If Doug Ford’s party gets re-elected, one of Niagara’s top draws can expect some good fortune.
The Progressive Conservative Party is promising to spend $35 million in taxpayer funds rebuilding the Royal George, one of three Shaw Festival theatres in Niagara-on-the-Lake where it shows performances.
The Royal George Theatre was built in 1915 and last underwent major renovations decades ago. It’s currently set to close after this year’s festival season wraps up, due to structural issues. But it might not be for long, according to a commitment Ford first alluded to in the town over the weekend.
“I was just told we gave $35 million for a theatre,” Ford said on Saturday.
Tim Jennings, Shaw Festival’s CEO who attended Ford’s news conference on Saturday, told Niagara-on-the-Lake Local that — assuming the PC leader was, in fact, referring to the Royal George — it was “very new” to even him.
A party spokesperson confirmed its leader’s promise on Monday, writing in a statement, “A re-elected PC government is committing $35 million in funding to rebuild the Royal George Theatre.”
Ford made the promise two months after he and Jennings each attended a $1,000-per-ticket PC Party fundraiser that Rainer Hummel, a Niagara-on-the-Lake-based developer, hosted at his mansion in the town.
Ford, on Saturday, denied he’d discussed any public business at the Dec. 9 fundraiser.
“Well, I don’t ever discuss business at homes of whoever,” said Ford, responding to a journalist for Niagara Now, which first reported on Dec. 11 that Ford and a couple of members of his cabinet had gone to the event. “That’s private business and I’m very transparent. What I discuss is what I discuss at the press conferences. But thank you for that question there.”
Jennings, however, recalled what was discussed at that fundraiser differently in an interview with a Niagara-on-the-Lake Local journalist on Monday.
“I met with the premier and (then-Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan) Cho at that meeting and talked to them about that,” Jennings said, referring to the Shaw Festival’s request for funding to restore the Royal George Theatre.
“(In) every meeting I’ve been in with the government, which includes dozens of them over the last number of years, I’m asking for money to help rebuild the George,” Jennings added.
The developer who hosted the Dec. 9 PC Party fundraiser also previously told Niagara Now that Jennings attended “to get an update on the new theatre.” Hummel characterized the event to the publication in December as “very casual and low-key” and “simply a private function at a private home.”
Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa went to Hummel’s Dec. 9 fundraiser for the PC Party as well, previously telling Niagara Now he’d hoped to discuss the future of the Shaw Festival there.
“The Shaw and the town have been very engaged with the federal government and the province in seeking a public contribution” to rebuild the Royal George, Zalepa told Niagara-on-the-Lake Local.
Zalepa and Coun. Erwin Wiens, their town’s deputy lord mayor, were each at Ford’s news conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Saturday, offering their respective endorsements for the PCs in the provincial election.
Wiens is Hummel’s cousin and also attended the fundraiser the developer hosted for the PCs in December, and also told Niagara Now that the Shaw Festival was discussed there.
Jennings has been registered to lobby the provincial government for the Shaw Festival since mid-2023. His filings to Ontario’s lobby registry say his goals have included seeking “support for the reimagined and expanded Royal George Theatre.”
A $35-million grant for a theatre would be a major grant by the provincial government’s standards. The Ontario government’s spending and planned spending information shows the Tourism Ministry was given a budget of about $53 million per year, on average, to spend on capital projects.
—With files from Sharon Burns of Niagara-on-the-Lake Local
