The cost of the Ford government’s redevelopment of Ontario Place has ballooned by more than $1.8 billion and the process for selecting new tenants for the prized lakefront property wasn’t transparent or fair, according to the province’s auditor general.
Those findings are among the key takeaways in a scathing annual report from Auditor General Shelley Spence released Tuesday.
The sweeping report contains nine value-for-money audits and also concluded the province’s plan to close 10 supervised consumption sites was made “without proper planning” and that the use of ministerial zoning orders (MZOs) needs to be overhauled.
Shelley Spence is discussing her conclusions at a news conference at Queen’s Park. You can watch it live in this story.
A 121-page section on the controversial redevelopment of Ontario Place says the project will likely cost the public purse roughly $2.24 billion. That’s up from between $335 million and $424 million projected in 2019, when the Progressive Conservative government restarted the process for rewarding new contracts for the site on Toronto’s waterfront.
Included in that figure is nearly $700 million to relocate and construct a new Ontario Science Centre at the site.
Spence found the estimated costs for a new science centre alone have skyrocketed by about $400 million since early 2023, when an internal government business case suggested the province could save money in the long-term by shuttering the old facility in northeast Toronto and moving it to Ontario Place.
The soaring price tag is largely due to the expanding scope of the project and significant increases in the costs of construction, the report says.
Premier Doug Ford and his government have faced criticism over a 95-year lease with European company Therme, which plans to build a sprawling spa and waterpark on the West Island at Ontario Place.
The auditor general concluded the Call for Development (CFD) process that led to the deal with Therme was not “fair, transparent or accountable” by the province’s own standards. Spence also said it failed to meet best practices for “large-scale, modern land-use development projects.”
She said the bidding process did not follow “typical procurement law or directives,” as the government gave itself authority to choose bids that did not meet the pre-determined criteria.
Spence’s office also found an unnamed vice president at Infrastructure Ontario exchanged nine emails and one phone call with Therme’s legal counsel to discuss, among other topics, media interest in the company’s bid early in the process.
Communication with government staff and appointed officials was expressly prohibited by the terms of the CFD, Spence notes. Similarly, staff from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Ford’s office met with representatives from three bidders in the summer of 2019, while other bidders were not offered meetings until later.
“By communicating with only some participants during the open period, in contravention of the CFD, there is a risk that the process is not perceived as transparent, accountable and fair to all participants,” the report says.
The government’s process for assessing all of the proposals was also irregular and subjective, Spence concluded.
The four main areas used to assess proposals weren’t assigned weights, so the overall scores of those evaluating the projects varied significantly, the auditor said.
The lease with Therme also includes a commitment from the province to build at least 1,800 parking spaces for the Ontario Place redevelopment. While a final design and location for the parking hasn’t been finalized, Spence says it could cost the province more than $400 million.
An auditor general report last year suggested Ontario’s obligations to provide parking for Therme factored into its decision to relocate the science centre.
Ontario Place, which first opened in 1971, was closed to the public in 2012 after years of financial losses.
More to come.