More than 50 per cent of GTA residents and half of Canadians overall want Canada to bring Expo 2025 to Toronto, a new poll suggests.
Fifty-six per cent of GTA respondents to an online poll conducted by Hill+Knowlton Strategies said they want Canada to bid on bringing the world fair to Toronto in 2025.
Fifteen per cent of respondents opposed making a bid, while 27 per cent said they were not sure of their position yet and would require more information.
Asking the same question across Canada, 55 per cent of respondents said they supported a bid, while 10 per cent said they opposed it and 32 per cent said they were not sure.
Expo events take place every five years around a particular theme to showcase innovation. Expo 2015 was held in Milan, Italy around the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” Expo 2020 will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates around the theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.”
The idea behind the event stretches back to the late 1800s, where countries would host “world’s fairs” that demonstrated the latest innovations in transportation, architecture and communications technology.
Toronto Mayor John Tory has said he would only support a bid if the province and the federal government offer to fund the effort.
In a letter, the Trudeau government said it would explore “next steps” with the city if council indicated it supported a bid.
The poll was conducted online between Aug. 29 and Sept. 1 and reached 1301 adult respondents, 483 of whom reside in the GTA.
As an online-only poll, it has a credibility interval rather than a margin of error. It was 3.1 per cent nationwide and 5.1 per cent inside the GTA. The sample of respondents was weighted against census figures to achieve a representative sample according to age and gender.
A credibility interval is different than a margin of error as a an online poll by definition excludes those without internet access and respondents are not chosen at random.
