and needs to put a proposal in to Canadian Heritage by the end of November.
If done right - it could be a great thing. Expo 67 added $2.5 B to our tourism balance sheet over 1966. Expo 86 added $1.5 Bil over the previous year. There could even be more to it than that, with the 150th birthday tie-in - but Edmonton has a weak underbelly.
Normally, you would understand that Edmonton would have a somewhat tougher time to promote itself than, say, Montreal or Vancouver. But you would start off thinking about stuff like gateway to the north, land of the Klondike, land of the midnight sun and soon your imagination would be rolling and Edmonton could be made to look pretty attractive... and it is, truth be told.
That was then - this is now: The real challenge for Edmonton going forward is going to be the public relations disaster that is the Alberta Tar Sands. Canada was royally skewered in Barcelona this past week over its greenhouse gas emissions policy - and if people in Edmonton think anyone watches Fox News in Europe to get the "pro-tar" "pro-smog" "pro-carbon" propaganda side of things, then maybe I could get you a good deal on some beautiful oil rights in the Ottawa Valley.
If anyone at Canadian Heritage is awake, they may even just pass on ratifying Edmonton's bid. Save them the expense and embarrassment. Although this is unlikely under a Harper government, of course. So, depending on which cities are bidding against Edmonton, we will see what happens. I have a feeling there will be a lot of international resentment towards Alberta - it will be interesting to see how Edmonton plans to overcome this.
No comments:
Post a Comment