Ontario Premier Doug Ford stands at the podium as he makes an announcement at Toronto's Ontario Place, on Friday July 30, 2021.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Growing up in Toronto in the 1970s, the Ontario Science Centre and Ontario Place were formative. They were playgrounds and classrooms come to life – great places to grow.
So yes, there is a degree of nostalgia driving the criticism of the plan to move the Science Centre to an Ontario Place that is being reimagined to feature waterslides, a wave pool and thermal bathing.
But it’s not difficult to set your nostalgia and inner child aside to make an adult assessment of this plan.
Just in time for the anticipated opening of a $19-billion light-rail line whose northern terminus is a station called Science Centre, the Ontario government has decided to move the museum from that spot in the Toronto suburbs down to the waterfront, while also deciding to transform that public waterfront into a playground for the haves. Sure, there will be land set aside for the have-nots. But the thermal spas and “massive” indoor waterpark that are the highlighted pillars of the plan will be privately owned and run by Therme Group, a “global pioneer of inclusive wellbeing” headquartered in Austria. It has secured a 95-year lease to do so, as Global News reported.
How are these decisions being made? Who is the Ford government talking to about these city-altering plans, other than a European water wellness company?
Ontario facing calls to justify moving Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority jointly leases the Science Centre property with the City of Toronto; the 99-year lease expires in 2064. “To date no conversations have been held between the Province, City of Toronto, and TRCA regarding the Province’s desire to move the Science Centre, build housing on the lands, and/or cancel the Science Centre lease agreement,” the TRCA said in a statement released Monday.
It noted that the ravine where the Science Centre is located is considered hazardous, with its steep slopes and floodplane, and that the land is home to many birds, mammals, turtles and amphibians. “Provincial, municipal and TRCA policies require that future development be directed to areas outside of the hazardous lands,” the statement said.
That doesn’t seem to matter to Doug Ford. “The thing is old and run-down. You know, it’s just a mess,” he told reporters this week, while musing about putting a school there, maybe a community centre. He initially said the structure would be demolished for housing. Then he said some parts of Raymond Moriyama’s architecturally significant gem (“the thing,” as Mr. Ford described it), built so majestically into the ravine setting, might be saved.
It feels a lot like urban planning by impulse.
I hate to break it to Mr. Ford, but there are a lot of old buildings that house museums around the world. They are maintained and updated by governments who prioritize them.
Who are these places meant for, anyway? Moving the Science Centre to the waterfront will not make it more convenient for many Greater Toronto Area families.
Down at Ontario Place, as they pave paradise, they’ll also be putting up a parking lot – an asset that will be publicly owned, Mr. Ford boasts. If you thought the gridlock around there is bad now, imagine adding the contents of that 2,100-space underground lot. It will be extra fun to navigate school buses through that mess.
Toronto’s waterfront needs something. Ontario Place has been closed since 2012 – a waste and a shame. Some of Therme’s renderings for the public spaces are compelling, and even the private-spa main attraction looks exciting. But the government must take a more considered approach to public land.
How much will it cost to ride those waterslides? Or to spend time schvitzing in the sauna or reclining in a lounge chair surrounded by a botanical garden? For what it’s worth, a one-day waterpark pass on a weekend at Therme’s original Bucharest property for a family of four currently costs about $110 – out of reach for many.
I’m picturing Toronto children whose parents can’t afford the admission fees standing there, watching all the fun going down inside that glassed-in pavilion. When it’s a blazing hot summer day and the E. coli count in Lake Ontario is too high for the kids to safely swim, I’m sure the citizens of Toronto who can’t afford to splash and slide in ozonated safety will take comfort in the fact that their wealthier neighbours and out-of-town visitors are having a blast in there. And that the parking lot is a taxpayer-owned asset.
That waterfront should be for everyone. Will the Ford government at least consider subsidizing admission for lower-income families?
Nobody loves a spa more than I do, trust me. Thermal relaxation? Hook me up. But this is a terrible decision.
These are both terrible decisions.