TORONTO’S civic pride some would call it smugness is taking some unaccustomed knocks.

The setbacks to a city which can justifiably claim to be one of the safest, most pleasant and most efficient in North America started in September, when Toronto lost bids to stage the 1996 Olympic Games and the turn-of-the-century World’s Fair

Since then, the fast-deteriorating economy in southern Ontario, Canada’s industrial heartland, has ravaged house prices, put a question mark over the city's ability to sus-

tain the excellence of its public transport, and forced its six municipalities to start paring services

The most humiliating cuts have been to two of the city's showcase projects. To the consternation of the arts community. Ontario's new left-wing government pulled the plug last November on a promise by its predecessor to chip in almost 20 per cent of the cost of a C$311m (£137.8m) ballet and opera house.

Preparations for the 2.000 seat theatre have already started on a site about a mile north of the financial district.

and the project’s backers still hope It will eventually go ahead in a truncated, less costly form.

But the Ballet Opera House Corporation, which has over seen the project, has already laid off almost all Its 135 staff

Toronto’s other problem child is the SkyDome. the only sports stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof The SkyDome's facilities, which include a health club and an hotel with bedrooms facing on to the field, are undeniably impressive.

Almost 3.9m baseball fans watched the Toronto Blue Jays play at the SkyDome this year a record for any North Amer can baseball team. Crowds have filled its 50,000 seats for cricket matches, the opera Aida, a Rolling Stones performance and the Wrestlemania wrestling extravaganza.

But the high cost of building a structure with so many luxury extras has left the SkyDome with a heavy financial burden. The stadium was expected to cost CSISOm when It was originally mooted la 1955. The construction contract signed a year later was for CS335m. The final cost will leave little change out of CSdOOm

Revenues have fallen far short of the O40m a year needed to service the stadi urn's CSSOOm debt. A C»3m loss is expected this year At the same time, some tenants of the 1«1 lavishly furnished pn vate boxes are complaining about coat overruns and expensive food.

The stadium's shareholder, the Ontario government, is now in the throes of negotia ting a rescue plan with the businesses which contributed CSISOm towards constnictioo costs

Amid all the gloom then's been one modest morale-booster for Toronto. The city will hoot the 1H1 All Star game one of the high lights at North America's baseball cal radar, on July 9