Bringing the Olympic torch to Toronto

With the London Games coming to a close last night and Olympic fever at a high, civic boosters and politicians in Toronto are once again asking the question: Should we try to bring this dog-and-pony show to the Big Smoke?

After two failed bids, is the dream of a Toronto Olympic Games still worth pursuing?

The skeptics have a lengthy list of reasons why we shouldn’t bother. The cost of staging a summer games is ludicrously high. Estimates in London approach $18 billion, money that critics say could have been better spent on things that matter more than competitions to prove which country can throw things the furthest or jump the highest. Things like health care, education or anti-poverty strategies.

And then there’s the legacy aspect, which rarely seems to live up to the hype. In Athens, venues built for the 2004 Olympics sit unused and derelict. And Sydney, the 2000 host, never really saw the expected growth in tourism after the games. Recent studies say that most host cities don’t.

Closer to home, there’s the cautionary tale from Montreal, host of the 1976 Games. It took governments almost three decades to pay off their Olympic debt — the wrong kind of legacy.

Still, despite the pile of reasons why not, Toronto shouldn’t be so quick to turn down the torch.

Yes, there are pitfalls to hosting, but in Toronto those risks and costs are mitigated somewhat by the plan to host the Pan-Am Games in 2015. Seeing as those games will be the largest multi-sport event ever hosted in Canada, they’ll serve as a pretty darn effective dry run.

In preparation for 2015, athletic venues are already being built across the GTA — with many adaptable to Olympic use. With the infrastructure and experience under our belt, this city could follow in the footsteps of Rio de Janeiro, which leveraged its hosting of the 2007 Pan-Am Games into a winning 2016 Olympic bid.

Aside from that, critics shouldn’t dismiss the infrastructure benefits. Like it or not, the federal government in Canada seems to wake up to the pressing needs of urban areas only when major world events come to town. In advance of the winter games, Vancouver saw a laundry list of projects finally get some funding attention. Toronto and its surrounding municipalities, with overcrowded transit, choked highways, substandard housing and a lack of green space, are in desperate need of the same kind of treatment.

This city shouldn’t sprint toward an Olympic future, but we shouldn’t pull out of the race either. The potential benefits — and, yes, drawbacks — of a successful bid are compelling enough that they deserve careful study and consideration. With a reasonable approach, Toronto could still find its place on the Olympic podium.