PC government abandons controversial Ontario Place vendor plan backed by Ford-supporting union

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The Ontario government has abandoned plans to hand a prime spot in its Ontario Place redevelopment to a group that includes LiUNA, a construction union that has long supported Premier Doug Ford, and Zlatko Starkovski, whose business provided alcohol for the Ford family’s annual political barbecues a decade ago.

The Premier initially touted the arrangement at a press conference in April, 2023, saying the group – which called itself Ontario Live and was described by Mr. Ford as the government’s “partners” – would “design and deliver” restaurants and bars at the Ontario Place site on Toronto’s waterfront.

But almost no details were provided about the plans, which were meant to complement the construction of a large spa and waterpark by Vienna-based Therme Group at Ontario Place, where the Ontario Science Centre is also being relocated.

The government’s plans for the site have sparked vehement criticism from the opposition and local activists, who also questioned why a food-and-beverage contract would be handed to a group with links to Mr. Ford.

Now, in an e-mailed statement in response to questions from The Globe and Mail, Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said Ontario Live’s proposal for the site is no longer active. Instead, she said her government intends to seek bids from interested companies for new food-and-beverage offerings at Ontario Place.

Ms. Surma said the government had “initiated purely exploratory discussions” in April, 2023 with Ontario Live. The minister said the change to a “more open and competitive approach,” instead of signing a deal with Ontario Live, was due to certain advancements in the site’s design.

She cited finalized deals with Live Nation, which is expanding its existing Budweiser Stage concert venue at the site; approval for the relocation of the Science Centre; changes to the waterpark’s design; and proposals for the nearby marina. The decision to move the Science Centre to the site and the intention to finalize a deal to expand the Budweiser Stage were also announced the same day as the Ontario Live plan.

When the Ontario Live proposal was first mentioned last year, the government did not initially identify Mr. Starkovski or his business, now called the Toronto Event Centre, by name, saying only that the group included “the City of Toronto’s food, beverage and entertainment vendor for Exhibition Place since 2004.”

The Globe and Mail confirmed his involvement in the days afterward. Mr. Starkovski, who declined a request for comment, is also listed as the only director of a federal corporation called ONTARIOLIVE Inc.

The involvement of the Labourers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA, which has been a vocal supporter of Mr. Ford since 2018, was disclosed at the start. The pension fund of the union’s central and Eastern Canada arm has invested in several property development projects, notably in its home base of Hamilton, Ont. The fund was also part of a group that included Virgin Hotels and other investors that purchased the former Hard Rock hotel and casino in Las Vegas in 2018.

Victoria Mancinelli, a spokesperson for LiUNA, said there were “exploratory talks” on the Ontario Live proposal for Ontario Place but that “nothing substantial” resulted. She declined to comment further.

Mr. Starkovski’s company has long been the leaseholder at the former Horticultural Building at Exhibition Place, on the city-owned grounds of the annual Canadian National Exhibition located next to Ontario Place. He hosts corporate events, weddings and private parties in the refurbished space.

Between 2010 and 2014, when the Premier was a Toronto city councillor and his late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor, Mr. Starkovski’s business was contracted to provide alcohol at the family’s large “Ford Fest” political barbecues.

Mr. Starkovski is also the former operator of a nightclub at his Exhibition Place site called Muzik, which counted rapper Drake and pop singer Justin Bieber among its many celebrity guests, along with Rob Ford. The mayor’s term was marred by drug and alcohol abuse and erratic behaviour, and his attendance at the nightclub made headlines.

In 2014, in response to media reports about Rob Ford’s visits to Muzik, Mr. Starkovski issued a statement saying he and the then-mayor were not close and any interactions they had “were of a purely social nature.” Muzik was also the scene of a 2015 shooting on the club’s patio that left two people dead, at a party hosted by Drake.

The provincial government has previously identified Ontario Live’s other backers as Plenary Americas, a major infrastructure development and investment company involved in hospital construction and the government’s Ontario Line subway project, and Sheldon Esbin, the founder of Romspen Investment Corp.

A spokesperson for Plenary Americas did not respond to a request for comment on Ms. Surma’s statement. (The company has said previously that it had not engaged in “any substantive discussions” about Ontario Place.) Mr. Esbin could not be reached.

In April, 2023, despite the Premier’s characterization of the arrangement as a done deal, Ms. Surma and a government press release issued the same day said only that discussions were taking place with Ontario Live on “family-friendly, world-class social, hospitality, and entertainment services.” Ontario Live had also submitted its own proposal for the entire site in 2019, as a bidder in the same process that saw the province select Therme Group.

Opposition MPPs and Ontario Place For All, a citizens’ group fighting the spa, welcomed the scrapping of a potential sole source contract at the site for the Ontario Live group but urged the government to rethink all of its plans for Ontario Place.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Ontario Live reversal is another in a series of episodes in which the government has been caught favouring insiders, such as its aborted move to allow developers to build on protected Greenbelt lands.

“Once again we see the Ford government, Doug Ford, moving forward with some backroom deals and then getting caught out and having to change tack,” she said in an interview. “And that’s unfortunately the pattern we continue to see.”