NDP files complaint to integrity commissioner over Ontario Place development

The Ontario NDP has filed a complaint with the province’s Integrity Commissioner over the process that led to an Austrian company being contracted to build a massive waterfront spa at Ontario Place, alleging the process was rife with special treatment.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in an interview she has many questions about how the call for development of the attraction evolved to include a 2500-space parking lot paid for by taxpayers, as well as what role repeated contacts of certain lobbyists played in the final terms of the 95-year lease.

“We’re deeply concerned about what seems to be a pattern of preferential treatment,” Stiles said.

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“I think there’s enough evidence now that we’ve seen the lease that we obtained and some other additional information through freedom of information to make the case that there is a reason for the integrity commissioner to dig a little deeper,” she said.

On the same day earlier this month, some 850 trees were cut down on the property, and the provincial government released its lease with spa company Therme, which came after a lengthy freedom of information battle involving multiple organizations, including CTV News.

The documents indicated that the deal with Therme would bring in some $2 billion over its 95-year term, but the province must also provide Therme with 1,200 parking spots in a parking garage that is set to include 2,500 spaces.

If the government fails to provide that lot, it must pay a $5 per space per day penalty, with a total fee of about $2.2 million per year – which, for some years of the contract, would be higher than Therme’s rent.

In documents filed by the NDP that CTV News has seen, the party alleges that the process to grant that lease was unlike other procurement processes in that it didn’t have a fairness monitor, and no independent third party had been appointed to oversee the call for development.

"The evidence suggests that Therme received preferential treatment, and its private interests were improperly furthered, as a result of decisions for which Minister Kinga Surma is ultimately responsible," Stiles wrote in the complaint.

The party also pointed to FOI documents that a lobbyist working for Therme emailed a member of the bid evaluation team to warn them of imminent media coverage on July 17, 2020.

In the materials, the NDP says the province’s Auditor General found the costs of the parking lot, estimated at the time to be $307 million, were arbitrarily excluded from the business case to move the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place.

If the costs had been included, it would have been less expensive to repair and keep the OSC in its Flemingdon Park neighbourhood than it would have been to move and build a new facility, the party says.

Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake has the power to investigate complaints received from one MPP regarding the activities of another MPP.

In this case, Stiles is filing a complaint about Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma. Wake has the option of whether or not to investigate.

Wake’s investigations were a key part of uncovering connections between connected developers of the province’s protected Greenbelt and two ministers, which resulted in their resignation last year.

“We know this government has kept this integrity commissioner very busy. Unfortunately, he has a lot on his plate. But this is a very significant issue, and I think it’s in the public’s interest that the integrity commissioner investigate,” Stiles said.

Kinga Surma, who became Minister of Infrastructure in June of 2021, succeeding Laurie Scott, said in a statement, "Though I was not the Minister at the time, I am the Minister now.

"I look forward to assisting the Integrity Commissioner. Unlike the Opposition Leader, I have too much respect for the Commissioner to play politics with his office," she said.

"I will continue to focus my efforts on getting shovels in the ground to make Ontario Place a place that families can enjoy once again," Surma said.