TORONTO: Mayor John Tory says Toronto will be a great venue for the Olympics one day.

Just not in 2024.

Tory said Tuesday that Canada’s largest city is going to stay out of the race for the 2024 Olympics because he felt it wasn’t the best use of the city’s time and energy right now and says “nobody was rushing forward with their checkbooks.”

Tory had until Tuesday to write a letter to the International Olympic Committee to express interest.

The declared bidders for 2024 include Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Budapest, Hungary and Hamburg, Germany.

Toronto declining to bid is good news for Los Angeles as it becomes the only North American bidder. The winning city will be chosen in 2017.

Tory began researching the feasibility of a bid after Toronto hosted the Pan Am Games this past summer.

Tory’s announcement comes as a poll showed that nearly one in two Toronto residents is opposed to hosting the Games.

Opposition to the Toronto bid rose nine percent since the last round of polling, released mid-July, with 47 percent of the city’s inhabitants coming out against the Games, the survey by Mainstreet Research revealed.

“As people learn more about the benefits and costs of an Olympic bid, opinions have become more divided,” said Quito Maggi, Mainstreet Research president.

Meanwhile, support for the Olympic bid has fallen to 50 percent, slipping eight percent since the last survey.

Toronto has been passed over five times for previous Olympic bids, including for the 2008 Games, which were held in Beijing.

Filing a bid could be risky move for Tory, whose city is divided on the matter amid a difficult economic climate.

The mayor reiterated Monday that he would make a final decision only after having extensively consulted with public and private sector leaders about their commitments to support the costs of a bid.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also cautioned Monday that the province, of which Toronto is the capital, was considering many factors ahead of a bid.

“Ontario is not going to put itself forward and be on the hook for all of the costs, so that is one of the questions,” she told local television station CP24, adding that federal government participation and private funding levels were important factors in making a decision.

Canada’s political climate has complicated the decision, with the campaign season in full swing ahead of legislative elections on Oct. 19.

The IOC will announce an official list of bidders on Wednesday at 0700 GMT.