Pan Am win opens city's wallet in hard times

From left to right, Peter Fonseca, former Olympian Marnie McBean, Toronto Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, and Peter Kent celebrate on Nov. 6, 2009 after Toronto's bid won the right to host the 2015 Pan-Am Games.

Millions of dollars will start to flow quickly to build new swimming pools, other sports venues and affordable housing, thanks to Toronto’s decisive first-ballot victory to host the 2015 Pan American Games.

“It’s very significant good news for Toronto," said a jubilant Mayor David Miller, speaking Friday from Guadalajara, Mexico, moments after 33 of 52 delegates to the Pan American Sport Organization voted for the city’s $1.4-billion bid, beating out Lima and Bogota.

It was a satisfying win for a city that had lost two Olympic bids, to Atlanta in 1996 and Beijing in 2008. And the rewards will be concrete: Topping the list of investments are a $170-million aquatic centre – with two 50-metre pools and a dive tank – at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, a $150-million, 15,000-seat track-and-field stadium in Hamilton, and 2,100 units of affordable housing in Toronto’s West Don Lands, site of the athletes village.

Without the Pan Am Games, new housing in the West Don Lands, a waterfront community in the early stages of development, would not be fully rolled out for 15 years. With funds in place, the housing will be ready for 8,500 athletes for the Games before being turned over as affordable housing.

“It’s a wonderful legacy of the Games," said Mr. Miller of the athletes’ village. “It means people will be able to live in that community much faster."

In Toronto’s east end, students and faculty at the U of T’s Scarborough campus were celebrating Friday night, knowing an international-standard aquatic facility is finally in sight.

The cost of the $170-million project is split between the federal, provincial and municipal governments, with 22 per cent coming from the university.

“It’s really a special moment for us, and you might say a formative moment for us," said Franco Vaccarino, principal of U of T Scarborough. “It’s more than a facility. It’s a point of pride for the broader community. It will create a legacy that will endure well beyond the Pan Am Games."

He credited the buzz around the Games with fast-tracking a project that had been treading water for five years. “Getting the Pan Am Games here really creates a whole different dimension of potential for [the facility]," Dr. Vaccarino said.

Despite euphoria over the win, there are some political points of tension over what transit investments should be made for the Games.

Mr. Miller argues governments should accelerate plans for a new light-rail line to Scarborough-Malvern that would connect to the aquatic centre in Scarborough. “If you have a competition venue you have to have rapid transit to it," he said.

But Ontario Deputy Premier and Infrastructure and Energy Minister George Smitherman – who brushed aside questions Friday about a possible run for Toronto mayor next year – urged caution about adding new transit options to the mix because of the Games.

“It is a little bit as if some people’s expectations are not being recalibrated for the fiscal reality we are operating in," he said, citing budget pressures on the city and the province. “I would want to be a bit cautious on that."

News of the victory caught many off guard, as it came an hour or so earlier than expected.

“I walked into the room and saw arms in the air and people screaming and splashing drinks on the floor," said Peter Kent, the federal minister of state for foreign affairs in the Americas, who had joined city, provincial and bid officials at a downtown office to await the announcement. “It was a wonderful rush of adrenalin."

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