TORONTO, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is applauding the decision by Toronto Mayor John Tory not to bid on the 2024 Olympics. The decision was announced at a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday morning.

“We are pleased that the Mayor has listened to common sense and to what the citizens of Toronto have been saying, and has decided against bidding on the 2024 Olympics,” said CTF Ontario Director Christine Van Geyn. “We know from the history of the Olympic Games that these events come with massive cost overruns at public expense.”

“While some will lament this decision, true leadership isn’t about legacy-building and vanity projects. Leadership is saying no to handing future generations an even larger bill than they already will receive,” continued Van Geyn.

In a news release Monday morning, the CTF implored Mayor Tory and Premier Wynne not to make the “firm commitment to bid” on the 2024 Olympics. The deadline for the Mayor to inform the International Olympic Committee of his decision on whether or not Toronto would bid on the Olympics was today, September 15.

Ontario is faced with an $8.5 billion deficit, and spends nearly a billion dollars each month on interest alone. An Olympic bid would have cost between $50 and $60 million, and there was no firm commitment about where that money would come from. A successful bid would have cost billions more. The Sochi Olympics cost over $51 billion, and since 1980, the average cost overrun for the summer Olympics has been 252 per cent.

“Given the lack of transparency around a 2024 Olympics bid, and given Ontario’s current fiscal situation, Mayor Tory made the right decision not to commit Toronto to bidding on the 2024 Olympics. This decision has protected taxpayers from the kind of cost overruns that plagued the Montreal Olympics for thirty years,” concluded Van Geyn.