"Canadian taxpayers will pay to stroke, kiss, and coddle the self-proclaimed god of the cosmos, if Toronto gets the Olympics" - Earl McRae

From an e-mail exchange between Larry Solway and Ottawa Sun sports and political columnist Earl McRae

Re: Toronto wants the 2008 Games.
  No. Must not happen. Torontonians are excessively more dynamic and exciting than Ottawans, but they're still Canadians; it must not happen.
  The Olympics are nothing more than a colossal ego hemorrhage. An attractive whore, but still a whore. A way for host cities to suck up government grants to build facilities they otherwise couldn't afford and, for the most part, don't need, and won't be needing, post Olympics.
  If Toronto gets the Games, there'll be a considerable cost to the Canadian taxpayers to stroke, kiss, and coddle Toronto, self-proclaimed god of the cosmos, despite any and all denials. The Games do not make a city more long-term economically and socially viable.
  Calgary had the winter Games 12 years ago; Montreal the summer Games 24 years ago; the Games did not rocket those cities to any shining emerald status in the world consciousness; they are both where they were, and what they'd be, even if they hadn't got the games. Worse in the case of Montreal and the Olympic Stadium--the infamous Big OWE.
  The modern Games are a horrendous cost exercise in the name of ego masturbation; Toronto believes it is Canada; Canadians suffer genetically from a massive inferiority complex; this is Toronto's way of saying: "See? See? We do matter, don't we? We are a somebody, aren't we? Aren't we? Hello? Hello? Oh dear, the cheques. Did, uh, the cheques clear the banks?"
  Let some other masochistic city spotlight the world's best athletes; matters not where they perform. And after watching that utterly fabulous opening ceremony in Sydney, do we need the true-to-nature Canadian embarrassment: Margaret Atwood sitting on a stool at the top of a flight of stairs, holding up a match, and reading from one of her boring novels.

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