Evaluators from the Pan American Games spent Sunday touring Toronto to assess if the city has what it takes to host the celebrated sporting event in 2015.
Toronto Mayor David Miller was one of many officials who met with the evaluation commission Sunday morning at the CN Tower's 360 restaurant to launch their two-day tour of the city.
The group, accompanied by a number of Canadian Olympians, was expected to visit more than 50 sports venues in the Greater Toronto Area, including the site of the new Canadian Sport Institute Ontario and state-of-the-art Aquatic Centre at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus.
They were also given a tour of the proposed Athletes' Village on the lakefront.
George Smitherman, Ontario's minister of energy and infrastructure, said in a news release earlier in the day that the province plans to transform the village into a community of high-quality affordable housing units.
"Not only will this be an ideal home base for the athletes of the 2015 Games, we think it will become one of the most exciting new neighbourhoods in Toronto," said Minister Smitherman.
Several protests have been planned for Sunday and Monday's visit by a group called "No Games Toronto." Members of the group argue that Toronto can't afford to host the event which is less popular than the actual Olympic games.
The Pan Am Games serves as an Olympic-qualifier for several summer Olympic sports. They take place every four years. The next games are scheduled for 2011 and will take place in Mexico.
Officials say the Pan AM games could bring a quarter of a million tourists to the city if Toronto is chosen to host the event.
Toronto is competing for the games against Lima, Peru and Bogota, Colombia. The evaluation commission is expected to vote on the 2015 host city in November.
