Toronto's effort to show its glamorous side to International Olympic Committee officials was interrupted briefly when a group opposed to the bid got a chance to voice their concerns.

Representatives of two advocacy organizations, Bread Not Circuses and the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, met with IOC members to dissuade them from selecting Toronto as the site of the 2008 Summer Games.

The representatives believe the city's homeless people should be looked after first.

We tried to make the point to the members . . . that the conditions of homelessness are a serious precondition in this city that should seriously alarm them about this city's ability to host the Olympics, Cathy Crowe, a spokesperson with the Disaster Relief Committee, told a news conference afterwards.

But Premier Mike Harris, who met with the committee later in the day, emerged from the meeting smiling and confident. Harris said the members largely inquired about the financial commitment behind the Games.

They asked a lot of questions and we gave a lot of answers, he said.

The 14-member panel from the IOC is touring Toronto over the next four days to assess its ability to host the huge event.

The officials toured Toronto's major sites, including the CN Tower, Air Canada Centre, and various port areas -- the major spots where Toronto plans to build Olympic facilities.

Plans for the games include a $1.5 billion waterfront development and a direct rail link from Toronto's airport to the city's core.

Proponents boast Toronto will be the only city to be able to host all major events in a six kilometre radius.

But Olympic historian, professor Steven Wenn, said Friday Toronto has only about a 30 per cent chance of landing the 2008 Games.

Wenn, of Kitchener's Wilfred Laurier University, said while Canada has a successful record when it comes to hosting the Games - citing Calgary

and Montreal as examples - contender, Beijing, will likely win over the IOC.

That would no doubt please Toronto city councillor, Michael Walker. He has stood his ground as the lone, local politician opposed to the bid.

In an interview with CTV's Larry Stout, Walker said the Games will actually cost taxpayers $3 billion and only developers and the wealthy will truly benefit from Olympic facility legacies.

He said the $3 billion figure has not been confirmed publicly by Toronto Olympic officials because If they gave us the (figure) we'd all run out of the room.

Walker said that taxpayers in New South Wales, Australia are saddled with a $2.6 billion debt following the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney last summer.

He also said thousands of jobs at Toronto waterfront plants, which generate a payroll of $90 million annually, will be relocated or eliminated if the development goes ahead.

I want this money to be spent on new hospitals, schools, radiation technicians, oncologists, the list goes on, Walker said of the dollars earmarked to fund Olympic facilities.

You and I know who is going to pay for all this, it will be you and I, the ordinary taxpayer.

Toronto is up against Beijing, Osaka, Paris and Istanbul for the Games. Olympic officials recently toured Beijing and Osaka.

After touring Toronto, the IOC group will do the same in Istanbul and Paris.

The IOC will announce in July which of the five bidding cities will host the Games in 2008.