Ottawa will not host the Canada Summer Games in 2021.
The city was competing for the event with Sudbury, the Niagara region, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge. It was announced Thursday morning in Toronto that the games will take place in Niagara.
“I’m disappointed,” said David Gourlay, president of the Ottawa Champions and a leader in the city’s bid for the games. “I felt our city and our community had a really good shot at this. This was about a legacy for our city and putting Ottawa on the map as a sports tourist destination.”
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Gourlay said as well as welcoming tourists, he was hoping the games would be a way to fund improvements to sports facilities in the city, including the Nepean Sportsplex.
Gourlay said the committee didn’t provide details on why Ottawa wasn’t chosen, but that information will likely follow next week.
The Canada Games are held every two years. Amateur athletes compete on behalf of their province or territory. The games will be held in Winnipeg in 2017 and Red Deer, Alberta in 2019.
This article originally appeared in Metro News.
