In answer to Rockwell's comments vis-a-vis Canada-MAN connections. There are sixteen sched flights a day from Canada to the UK, fourteen of which land at LHR, one at Glasgow and one at Manchester. The Manchester flight operates none stop, independant, for sixteen weeks of the year and through Glasgow the rest of the year. It is a one class service. This none stop service is due to be reduced to twelve weeks for next year (according to our bid blocks). Air Canada considers this route as a "mother & daughter" route, meaning, it is primaraly pax on family visits as oposed to independent tourists. This source of passengers is bound to diminish due to Canada's emmigration policies since the late sixties early seventies. Very few Britons emigrated to Canada after 1975.
As for the comments by others of Toronto not getting the 2008 Olympic Games, they could be right. However Toronto is considered second only to Beijing in the running, whereas Manchester, in their bid to host the 2004 Games, was discounted from the start. Another fact not generally known in Briton is that the reason Manchester was succesful in it's bid to host the Commonwealth Games is that no other Commonwealth City bid for them. A lot of other Commonwealth locations, including number of Canadian cities were approached to host the games, which included Hamilton, Windsor and Ottawa Ontario, Saskatoon (Saskabush) Saskatchewan and Halifax Nova Scotia, all of which declined the offer. So being the winner in a one horse race can't be considered a fair competion now, can it?
