News   Nov 29, 2024
 790     0 
News   Nov 29, 2024
 318     0 
News   Nov 29, 2024
 642     1 

Toronto Expo 2025

Why haven't they been folded into Waterfront Toronto yet? (Although I must say I tend to have the same question about Ports Toronto whenever they rear their head, but at least they make a certain amount of operating sense.)
Because Waterfront Toronto has tripartite ownership and TPL is just the city. No way Toronto will voluntarily surrender the lease/sale opportunities and leverage to the province and feds.
 
There's a certain WTF logic to their plans. Their goal is to be the greenest, most sustainable world's fair in history. However, instead of upgrading and retrofitting our existing expo-specific facilities - including a blank slate for Ontario Place - we are going to build temporary expo facilities in the portlands with questionable future uses.
 
Ah yes, yet another Grand Design for the long suffering Portlands. Just how many have we seen come and go since the first Olympic proposal embarrassingly imploded oh, what, 26 years ago now? Toronto sure loves to plan big projects, only to argue about them continually while decades pass by with no results.

World class.
 
I think this is very interesting, very discussion-worthy, and that Toronto / Port Lands is most definitely a contender. I'm interested in reading a report on this, and would like to see what could be planned in terms of infrastructure and expediting development. Are we expecting a report on this?

One thing though is that this news of a potential Expo 2025 bid seemed to have gone under the radar somewhat. I don't really think it's because Torontonians are disinterested, rather we have a lot on our plate at the moment. Just last week we had SmartTrack news, Scarb Subway news, Crosstown extension news (both east and west), Gardiner news, and now DRL news is slowly coming out. That's an obscene amount of juicy items that can be debated for years to come. IMO there's very little room left to discuss something like Expo at this point in time. So perhaps if more details come out in the coming months, people will take notice a bit more.
 
Ah yes, yet another Grand Design for the long suffering Portlands. Just how many have we seen come and go since the first Olympic proposal embarrassingly imploded oh, what, 26 years ago now? Toronto sure loves to plan big projects, only to argue about them continually while decades pass by with no results.

World class.
Hey, it's what we do with transit.
 
I think this is very interesting, very discussion-worthy, and that Toronto / Port Lands is most definitely a contender. I'm interested in reading a report on this, and would like to see what could be planned in terms of infrastructure and expediting development. Are we expecting a report on this?

One thing though is that this news of a potential Expo 2025 bid seemed to have gone under the radar somewhat. I don't really think it's because Torontonians are disinterested, rather we have a lot on our plate at the moment. Just last week we had SmartTrack news, Scarb Subway news, Crosstown extension news (both east and west), Gardiner news, and now DRL news is slowly coming out. That's an obscene amount of juicy items that can be debated for years to come. IMO there's very little room left to discuss something like Expo at this point in time. So perhaps if more details come out in the coming months, people will take notice a bit more.


One problem is Canada isn't part of the Bureau of International Expositions(BIE) anymore since the Conservatives cancelled the membership in 2012. And for Toronto to win the Expo without national membership requires a two-thirds majority vote from BIE members and any other member bids don't fail to meet BIE approval. Another problem is also selling this to the public after the fact the Olympic idea was shot down over costs since hosting an World Expo is just as expensive as hosting the Olympic games.

As for why it went under the radar, I think its because of the fact no one really thinks of the World Expo as a current world event and it quickly leaves everyone's mind. Without googling, can anyone name a World Expo after 1986? For me, I didn't even know they still held them until I read the story of the Conservatives cancelling the country's membership back in 2012. Until that point I thought it was something that just quietly died off over time and only now exist in history books.
 
One problem is Canada isn't part of the Bureau of International Expositions(BIE) anymore since the Conservatives cancelled the membership in 2012. And for Toronto to win the Expo without national membership requires a two-thirds majority vote from BIE members and any other member bids don't fail to meet BIE approval. Another problem is also selling this to the public after the fact the Olympic idea was shot down over costs since hosting an World Expo is just as expensive as hosting the Olympic games.

As for why it went under the radar, I think its because of the fact no one really thinks of the World Expo as a current world event and it quickly leaves everyone's mind. Without googling, can anyone name a World Expo after 1986? For me, I didn't even know they still held them until I read the story of the Conservatives cancelling the country's membership back in 2012. Until that point I thought it was something that just quietly died off over time and only now exist in history books.
And therein lies the problem - Expo is a 2nd tier event with a 1st tier price tag. That means we're going to pay through the nose for something that's primarily going to attract a domestic/regional audience. Since we'd probably be getting a large share of that travel regardless there is no way it will come close to breaking even or promoting the city/country internationally. Most of the structures are temporary so it's not going to act as a catalyst for infrastructure. Complete waste of time and money, but nobody's paying attention so there's a chance we'll end up saddled with it.
 
Ontario Place doesn't have nearly enough available space nor infrastructure for a World Expo.
There is the adjacent Exhibition grounds.

This really should be the site of a World Expo, if we were to hold it. Revitalize Ontario Place into the something astounding it deserves to be, build the WWLRT, and most tourists will already be a short distance from downtown Toronto attractions.

After the Expo leaves, if we do a good job of Ontario Place, it can permanently remain the year-round international tourist AND local attraction that it should be.

The Expo might actually not be a complete sinkhole of money with no tangible long-term benefits if the proposal had any foresight and sense.
 
There is the adjacent Exhibition grounds.

This really should be the site of a World Expo, if we were to hold it. Revitalize Ontario Place into the something astounding it deserves to be, build the WWLRT, and most tourists will already be a short distance from downtown Toronto attractions.

After the Expo leaves, if we do a good job of Ontario Place, it can permanently remain the year-round international tourist AND local attraction that it should be.

The Expo might actually not be a complete sinkhole of money with no tangible long-term benefits if the proposal had any foresight and sense.

Or you can do the water-taxi/LRT thing and have a multi-site Expo ground, especially considering the latter is supposed to be extended to the Portlands/Villers Island anyways. If you are going to be spending money for that next phase of the waterfront, you might as well find some interim uses for that new piece of property that requires upfront servicing anyways.

The more difficult part is probably coming up with an event/theme that people would want to go to.

AoD
 
Or you can do the water-taxi/LRT thing and have a multi-site Expo ground, especially considering the latter is supposed to be extended to the Portlands/Villers Island anyways. If you are going to be spending money for that next phase of the waterfront, you might as well find some interim uses for that new piece of property that requires upfront servicing anyways.

The more difficult part is probably coming up with an event/theme that people would want to go to.

AoD
Or we could just drop the $10B on the current transit plan and skip the vanity project.
 

Back
Top