As it stands, Montreal would appear to be the better place to put forward. Unofficially this is the year for North America to receive the nod, so we can't afford to have two or three competing bids. Montreal has several advantages right now that I am not seeing from Toronto or Ottawa. 

Coren has noted that funding may be available from government sources for Montreal which would be a plus when the jury looks at the bid. The less Wikimedia has to pay, the better. Another area to look into is getting special rates on airfare from a major carrier, which the tourism bureau may be able to help secure. These advantages, combined with the bilingual area, make Montreal appealing. The Wikimedians in Toronto and Vancouver would be able to assist in arranging transportation from their respective areas. 

No one in Ottawa has come forth, and Toronto has been a perennial bid. 
From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge@telus.net>
To: Wikimedia Canada planning list <wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Sat, January 16, 2010 2:04:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Fwd: Montreal wikimania bid

Alan Walker wrote:
> I vote for Toronto, the center of the universe.  All joking aside,
> wouldn't Ottawa be a better venue?

I think that a key positive element in the previous Toronto bids was the
availability of U of T student residences at a reasonable cost.  Many of
the delegates at Wikimania are students with student budgets.  If we
want to have more delegates from poorer countries scholarships need to
be provided. Plane fares are already a huge expense for these students. 
The Bauen accomodated Wikimanians for $30 per person per night, and you
can't get that by leaving people on their own to find hotel rooms in a
big city. Delegates also like to stay near each other so that they can
get together over drinks after the official sessions are over for the
day.  They go to their rooms to drop off the day's paperwork, and come
back down to meet up with whatever others happen to be in the lobby. 
This doesn't work when the hotel rooms are scattered.

Both Montreal and Toronto have the advantage of having major airports. 
Ottawa, despite being the capital, still has a smaller proportion of
direct international flights.  That means we need to insure that people
can easily get from either Toronto or Montreal to Ottawa.  In Egypt
Alexandria has two international airports, but that doesn't change the
fact that most of the air traffic goes through Cairo.

Ray

>
> 2010/1/16 Ray Saintonge <saintonge@telus.net <mailto:saintonge@telus.net>>
>
>    Zana Gordon wrote:
>    > I have to admit I am new to this discussion, but is there
>    anything wrong
>    > with a joint venture - east and west - I am from Vancouver and I
>    think I may
>    > welcome the challenge.
>    >
>    Considering that there has been little done to maintain a series of
>    local meetups in Vancouver, I don't think that we are ready for
>    the kind
>    of sophisticated organization that Wikimania requires.  I tested the
>    waters when I came home from the Frankfurt Wikimania, and there wasn't
>    much enthusiasm then; I even floated the idea of something in Seattle
>    without success.  It takes having attended  a Wikimania  to see
>    how much
>    goes into a conference that draws delegates from about 50 countries.
>
>      From Vancouver there's not much difference between flying to Montreal
>    of flying to Toronto.
>
>    Ray
>


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