Toronto mulls an Olympic bid once again

Toronto is poised, once again, to consider whether or not the city should make a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. There hasn't been too much talk about hosting the Games since Mayor Rob Ford shot down rumblings about a 2020 bid over three years ago, but in the interim the city commissioned Ernst & Young to produce a feasibility report on a 2024 bid, which will finally go before the economic development committee on Monday.

You'd have to think that the idea of making a run for 2024 will face significant opposition. While the report lays out some of the obvious benefits of hosting the Olympics -- most notably the increase in Toronto's global brand, cultural capital, and provision of new infrastructure -- the costs associated with bidding are themselves exorbitant (upwards of $60 million), not to mention what the Games would cost should the bid be successful (which could reach almost $7 billion).

The Olympic dream is a stubborn one in Toronto, bolstered perhaps by previous bids for both the 1996 and 2008 Games. But even as Rob Ford's wings have been clipped at City Hall, this is a place where the fiscal responsibility remains a major buzz word, and that's not the best environment for embarking on costly Olympic bids.

What do you think? Is now a good time to go after the Olympics once again?