We’ve conducted two environmental assessments, one on the site-servicing work that is necessary in order to make sure that we can have tenants on the site. Good news: We actually completed our category C environmental assessment on Friday. It will be made public. It is shared with the public. But what’s most important is we are bringing Ontario Place back to life.

No one goes to Ontario Place anymore. The site is deteriorating, the site is flooding. In fact, Live Nation had to cancel its concerts back in 2017 because of the flooding issues. We will make sure that we improve the shoreline. We will make sure that there will be lots of activities for families to do at Ontario Place. If it was up to the NDP, they would do nothing. They would let the site deteriorate and let the site continue to flood, but we will not let that happen.

And Mr. Speaker, we had a competitive procurement process where Therme wellness facility participated and was successful, and now they will be an active tenant on the site that will contribute to the annual maintenance of the site to make sure that it does not fall into disrepair like it has done under their watch. They closed Ontario Place. We are going to bring it back to life with wonderful activities to make sure that we bring the site to good standard so that families can enjoy it for years and years to come.

If my memory serves me correct, the city of Toronto just passed a motion asking for the wellness centre to be moved at Exhibition Place, but do you know what one of their arguments was for that? “Oh, because there’s parking.” Parking is a necessity when it comes to tourist attractions. Wonderland, the zoo—every tourist attraction has parking. We want to make it as accessible for people so that the mom from Scarborough with three kids can make it down to Ontario Place to enjoy.

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, only the NDP would be offended by a measure that’s intended to keep people safe. That fence was installed to protect emergency vehicles. Our government has been very clear that we have awarded a contract for the site servicing work. It is anticipated to start in the next very short while, and so it is our obligation to protect the pedestrians who do go to Ontario Place.

But, Mr. Speaker, we are bringing it back to life. Ontario Place will become a place where it’s not just 50 people who enjoy the site, but four million to six million people on an annual basis, 365 days of the year.

But that being said, Mr. Speaker, we have three wonderful tenants that are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the site back to life so that four million to six million people come there to enjoy it with their families. Some 2,500 permanent jobs will be created, and with greater coordination with Exhibition Place and the city of Toronto, this will be a hot spot for people to go.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe that the members opposite are literally raising this issue today.

Interjections.

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.

Mr. Speaker, let me just take things back a bit. In 2019, we announced our vision for the site. We announced that we wanted to invest in the site to bring it back to life. In 2021, we went out to the public again and informed them of the tenants that we were negotiating with. Then, just last week, the Premier and I and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport were out again to inform the public of the progress that we are making on the site.

But do you know what we’ve done? We have learned from the past mistakes of past governments. We will have tenants that are going to invest capital in the site to build a brand new, all-year-round stage. We will have Therme, which will build a wellness and sports rec facility and waterslides with 12 acres of public realm. Most importantly, we will have tenants that will actually be contributing to the annual maintenance and repairs of the site so that it doesn’t fall into disrepair, like under their watch.

What we are doing is making the site sustainable. We will have three wonderful tenants: Ontario Science Centre, Therme, and Live Nation. Live Nation and Therme will now be contributing to the site, to the maintenance repairs to keep the site clean, to keep the site beautiful. Why? Because we don’t want it to fall into disrepair—like it was under the watch of the Liberal government. We want this site to be open for years and years and generations to come so that families have a wonderful place that they can enjoy with their families.

Mr. Speaker, that is what we heard from the public through the annual consultation process that has been taking place for several years. People want access to the site, and they want to enjoy it with their families.

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.

Thank you to the leader of the official opposition. We have been fully transparent with the public in terms of what our intentions are for the site since 2019. We are leasing the lands. We have a tenant in place. We have a development application with the city of Toronto. We are proceeding with environmental assessment work that is underway. We have made tremendous progress on the site.

But what’s most important is the sentiment of the public. People drive by the site and think, “What a waste that we let the site deteriorate to the point of it no longer being safe for people and pedestrians to be able to go there.” We are bringing the site back to life. We will make sure it is there for everyone in Ontario to enjoy.

Our government is making the financial investments necessary to preserve these two treasures, to bring them back to life, to make them a place that everyone can go and enjoy with their families. I 100% think the public is behind us on this one.