An activist group's legal challenge that threatened the Ford government's Ontario Place redevelopment has been dismissed.
On Tuesday morning, a panel of three judges released a decision quashing Ontario Place For All's request for a judicial review at the province’s request.
Ontario Place For All opposes Premier Doug Ford's government plan to allow Therme to build a private spa and waterpark at the provincially controlled site on Toronto's waterfront. Instead, it advocates for more of the land at Ontario Place to remain publicly accessible.
During its first mandate, Ford’s Progressive Conservative government selected Therme Canada as its main private partner in redeveloping Ontario Place. The company is the Canadian arm of a multi-national spa-builder. It and the provincial government have signed a lease agreement that’ll allow it to operate its future facility at Ontario Place’s west island for almost a century.
Ontario Place For All had hoped the Divisional Court would force the government to conduct a new environmental assessment that included the west island.
Ontario law requires environmental assessments to be completed ahead of many types of development projects. In the environmental assessment of Ontario Place the Ford government conducted from early 2022 until late last year, its west island was exempted. On Nov. 16, 2023, the same date the Ministry of Infrastructure released its final report, Ontario Place For All filed its court challenge.
Eleven days later, the Ford government tabled the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act as part of a bill that the PCs then fast-tracked to passage in just over a week. The law provided the government power to exempt Ontario Place from many environmental assessment requirements it’d otherwise have to meet.
Weeks later, lawyers for the provincial government filed a court motion to quash Ontario Place For All’s challenge, arguing its new law made the activist’s case “moot.”
The two sides’ first court showdown led the lone judge presiding over the hearing in March to decide later that month to defer the decision to a panel of judges instead. The follow-up hearing before three judges was held on May 13. They ultimately sided with the government on Tuesday, citing the law changes Ford’s PCs passed late last year in their decision.
“The applicant’s request for an order requiring the respondents to conduct an environmental assessment of the West Island redevelopment cannot succeed,” the decision said.
Had the judges ruled otherwise, and Ontario Place For All’s case then been successful, it could have posed a challenge to the redevelopment by delaying or halting it.
Norm Di Pasquale, co-chair of Ontario Place For All, said in a statement that he was "disappointed" the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act was used as justification to quash the group's challenge.
"This bill, which aims to strip all rights and protections from Ontario Place, sets a terrible precedent for the future of Ontario’s public institutions,” Di Pasquale added.
While Therme Canada wasn't a named party in the case, its spokesperson, Simon Bredin, said in a statement that the company welcomes the court’s decision.
"Our team remains focused on the West Island's shoreline repair and environmental remediation, along with construction of our destination attraction, and we continue to work with our partners to advance these efforts," Bredin added.
Ontario Place is within Spadina—Fort York, the riding NDP MPP Chris Glover represents. He and the New Democrats also oppose the Ford government’s redevelopment. Glover said in a statement on Tuesday that the court’s ruling wouldn’t deter him from continuing to fight the plan.
“The fight for Ontario Place is not over yet,” Glover said in a statement. “We are disappointed to see this outcome. It is appalling that this government used their majority to retroactively change the law and push through this corrupt deal. There is an Auditor General’s report in the works, another court case, and immense people power against this project – we know that the fight will continue.”
