Toronto Mayor John Tory said the expenses racked up by Toronto '15 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games officials "defy common sense," according to Shawn Jeffords of the TORONTO SUN. Tory on Sunday reacted to reports that games staff "used corporate credit cards to fly around the globe, buy booze, football tickets and dress shirts -- all on the taxpayers’ dime." Some 5,000 pages of documents "were made publicly available Friday." Tory said, "Most of what you see in these expense reports defies common sense. ... I don’t know what these people could be thinking when they put some of these kinds of things through." Pan Am Games CEO Saad Rafi on Friday said that the organization’s expense policy "has been strengthened and that some of the expenses during the early days of the committee 'did not pass the common sense test.'" Pan Am Games Organizing Committee Media Relations Dir Teddy Katz on Sunday said that "some of the expenses have been reimbursed to the province." However, Tory "cautioned people from letting these issues detract from the overall experience of hosting the games." He said that he "still plans to be one of the biggest cheerleaders for the event." Tory: "I believe very strongly we can’t let this infect the overall Pan Am celebration. It’s a very important thing for the city that Pan Am succeeds" (TORONTO SUN, 12/15).
EXPENSE REPORT: The GLOBE & MAIL's Morrow & Bascaramurty noted the expenses include a trip to the Cayman Islands "to watch a wakeboarding championship and a jaunt to Brazil to 'investigate talent/artists'" for the '15 Games. Officials also "expensed excursions to Aruba, Cuba, Mexico, France, Italy, Argentina, Peru, Spain, Guatemala and Haiti, among other places." Thousands of dollars "went towards such things as airline-seat changes on these trips." Employees "spent further tax money on 40 bottles of wine and four cases of beer for one reception" in May '13.Other expenses included $109.10 (all figures Canadian) "for a wine tasting in September of last year and $1,288.20 "worth of dress shirts from Harry Rosen" (GLOBE & MAIL, 12/13). In Toronto, Richard Brennan noted "there were claims" for $8,220 in CFL Argonauts tickets, $9,820 in Tim Hortons gift cards, yoga pants and jackets (TORONTO STAR, 12/13).
