On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 7:28 PM, Geoffrey Plourde <geo.plrd@yahoo.com> wrote:
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. 

I think it's too early in the bidding process, at this point, to discount any city. I've worked on a few of the Toronto bids in the past, and while I'd love to see Toronto bid and win, if Montreal's bid is stronger and beats out a Toronto bid, I'd be happy to assist where I could with their bid. I'd hope that the Montreal folks would have the same feelings -- getting a Wikimania in Canada would be a big win, no matter which venue wins.
 
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. 

Toronto has some real strengths, and has been recognized for them by previous WM juries. The real question is if there comes together a viable team to actually do the grunt work of putting a bid together and can follow through with the event.

On the Ottawa side, I'm not sure. Is anyone on the list from Ottawa? While it could probably make a respectable run, we would need at least a few local people who were interested in running it, and so far that hasn't happened.

Gerald