By Allison Jones
TORONTO — Ontario's acting auditor general says the province's business case for moving the Ontario Science Centre to a redeveloped Ontario Place didn't take into account several costs — and the government's decision was based on incomplete information.
An annual report from the auditor general's office includes a look at the Ontario Science Centre relocation and found that a proposal to government decision makers earlier this year cited parking needs for a privately owned waterpark and spa planned for Ontario Place.
The government has not disclosed details of the long-term lease with Therme for the highly criticized planned facility, but the auditor's report says a "site-wide parking solution" was needed to meet Ontario's lease obligations with the company.
The report says an April submission to government on relocating the Science Centre from its current east Toronto location to Ontario Place proposed that new parking be integrated with the building "in order to dispel public/stakeholder concerns relating to cost and impact on the environment."
Premier Doug Ford agreed in a deal with the City of Toronto to consider moving the parking to nearby Exhibition Place.
An Infrastructure Ontario business case on the Science Centre found that moving it instead of renovating the existing facility could save the government about $250 million over 50 years, but acting auditor general Nick Stavropoulos found that it was missing key information.
He says incremental parking costs were not included, nor were financing, transaction and legal costs for a new science centre, nor similar costs for the repairs and upgrade of the current facility.
"The province’s science centres (including Science North in Sudbury) are both facing their own challenges,” Stavropoulos wrote in a statement.
"But decisionmakers were not fully informed when planning for the future of the Ontario Science Centre — this is critically important for all decisions going forward."
A likely increase in tourists attending the science centre at Ontario Place was included in the April proposal to government, the auditor said, but a likely negative impact on attendance from residents and school groups was not included.
The current science centre building is facing $369 million in deferred and critical maintenance needs over the next 20 years, the business case said. A building condition report in April 2022 found "multiple critical deficiencies" in roof, wall, mechanical, electrical and elevator systems, interior finishes, site features, and fire and life safety equipment.
A lack of government funding is a key cause of that, the auditor said.
There have been 42 projects deemed "critical" since 2017 that haven't been repaired, and of those projects, the science centre had asked for funding for seven of them at least three times in the past five years but was denied each time, the auditor wrote.
Government officials have often said that even though the new proposed science centre building will be about half the size of the current one, it will use space more efficiently and have more exhibition space.
The auditor's report said the new building would actually have about 18 per cent less space for exhibits.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published December 6, 2023.
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