[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by IKAN104

Very cool. It's still a long shot but I remember being told that Edmonton would "never in a million years" be awarded the 2001 Track & Field Championships. I have full confidence in this city's ability to pull it off.

Yeah, this one is not the full size one like Shanghai or Montreal had back in the day, but more like the BC sized one right? (to be fair back when BC hosted it the smaller sized fairs did not have a limit on sheer size)

The smaller sized fairs are good!

I hope this goes forward with full vigor, I wonder what the other Canadian bids will look like (which Canadian bid to go forward was based 100% on financial considerations in 1995)





As a bit of nostos, here is the article from when Calgary lost the 2005 bid (I still have my bid committee hoody)

Calgary loses out on Expo 2005

Japan overwhelming choice despite massive lobbying effort by Canadian bidders

Alanna Mitchell. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Jun 13, 1997. pg. A.1
Friday, June 13, 1997

Alberta Bureau

CALGARY -- Canada lost its third consecutive bid for a world's fair yesterday when Japan sailed past Calgary to win Expo 2005 in what many here said was a case of money overpowering merit.

After three years of ceaseless self-promotion, including the formal corporate sponsorship by both city newspapers, Calgary had come to be seen locally as the little engine that could bump off the economic superpower of Japan. As recently as the day before the vote, the Calgary team was saying publicly it believed Canada would win.

But when the votes of the delegates to the Bureau international des exhibitions were counted yesterday morning in Monte Carlo, Japan won so resoundingly -- 52-27 -- that it was clear the race had never been close.

And that was what stunned thousands of Calgarians as they thronged Olympic Plaza at noon, about an hour after the announcement, to digest the loss, sing the national anthem and occasionally wipe away tears.

"It's pretty disappointing," said Lori Chornick, who was there with her two pre-school-aged daughters. "We expected to win. We should have."

Michael Monkman, 15, said the whole process had really been about Japan's economic power, not about Calgary's proposal.

"I personally think it's about economics and increasing trade for Japan," he said as he watched some of the bid's executives try to explain the loss to Calgarians through a television feed from Monaco.

The bid's organizers were visibly crushed by the results of the vote. Jack Perraton, a prominent local lawyer who was chairman of Calgary's quest for the world's fair, told Calgarians from Monte Carlo that it had all come down to economic and geopolitical considerations.

"I think I could say to you if this would have been awarded on merit and no other considerations, we would have won hands-down," Mr. Perraton said.

Calgary Mayor Al Duerr, who looked stricken, said he didn't think a single voting member of the bureau had any doubt that Canada had the best project.

"There is no dishonour in defeat," he told the crowd in his address from Monaco.

Standing with the crowd in pools of rainwater in Olympic Plaza, James Maxim, involved with a lobby of the Middle East and Africa on behalf of the Calgary bid, said even those working on the bid were shocked at the margin by which Japan won.

He said part of the explanation might be the rush of new member countries to the Bureau international des expositions, many of which may have been persuaded to join in order to support Japan's bid. Just a few months ago, the organization had about 50 members. Yesterday, 81 deposited ballots. (One country abstained and one spoiled its ballot, in addition to the 52 votes for Japan and 27 for Calgary.)

"What Japan offered them, we'll never know," Mr. Maxim said. "It's probably safe to assume some economic opportunity was offered to those countries."

Toronto, too, has been humbled by this process. It lost its attempt to hold Expo 2000 by a single vote in 1990 that sent that world's fair to Hanover, Germany. Then in 1992, Toronto lost to Lisbon in its bid to hold Expo 98.

Japan's Expo bid was backed by some of its most powerful businesses. The bid chairman is Shoichiro Toyoda, one of Japan's most influential businessmen and chairman of Toyota Motor Corp.

Expo 2005 will take place near Nagoya in the Aichi prefecture, which is also home to Toyota's head office. Its theme is finding ways for humans to live harmoniously with nature.

However, in order to build the pavilions necessary to showcase this theme and accommodate the 25 million expected visitors, Japan will have to destroy 150 hectares of the environmentally sensitive Kaisho forest, which contains about 10 endangered species of plants and animals.

Japan's bid has been harshly criticized by environmentalists in that country and by influential international organizations such as the Japanese branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

The Canadian Expo 2005 team said the fair would have meant economic benefits of $1.8-billion to Canada, with the lion's share going to Alberta. But in an effort to put the loss in a positive light, organizers said yesterday that Calgary's $5.5-million around-the-world travelling spree to try to win the fair would likely still have some economic spinoffs for the city. "It's been a very successful economic development strategy for our city," Councillor Joanne Kerr told the crowd.