I have students from St. Demetrius and staff and volunteers here today to tour Queen’s Park whom I’ll get a chance to speak with and meet, so, of course, I would like to welcome them to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome Justin Thompson to Queen’s Park today. He’s from my constituency, and I hope he enjoys the tour of the building.

I’d like to welcome Jeff Dobbs, a guidance counsellor from Michael Power-St. Joseph High School in Etobicoke. He brought his grade 12 politics class here. They’re visiting Queen’s Park.

Honestly, I cannot believe that I’m answering this question again. Every single tourist destination has parking. Why? To make it as accessible for people as possible. What a shocking circumstance that we’re creating a world-class destination with attractions and things for families to do, and government considers parking; of course, government would consider parking. Every single other tourist attraction offers parking so that the mom from Scarborough with three kids can get down and enjoy Ontario Place.

What we hope to achieve here, of course, is to create a wonderful site that families can enjoy, with a brand new science centre, with more exhibition space, with a wellness and water park facility, with 50 acres of public grounds space, and a brand new Budweiser Stage. If that doesn’t require parking, honest to God, what does?

Thank you to the member for the question. Mr. Speaker, what we are trying to achieve here is to have good tenants on the site that will have activities for families to do all year round, and Therme does that. What we are also trying to achieve on the site is to build parking so that we can make it accessible for families across Ontario to visit the site that belongs to the people of Ontario—that’s 15 million people.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to make progress on the site and bring it back to life so that it will once again be enjoyed by families all the time. It is not today.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario Place has fallen into disrepair; everyone knows it. Everyone who goes there, everyone who drives by knows that the island is in need of love and care. And now we will have a wonderful tenant that will have activities for families, that will also be contributing to annual maintenance of the site so that it can be enjoyed for years and years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I came to Queen’s Park this morning to find out that the NDP was hosting a press conference at 9 a.m. Why? To tell the public that government was contemplating building a parking lot facility because we are redeveloping Ontario Place to be a world-class tourist destination.

What do Wonderland, the zoo, Exhibition Place all have in common? Yes, they’re tourist destinations, but they also have parking spaces for the convenience of those that attend those wonderful locations.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario Place is not enjoyed by the public anymore. We will make sure that there will be lots of activities for families to enjoy all year round, 365 days a year.

Thank you to the member for the question. First the member says the parking is for Therme; then the member says the parking is for the science centre. Do you know who the parking is for? It is for everyone. It is for all Ontarians—for the moms who have three kids from Scarborough and Brampton, for the people of northern Ontario who visit Toronto and want a wonderful place to go. That is who the parking is for.

I cannot believe that member is asking this question right now.

They closed the doors to Ontario Place. They left it to go into disrepair, to be in a state where it is constantly flooded and, at times, not safe for people.

We have presented a vision to the public—we were out last week. The Premier was answering questions this morning.

The Leader of the Opposition said very clearly, “standard commercial lease.”

Our partners, our tenants, are making serious investments to the site, building a brand new stage that will be enjoyed all year round, as opposed to just the summer period, a Therme water park and wellness facility, which will also have 12 acres of public realm space, and 43 acres of public realm space together, and contributing to the maintenance and upkeep of the site, which you failed to do.

Take responsibility for your actions.

Interjections.

I’d love the opportunity to be able to speak about the 43 acres of public park space that we will be creating at Ontario Place for families to finally enjoy. The government is entering into a long-term lease, but we cannot ignore the fact that they will be providing $500 million worth of capital investment on the site, including 12 acres of land.

I would love to highlight some of the successes through the negotiations that Infrastructure Ontario has had with our tenants. For the first time, we will have our tenants contributing to the repair and ongoing maintenance of the public realm space so that we don’t make the same mistake that previous governments have made and leave the site in disrepair. We will have wonderful tenants that will be contributing to the annual maintenance of the site to make sure that it is clean, safe and beautiful for families.

But, Mr. Speaker, our tenants will be contributing $500 million of injection to the site to bring it back to life and they will also be contributing to annual maintenance and repair costs, which has not happened before and which has led to the position that we are in today, where the site is in disrepair and in need of love and care.

Our government presented a vision to the people back in 2019 and again just last week. We will have 43 acres of beautiful public realm space. We will have three wonderful tenants, which include the science centre, and we will have lots for families to do on the site.

The member is absolutely right; we are bringing Ontario Place back to life, and we will be making it a place that everyone can enjoy.

Yesterday, I joined the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and the Premier to announce that we are moving the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place. We also announced that Live Nation will be renewing their lease with the province of Ontario and also building a brand new stage that will be active and operational all year around.

Mr. Speaker, with wonderful tenants like the Ontario Science Centre, Live Nation, and Therme, there will be lots for families to do. We are so excited that families will be able to spend all day there, from morning till night, every single day of the year.

But what I’m most excited about was releasing the final renderings of the whole vision of Ontario Place, which include 43 acres of public realm and park space, which is bigger than Trinity Bellwoods Park. This wonderful space will now have boardwalks, piers, public beaches, waterfront access, a brand new marina, children’s play areas, as well as food and beverages.

Mr. Speaker, we are excited that the final renderings are out in the public. We are completing the environmental assessment. And we will bring Ontario Place back to life.