Global News, JULY 2021
Redevelopment of Toronto’s Ontario Place set to include 3 new attractions.
Author: admin
Toronto CityNews, JULY 2021
Ontario Place transforming into ‘year-round’ attraction, Budweiser Stage to get makeover.
Ontario Newsroom, JULY 2021
The Ontario government has announced details of its plan to revitalize Ontario Place into a world-class destination.
The Globe and Mail, JULY 2021
Ontario Place is going private – and that’s a problem
Toronto Star, JUNE 2021
Doug Ford wants you to think Ontario Place isn’t worth saving. He needs to take a walk.
Toronto Star, MAY 2021
Ontario Place is no place for secret deals on development.
Ontario Place Turns 50!
ONTARIO PLACE TURNS 50!
We want to thank the hundreds of you who signed on for our online rally last week kicking off the 50th-anniversary celebrations of Ontario Place.
For those who missed the rally or had trouble signing in at the beginning, you can view the entire event here.
Many more Ontario Place videos can be viewed on the Future of Ontario Place YouTube channel.
The government is expected to soon make a major announcement about the future of Ontario Place. Here are some ways that you can help ensure that it is a future that includes all of us:
- Send this letter to Premier Ford, Minister MacLeod and Mayor Tory demanding that the public and heritage values of the site be respected.
- On May 22nd, join with us to celebrate Ontario Place’s 50th Anniversary. Here are some ideas:
- Make a safely distanced visit to Ontario Place and post a selfie with the hashtag #HappyBirthdayOP.
- Photoshop yourself into an image of Ontario Place and post it on Instagram.
- Share your ideas for Ontario Place on Twitter and Instagram.
- Tweet your favourite Ontario Place memory.
- Watch for Minister MacLeod’s announcement later this month and see if it respects the core principles developed by Ontario Place for All, The Future of Ontario Place and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.
- Ontario Place must be for ALL and kept publicly accessible.
- There must be a thoughtful, comprehensive public review before any changes, with a full and robust public consultation that:
- conforms to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report’s call for informed, respectful and meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples over economic development,
- recognizes the diverse communities that use and contribute to Ontario Place.
- Public interest, not commercial interest must drive the new vision.
- Future plans must:
- acknowledge the waterfront’s Indigenous heritage and incorporate meaningful Indigenous consultation.
- maintain Ontario Place as part of Toronto’s waterfront park system.
- be integrated with the revitalization of Exhibition Place.
- celebrate Ontario.
- be guided by a collaboratively developed Conservation Management Plan that sustains Ontario Place as a recognized cultural heritage landscape.
- Make sure to use #HappyBirthdayOP as a hashtag.
CBC, Jan. 2021
The architect who designed Ontario Place would be ‘horrified’ by current proposals, daughter says.
Blog TO, DEC. 2020
This daring Toronto group swims in Lake Ontario all winter long.
Congratulations – You Did It!
Congratulations – You Did It!
Ontario Place for All (OP4All) wants to thank all its members and supporters for the important victory they won yesterday – the Ontario government’s announcement that there is not going to be any wholesale destruction of Ontario Place.
Thousands of you joined OP4All in demanding the government preserve Ontario Place’s unique heritage landscape, including the Cinesphere, the Pods, Trillium Park and the William G. Davis Trail.
Yesterday, Lisa MacLeod, the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries agreed, and in a White Paper, promised that “key heritage and recreational features will remain, such as the Cinesphere, the pods, Trillium Park and the William G. Davis Trail.”
Bill Greaves, with the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, says the government has come a long way from its “nothing can be saved” talk of 2019. “We look forward to working with the Ministry to develop a Conservation Management Plan to manage change and build on the value of what is already there. That’s what governments around the world have done in similar circumstances.”
While yesterday’s announcement is an important victory, the fight for Ontario Place isn’t over yet.
The Minister says there will be some announcements in the New Year, even though there have been no public consultations on the future of Ontario Place. OP4All’s Cindy Wilkey says it must remain as a park and open public space. “The Minister said yesterday her government recognized the tourism potential of Ontarians’ new embrace of nature and the outdoors during the COVID lockdown. Ontario Place offers an opportunity to capitalize on that momentum.”
OP4All believes yesterday’s announcement was a step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go. The Ontario government needs to recognize that Ontario Place is an essential public space and that there needs to be meaningful public engagement in determining its future.