Toronto's bid for the 2015 World Expo is dead.

Mayor David Miller said he was "quite disappointed" that Toronto did not submit a bid by the noon Thursday deadline to host the six-month world's fair.

"People believed here at city hall that this opportunity was a terrific opportunity to, first of all, expedite the revival of the port lands, and secondly, to put Toronto, Ontario, and Canada on the world stage in a way that would make us all proud," said Miller.

The announcement comes after a week of back-and-forth between the federal and provincial governments on who would pay if costs skyrocketed.

Studies projected the exposition could have created 214,000 jobs and generated $5.3 billion in taxes, but estimates also put a potential shortfall at $700 million.

A financial guarantee is a bid requirement by the agency responsible for sanctioning world's fairs.

The province refused to step up as a guarantor, pointing to Ottawa's surpluses and its own deficits, while the federal government maintained that financial responsibility for major events rests with the province.

"It slipped through the premier's fingers," said Coun. Brian Ashton. "There's no doubt in my mind that in the months to come he will suddenly realize what he lost."

Ashton, who led the campaign to bring a world's fair to Toronto, said the province missed an "opportunity of a lifetime."  

But the bid has already cost the City of Toronto, which paid $1 million for a study to prepare the city's expo bid application.