Item - 2016.EX13.25

The Executive Committee:

1. Referred the Final Report from the Mayor's Advisory Panel on International Hosting Opportunities to the City Manager for an assessment of the Panel's recommendations and principles, with direction to:

a.  report to Executive Committee in the Spring of 2016 recommending a strategy and guiding principles for future major international event hosting in Toronto; and

b.  give consideration to establishing an organization, external to and operating at arms-length from the City of Toronto, to work with a range of municipal, regional, provincial, federal, business and community stakeholders and identify and facilitate international hosting bid opportunities.

Last fall, I appointed a three-member Advisory Panel chaired by former RBC CEO Gord Nixon, to provide advice and recommendations on bidding and hosting major international events in Toronto. Mr. Nixon was joined by Civic Action CEO Sevaun Palvetzian and Saad Rafi, the CEO of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan and former CEO of the Organizing Committee for the TORONTO 2015 Pan / Parapan American Games held last summer.

The Panel was mandated to engage with members of the community and councillors to determine the benefits and risks of hosting international events, the types of events Toronto should consider hosting, key city building objectives, and what needs to be done to ensure that Toronto can be successful if and when it decides to pursue hosting opportunities in the future.

The Advisory Panel has now provided their final report, "Bringing the World to Toronto," to all members of Council. This report does a commendable job in outlining the key considerations for the City and our partners as we evaluate and decide on future hosting opportunities for major international events.

The Panel consulted with a wide range of community stakeholders including civic organizations, social agencies, cultural institutions, business leaders, city builders and resi­dents, including newcomers. The Panel also solicited input from all members of Council and heard a range of important views on major event hosting at the ward level and for Toronto as a whole.

Through these consultations, the Panel identified five "hosting principles" to be used when evaluating hosting opportunities and five recommendations intended to help the City and its partners to support these events in a consistent and responsible way in the future. As they write in the report, there is a need to "professionalize the process for major event bidding and hosting in Toronto and the region."

The Panel has provided a solid foundation with their report. As a next step, I am requesting members of the Executive Committee to support a motion referring this report to the City Manager, for a report back later this spring with a strategy and principles to give effect to the Panel’s recommendations.

I thank the members of the Panel, and the City staff members who supported them, for their hard work in putting this report together.