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.
In her first annual report released Tuesday, Shelley Spence found government officials selectively communicated with representatives from companies bidding on the redevelopment, despite such contacts being prohibited by the province’s own guidelines.
The result was a process that was not “fair, transparent or accountable” to the bidders involved and the public, Spence says. It also failed to meet best practices for “large-scale, modern land-use development projects.”
The government’s process for assessing all of the proposals was irregular and subjective, Spence concluded, and at least one bidder who did not initially meet the province’s criteria was allowed to resubmit a proposal after the selection window had closed, the report says.
Meanwhile, the government’s decision to be the “master developer” for the project has led to staggering cost increases for the province’s treasury that were not part of initial estimates when the redevelopment process began in 2019, Spence says.
Those findings are among the takeaways in the wide-ranging report that included a total of nine value-for-money audits, as well as a look at government spending on advertising. Spence 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) to override local planning decisions needs to be overhauled.
A 121-page section on the controversial redevelopment of Ontario Place says 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 responsible for assessing the financial merits of various bids exchanged nine emails and one phone call with legal counsel for Therme, the European company eventually awarded a deal to build a sprawling spa and waterpark on the west island at Ontario Place.
Auditor General Shelley Spence speaks to reporters after releasing her annual report at Queen’s Park on Dec. 3, 2024. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
The discussions included “media interest” in the company’s proposal among other topics, the report says.
Therme’s plan for the west island and the terms of the 95-year lease it signed with the province for the land has drawn considerable public criticism. The Ontario Place redevelopment will also include public parks, an expanded Live Nation concert venue and a new Ontario Science Centre after the original was suddenly shuttered earlier this year.
According to Spence, the same Infrastructure Ontario official also exchanged emails with an executive at another bidder and made a call to the executive’s personal cellphone.
Communication with government staff and appointed officials was expressly forbidden by the terms of the call for development (CFD), Spence noted. Similarly, staff from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Premier Doug 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.
Minutes of those meetings were not kept, Spence found, leading to concerns about whether “participants had equal access to the information that was shared during the meetings.”
WATCH | Ontario Place redevelopment process lacked transparency, AG says:
Speaking at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Spence said her office was unable to ascertain specifics about the communications between government staff and bidders.
“We don’t know if they helped them with their bids because it wasn’t documented,” she said.
Responding to the report on behalf of the government, Infrastructure Ontario CEO Michael Lindsay said the communications were “on matters logistical and procedural and related to the responsibilities of partners and did not bear in any way on the valuation of the proposals that came in.”
The auditor general said her team found no evidence Ford’s office interfered with the procurement process at any point.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Ford is determined to see the Ontario Place redevelopment through as his “vanity project,” no matter the cost. The approach the government has taken with the redevelopment process is typical of Ford’s general approach to governing, she said.
“It’s a government that just rams through whatever they want,” she said.
“They just do whatever they want with no consideration for the rules, for accountability, for transparency, and frankly, for what the data and the science is telling them. This is a government that’s off the rails, and they’re doing whatever they want at enormous expense to the people of Ontario.”
Stiles called for Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma to resign over the auditor general’s findings. Surma did not take questions from media on Tuesday, with Health Minister Sylvia Jones telling reporters Surma was ill.
In a statement, Therme said it followed Infrastructure Ontario’s process and “fully complied with its requirements at every stage in our submission and negotiations.
“The bid process was clear to us, and any questions we may have had were answered within the process prior to the close of the submissions deadline,” the statement said.
“We are proud to have been selected to help revitalize Ontario Place.”
Major cost increases
Spence says the Ontario Place 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.
The projected costs for a new centre are now higher than renovating the previous location, the report says. The soaring price tag is largely due to the expanding scope of the project and significant increases in the cost of construction, the report says.
Speaking to media, Lindsay said the cost estimates for the new science centre are preliminary and that the price tag associated with rehabilitating the former facility have also increased.
Meanwhile, the decision for the province to be the master developer for the project rather than rely on one bidder for a “comprehensive” site overhaul means it has to take on more than $500 million in public realm costs that include roads, facilities, parks, paths and landscaping on much of the site.
Spence said none of the potential costs of the province taking on that role were included in original submissions to cabinet and the treasury board about the redevelopment plan.
“When they made the decision to become the master developer, it was not in the cabinet submission to say, ‘You’re going to have to take on these costs.’ The public realm and parking was a decision made later,” Spence said.
The lease with Therme also includes a commitment from the province to build at least 1,800 parking spaces for the 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.