Ford hints the Science Centre will be moved to Ontario Place grounds

Premier Doug Ford strongly suggested Thursday that the province intends to move the aging Ontario Science Centre to the Ontario Place grounds — a site that itself is undergoing a controversial redevelopment process.

Asked about the future of the Science Centre during an unrelated news conference in Waterloo, Ford said he thinks it is a "great idea" to build a new facility on provincially-owned waterfront property at Ontario Place.

"But if I told you now, my minister of infrastructure would shoot me on the spot. So can you stay tuned until next week? But I think it's a fabulous idea and there is a tremendous opportunity," Ford said, adding that the proposal was put on the table about a year ago.

"So I think you know where we are going on that," he said.

A spokesperson for Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma said in a statement that Surma will be sharing the "updated vision" for Ontario Place "soon."

First opened in 1969, the Science Centre currently sits on about 90 acres of land at the corner of Eglinton Avenue East and Don Mills Road in northeast Toronto. It is currently slated as one of the terminal stations of the Ontario Line, a 15.6-km subway line that would run from Ontario Place in the west to the Science Centre in the east.

Ford said it would make sense to build dense new housing on the site of the Science Centre.

"I don't know if it's all buildable but even if it's half of that — high-rises, density around that whole area. That's where the Ontario Line is going to go to as well. So I think there is a tremendous opportunity to create housing, affordable homes ... if we decide to go down that route," he said.

The proposed development plan for Ontario Place had left open the possibility for "science programming" in a one-storey building set to be built upon a five-level underground parking garage. That program would possibly be done in co-ordination with the Science Centre, the plan said.

The future of the Science Centre has also come up on the mayoral election campaign trail recently. Former city councillor Ana Bailão said last week that, if elected, she would push to relocate the Science Centre to Ontario Place to build thousands of new homes on the site.

The idea of relocating the facility first came up during community consultations with Ontario's previous Liberal government, Bailão said, but nothing ever came of it.

Ford's apparent intention to move it to Ontario Place is sure to shake up what is already a deeply-controversial redevelopment plan for the prime waterfront property. The proposal, which is currently being reviewed by the city, includes handing control of the site's West Island to Austria-based company Therme, which wants to build a 65,000-square metre private spa, among other public amenities.

The plan — which would require about $650 million in government spending to update existing infrastructure and build the parking garage — has drawn fierce blowback from some community groups, who want Ontario Place to remain completely in public hands.

City-run public consultations on the proposal begin this weekend.