Toronto to host 2015 Pan Am Games

Toronto will host the 2015 Pan Am Games. The capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario beat out two rival South American cities to get the games.

The decision was announced Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico, where a team including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller made their last pitch to host the games.

Organizers hope this win would bring new jobs, facilities and a little civic pride to Ontario's capital.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined an invitation to travel to Mexico for the decision, but Federal Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn was among the delegates who attended the event to make the final decision.

Toronto won on the first ballot, beating out bids from Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia.

The Pan American Sport Organization, which represents the 42 countries across the Caribbean and the Americas and whose National Olympic Committees determined the host for the 2015 Games, began a three-day meeting Wednesday.

The host city was chosen in a secret-ballot vote.

Each city had been hosting social events, attending meetings and rehearsing their presentations for Friday - their last sales-pitch before the vote.

The federal and provincial governments are each on the hook for 35 per cent of the CDN $1.4 billion. That's about CDN$500 million each. Municipalities and private investors will pay the remaining CDN$428.5 million.

The last edition of the Games was held in Rio de Janeiro in July 2007 and the next is scheduled to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October 2011.

Canada is also hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in the city of Vancouver.