Demolition work at Ontario Place, on the Toronto lakeshore, is pictured on Oct. 24, 2024.
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.Shelley Spence is set to speak with reporters at 11 a.m. ET at Queen's Park to detail the findings of her latest review of government operations.
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.
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scope of the project and significant increases in the costs of construction, the report says.Ontario's opioid strategy outdated, auditor general says Spence's office also found an unnamed vice president at Infrastructure Ontario exchanged nine emails and one phone call with Therme's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.
"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.
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