1.
Rogers Centre
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Rogers Centre, originally named SkyDome, is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada situated just southwest of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball, previously, the stadium served as home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League played a game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. While it is primarily a venue, it also hosts other large-scale events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, travelling carnivals. The stadium was renamed Rogers Centre following the purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, the venue was noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to both football and baseball. The stadium served as the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan American Games, during the ceremonies, the site was referred to as the Pan Am Dome instead of its official name. The stadiums construction lasted two and a half years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million which was paid for by the government, Ontario provincial government, the City of Toronto. The main impetus for building a sports venue came following the Grey Cup game in November 1982. The game was played in a rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched. As many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, to make a bad experience even worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, the following day, at a rally at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, We want a dome. Seven months later, in June 1983, Premier Davis formally announced that a committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay, the committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to BC Place in Vancouver. In 1985, a design competition was launched to design a new stadium. Some of the sites included Exhibition Place, Downsview Airport. The final site was located at the base of the CN Tower not far from Union Station, the Railway Lands were a major Canadian National Railway rail switching yard encompassing the CNR Spadina Roundhouse
2.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
3.
Barenaked Ladies
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Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band. The band is composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario as a duo of Robertson, Jim Creeggan and his brother Andrew Andy Creeggan joined at the end of 1989, and Stewart was added in 1990 while Andy was on a brief hiatus from the group. Andy left the band after its album in 1995 and was replaced by Hearn. Page left in 2009, leaving the group as a quartet, the band then received a major record deal with Reprise Records. Its label debut, Gordon, was released in 1992 and they are most commonly billed as an alt rock band. The lead single from Stunt, One Week remains the bands most successful single, other well-known singles include Stunts second, Its All Been Done, and the lead single from the follow-up album Maroon, Pinch Me. These and other singles remain in radio rotation in both Canada and the United States, in 2007, Robertson wrote, and the band recorded, a theme song for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory for which the band has also become well-known. The band is known for their light-hearted, comedic performance style. They have won multiple Juno Awards and have nominated for Grammy Awards. The group has sold over 15 million records including albums and singles, Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. Each was pleased to find that the other liked Gabriel, they began talking, the two became friends, and bonded further when they were both counselors at Scarborough Music Camp located in McKellar, Ontario, Canada. They would play together, and Steve was impressed by Eds ability to harmonize. When Page had a ticket to a Bob Dylan concert at Exhibition Stadium. Bored by the show, the two turned to amusing each other, pretending they were critics, inventing histories and comments about the Dylan band. They also made up various fictional band names, one of which was Barenaked Ladies, on another front, Robertson had agreed to perform with his cover band in a battle of the bands at Nathan Phillips Square for the Second Harvest food bank. The band broke up and he forgot about the gig and he then called Page and asked if he wanted to do the gig, Page reportedly could not believe Robertson had given that name. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all, the two played the show on October 1,1988, but instead of competing, they played while the other bands set up, playing every song they could think of that they both knew
4.
Coin flipping
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Coin flipping, coin tossing, or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties. It is a form of sortition which inherently has only two possible and equally likely outcomes, the historical origin of coin flipping is the interpretation of a chance outcome as the expression of divine will. Coin flipping as a game was known to the Romans as navia aut caput, as some coins had a ship on one side, in England, this game was referred to as cross and pile. The expression Heads or Tails results from heads and tails being considered opposite body parts, during a coin toss, the coin is thrown into the air such that it rotates edge-over-edge several times. Either beforehand or when the coin is in the air, an interested party calls heads or tails, the other party is assigned the opposite side. Depending on custom, the coin may be caught, caught and inverted, when the coin comes to rest, the toss is complete and the party who called correctly or was assigned the upper side is declared the winner. It is possible for a coin to land on its edge, however, even on a flat surface it is possible for a coin to land on its edge, with a chance of about 1 in 6000. Angular momentum typically prevents most coins from landing on their edges unsupported if flipped, such cases in which a coin does land on its edge are exceptionally rare and in most cases the coin is simply re-flipped. The coin may be any type as long as it has two sides, it need not be a circulating coin as such. Larger coins tend to be more popular than smaller ones, most high-profile coin tosses use custom-made ceremonial medallions. Three-way coin flips are also possible, by a different process – this can be either to choose two out of three, or to choose one out of three. To choose two out of three, three coins are flipped, and if two coins come up the same and one different, the different one loses, leaving two players. To choose one out of three, either reverse this, or add a regular two-way coin flip between the players as a second step. Note that the flip is 75% likely to work each time it is tried. A legacy of this coin flip was to reduce the use of coin flips to break ties in Texas sports, Coin tossing is a simple and unbiased way of settling a dispute or deciding between two or more arbitrary options. In a game theoretic analysis it provides even odds to both involved, requiring little effort and preventing the dispute from escalating into a struggle. Factors such as direction, the position of the sun. In team sports it is often the captain who makes the call, a competitive method may be used instead of a toss in some situations, for example in basketball the jump ball is employed, while the face-off plays a similar role in ice hockey
5.
