Toronto councillors voted in favour of a study to determine whether the city could take over operating the Ontario Science Centre from the province and to see what obligations the province has under the lease with the city.
Thursday’s near-unanimous vote took on added significance after the Ford government surprisingly shuttered the historic building last week citing an engineering report that said the centre’s roof could collapse later this year if snow and rain were left to accumulate — though opposition politicians and subject matter experts have questioned those claims.
“The City of Toronto has an obligation to explore all possible means to keep the science centre at its current location,” the council motion, put forward by councillor Josh Matlow, said.
“The cultural attraction is an important economic driver for the local community as it brings visitors from across the city and around the world to Don Mills and Eglinton. It would be a real blow to this community to lose the science centre just as the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown’s science centre station is about to make the attraction more accessible to the entire city,” it added.
One councillor, however, said the city would be making a mistake by operating the centre because it requires a large annual subsidy that would see the cash-strapped city reaching further into its pockets.
Museums “are places that need to be constantly worked on to remain relevant, to remain fresh, to attract people to them, to be self-sustaining entities,” councillor Stephen Holyday said.
The operating costs are in addition to the hundreds of millions needed to repair the dilapidated building,” Holyday added.
“If we have any precious dollars, they need to go to city priorities first,” he said.
On Wednesday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the province “can’t just walk away” from the 55-year-old building.
As part of the “new deal” signed between the province and city, Chow agreed to not stand in the way of the province’s plans to move the science centre from Toronto’s northeast to the waterfront.
In exchange, the province said it would “discuss future partnership opportunities to maintain public, community-oriented science programming at the legacy Ontario Science Centre location as part of a potential future mixed-use complete community that includes affordable and attainable housing.”
Those discussions haven’t happened yet, according to Ash Milton, press secretary for Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma.
The city and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) own the land where the existing centre sits and leased it to the province for 99 years, which ends in 2064. The province owns and operates the actual building.
A copy of the lease was obtained by the Toronto Star earlier this week.
According to the document, the province can only operate a museum and must keep it in good condition. Neither the province, the city, nor the TRCA can end the lease early unless the majority of the centre is destroyed in a natural disaster.
It doesn't say what happens if, as is the case now, the province chooses to close the building because it's in disrepair.
The TRCA did not respond to requests for comment on the lease.
City staff will report back to council later this summer with more details on what obligations the province has under the lease.