Lieutenant governor (Canada)
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Similar positions in Canadas three territories are termed Commissioners and are representatives of the federal government, however, not the monarch directly. In the Canadian context, there are numerous, and not mutually agreeable, various acts in the Canadian constitution and numerous provincial websites typically indicate Lieutenant Governor of, likely due to the primacy of those positions in their respective jurisdictions. However, The Canadian Style indicates Lieutenant-Governor, though lieutenant-governors when pluralized, the Guide to Canadian English Usage equivocates somewhat, indicating upper case only when used in and associated with a specific provincial lieutenant governor or name, not generally, and varied use. In French, the term is always hyphenated, also, as governor is the main noun in the title, it is the word that is pluralized, thus, it is lieutenant governors, rather than lieutenants governor. There have been two Black and several Aboriginal lieutenant governors, norman Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2005 to 2010, was Chinese-Canadian and David Lam, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995, was Hong Kong-Canadian. Former Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Lise Thibault used a wheelchair, while David Onley, besides the administration of the oaths of office, there is no set formula for the swearing-in of a lieutenant governor-designate. The lieutenant governor then receives the insignia of the order or orders. A lieutenant governor may also resign and some have died in office, the office is the core of authority in a province. While they continue to be appointed by the general, the lieutenant governors are considered to be direct representatives of the sovereign. The Governor-in-Council of both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are also tasked to appoint in the Queens name the judges of the courts of probate. The lieutenant governor alone is also mandated to summon the legislature. Beyond that, the viceroy carries out the other conventional parliamentary duties in the sovereigns stead, including reading the Speech From the Throne, if the governor general withholds the Queens assent, the sovereign may within two years disallow the bill, thereby annulling the law in question. R. Altogether, lieutenant governors had also withheld Royal Assent to bills 28 times, the last example of the former was, however, in 1945 and the latter in 1961. The provincial viceroys have been said to be, outside of Quebec, a focus of community ideals and he or she will host members of the Canadian Royal Family, as well as foreign royalty and heads of state, and is also tasked with fostering national unity and pride. In the exercise of duties, the lieutenant governors may sometimes receive advice from the Department of Canadian Heritage Ceremonial. During a provincial election, a lieutenant governor will curtail these public duties, further, the lieutenant governors present the Vice-Regal and Commissioners Commendation to individuals who offer their service—paid or volunteer—to the viceregal offices. As the personal representative of the monarch, a lieutenant governor follows only the sovereign in the order of precedence. Per the orders constitutions, the lieutenant governors, except for that of Quebec and they also upon installation automatically become a Knight or Dame of Justice and a Vice-Prior in Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
6.
Lenny Kravitz
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Leonard Albert Lenny Kravitz is a Bahamian American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His retro style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, in addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all of the instruments himself when recording. He has been nominated for and won awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards. On December 1,2011, Kravitz was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and he played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series. Kravitz was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of actress Roxie Roker and his father was from a Jewish family. His mother was of Bahamian and African-American descent, and was from a Christian family, Kravitz is the cousin of television weather presenter Al Roker. During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment, after a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church, becoming a non-denominational Christian. Kravitz was named after his uncle, Private First Class Leonard M, in 2014, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor in a ceremony that awarded it to 23 other servicemen who were passed over because of their ethnicity. Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with his parents,6 for elementary school, and weekends at his grandmother Bessie Rokers house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three, at the age of five, he wanted to be a musician. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar, Kravitz grew up listening to the music his parents listened to, R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues. My parents were supportive of the fact that I loved music early on. Around the age of seven, he saw The Jackson 5 perform at Madison Square Garden and his father, who was also a jazz promoter, was friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis and other jazz greats. Ellington even played Happy Birthday for him one year when he was about 5, Kravitz often went to see New York theater, where his mother worked. His mother encouraged his dreams of pursuing music, in 1974, the Kravitz family relocated to Los Angeles when Kravitzs mother landed her role on The Jeffersons. At his mothers urging, Kravitz joined the California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He took part in Mahlers Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl, I was attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock n roll lifestyle, Kravitz said. Kravitzs other musical influences at the time included Fela Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis, John Lennon, Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School
7.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster. Although some local stations in Canada predate CBCs founding, CBC is the oldest existing broadcasting network in Canada, Radio services include CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, Ici Radio-Canada Première, Ici Musique and the international radio service Radio Canada International. Television operations include CBC Television, Ici Radio-Canada Télé, CBC News Network, Ici RDI, Ici Explora, Documentary Channel, the CBC operates services for the Canadian Arctic under the names CBC North and Radio-Canada Nord. The radio service employed commercials from its inception to 1974, since then, its primary radio networks, like the BBC, have been commercial-free. However, in the fall of 2013, CBCs secondary radio networks Radio 2, in 1929, the Aird Commission on public broadcasting recommended the creation of a national radio broadcast network. A major concern was the influence of American radio broadcasting as U. S. -based networks began to expand into Canada. Meanwhile, Canadian National Railways was making a network to keep its passengers entertained and give it an advantage over its rival. This, the CNR Radio, is the forerunner of the CBC, Graham Spry and Alan Plaunt lobbied intensely for the project on behalf of the Canadian Radio League. In 1932 the government of R. B. Bennett established the CBCs predecessor, the CRBC took over a network of radio stations formerly set up by a federal Crown corporation, the Canadian National Railway. The network was used to broadcast programming to riders aboard its passenger trains, with coverage primarily in central, on November 2,1936, the CRBC was reorganised under its present name. While the CRBC was a company, the CBC was a Crown corporation on the model of the BBC. Leonard Brockington was the CBCs first chairman, for the next few decades, the CBC was responsible for all broadcasting innovation in Canada. This was in part because, until 1958, it was not only a broadcaster and it used this dual role to snap up most of the clear-channel licences in Canada. It began a separate French-language radio network in 1937 and it introduced FM radio to Canada in 1946, though a distinct FM service wasnt launched until 1960. Television broadcasts from the CBC began on September 6,1952, with the opening of a station in Montreal, Quebec, the CBCs first privately owned affiliate television station, CKSO in Sudbury, Ontario, launched in October 1953. From 1944 to 1962, the CBC split its English-language radio network into two known as the Trans-Canada Network and the Dominion Network. The latter, carrying lighter programs including American radio shows, was dissolved in 1962, on July 1,1958, CBCs television signal was extended from coast to coast. The first Canadian television show shot in colour was the CBCs own The Forest Rangers in 1963, colour television broadcasts began on July 1,1966, and full-colour service began in 1974
8.
Grey Cup
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The Grey Cup is the name of both the championship game of the Canadian Football League and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing Canadian football. It is contested between the winners of the CFLs East and West Divisional playoffs and is one of Canadian televisions largest annual sporting events, the Toronto Argonauts have 16 championships, more than any other team. The latest, the 104th Grey Cup, took place in Toronto, Ontario, on November 27,2016, the trophy was commissioned in 1909 by the Earl Grey, then Canadas governor general, who originally hoped to donate it for the countrys senior amateur hockey championship. After the Allan Cup was later donated for that purpose, Grey instead made his trophy available as the Canadian Dominion Football Championship of Canadian football. The trophy has a silver chalice attached to a base on which the names of all winning teams, players. The Grey Cup has been broken on several occasions, stolen twice and it survived a 1947 fire that destroyed numerous artifacts housed in the same building. The Grey Cup was first won by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, play was suspended from 1916 to 1918 due to the First World War and in 1919 due to a rules dispute. The game has typically been contested in an east versus west format since the 1920s, the Edmonton Eskimos formed the Grey Cups longest dynasty, winning five consecutive championships from 1978 to 1982. While the Stanley Cup was created in 1893 as the Canadian amateur hockey championship, Grey instead offered an award to the Dominion amateur rugby football championship beginning in 1909. He initially failed to follow through on his offer, the trophy was not ordered until two weeks prior to the first championship game. The first Grey Cup game was held on December 4,1909, the trophy was not ready for presentation following the game, and the Varsity Blues did not receive it until March 1910. They retained the trophy in the two years, defeating the Hamilton Tigers in 1910 and the Toronto Argonauts in 1911. The University of Toronto failed to reach the 1912 Grey Cup, the Varsity Blues refused to hand over the trophy on the belief they could keep it until they were defeated in a title game. They kept the trophy until 1914 when they were defeated by the Argonauts, Canadas participation in the First World War resulted in the cancellation of the championship from 1916 to 1918, during which time the Cup was forgotten. Montreal Gazette writer Bob Dunn claimed that the trophy was later rediscovered as one of the heirlooms of an employee of the Toronto trust company where it had been sent for storage. Competition finally resumed in 1920 with the 8th Grey Cup game and it was the University of Torontos fourth, and final, championship. Competition for the Grey Cup was limited to member unions of the CRU, the Western Canada Rugby Football Union joined in 1921, allowing the Edmonton Eskimos to challenge. Facing the Argonauts in the 9th Grey Cup, the Eskimos became the first western team –, the Argonauts entered the game with an undefeated record, having outscored their opposition 226 to 55 during the season
9.
Saskatchewan Roughriders
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League, the Roughriders were founded in 1910 as the Regina Rugby Club. Although they were not the first team to play football in Western Canada, the Roughriders are the third-oldest professional gridiron football team in existence today, and one of the oldest professional sports teams still in existence in North America. The team changed their name to the Regina Roughriders from the Regina Rugby Club in 1924, the Roughriders have played their home games at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field since 1936. The team draws fans from across Saskatchewan and Canada who are known as the Rider Nation. The Roughriders play in the smallest market in the CFL, and they have finished first in the Western Division seven times and have won the Western championship a record 28 times. They have played in the championship game 19 times and won four Grey Cups, the team has had 20 players inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. The Riders biggest rival is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, games between the two are sold out before the beginning of the season. The Roughriders Football Club and the city of Regina have hosted the Grey Cup three times, including a Roughrider win in the 101st Grey Cup, in July 2012, the Province of Saskatchewan announced that the Roughriders will have a new stadium completed in time for the 2017 season. They played most of their games at Park Hughes on 10th Avenue in Reginas north central section. The team was also a member of the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union as it was organized on September 22 of that year. Regina played their first game against the Moose Jaw Tigers on October 1,1910, the Regina Rugby Club changed their colours again in 1912 to red and black and began an era of western football dominance. For every season of play in the SRFU, Regina won the championship, exerting their prowess over teams from Moose Jaw, Saskatoon. Beginning in the 1912 season, Regina won seven straight WCRFU titles, in 1923, Regina returned to power as they won their eighth western championship over the Winnipeg Victorias and earned the right to compete in the national playoffs. The club was given a bye and advanced straight to the Grey Cup finals for the first time, but were severely outmatched, losing 54–0 to Queens University at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. This was, and still is, the most lopsided defeat in Grey Cup history as the defending champion Queens won their third national championship at the expense of the Regina Rugby Club. Following their first Grey Cup loss, the changed their name to the Regina Roughriders in 1924 while retaining the colours of red. Ottawa also had a called the Ottawa Rough Riders, but the spelling was different
10.
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
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Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is a convention complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada along Front Street West in the former Railway Lands in Downtown Toronto. The property is owned by Oxford Properties. The centre is operated by the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre Corporation, the MTCC has 600,000 square feet of space, and is home to the 1330-seat John Bassett Theatre. To the east end of the complex is the 586-room InterContinental Toronto Centre hotel, at the west end of the complex is a 265,000 square foot Class-B office building. Within the office building is the Baton Rouge restaurant, which was formerly a Planet Hollywood from 1996 to 2006, a south building containing exhibition space is located south of the rail lines, on Bremner Boulevard. The centre is connected to the Union Station railway and transit station through the SkyWalk, the centre is also connected by the Skywalk system to the nearby Rogers Centre and large conventions or exhibitions will sometimes also use it as an additional venue. The site was formerly federally owned Railway Lands, prior to the early 1980s the site was home to tail end tracks and a parking lot. During the 1970s the site was part of the proposed and failed Metro Centre development which sought to convert the rail lands in one large development. Development instead proceeded in parcel-by-parcel fashion, with such as Roy Thomson Hall, the CN Tower. The rail yards were transferred to new locations north and east of Toronto, the main rail lines south of the Centre were retained. The convention centre and hotel was completed in 1984, built by CN Real Estate designed by Architects Crang, in 1995, ownership was transferred to Canada Lands Corporation, an agency of the Government of Canada. A new largely underground addition, designed by Bregman + Hamann Architects, was added south of the railways, in April 2011, the Canada Lands Corporation announced that the centre and hotel was for sale. OMERS-owned Oxford Properties won the rights to the complex in August 2011, the purchase of the North Building, the hotel, the 277 Front Street West office building and a 1,200 stall parking facility was completed in September 2011 for $238 million. The complex was adjacent to other Oxford-owned properties at 315 and 325 Front Street, in October 2012, Oxford Properties proposed the re-development of the site with an updated convention centre, casino, hotel and retail complex. The current MTCC complex would be demolished and replaced with a new complex, the centre has hosted many large-scale events over the years. The G-20 summit was held at the centre on June 26 and it was the same venue for the 14th G7 summit held in 1988. The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was held at the centre and it has also hosted the XVI International AIDS Conference in 2006. As well, it has played host to Toronto auditions for So You Think You Can Dance Canada and it has also been the site of numerous political conventions, and was the annual home of the NHL Awards
