The Infrastructure Ontario assessment of Therme’s bid to build a spa at Ontario Place wrongly presented development giant Aecon as a “construction partner,” a document obtained by the Star has revealed, potentially improving the bid’s likelihood of success.
When asked by the Star about its involvement in the project, an Aecon spokesperson said the two companies did discuss a potential collaboration at the time, but nothing was finalized.
“Aecon was aware that we were within the bid. However, the discussions for Aecon’s involvement were ongoing, and we are no longer involved with the project.”
The spokesperson did not clarify whether the company was aware that Aecon was presented as a construction partner on the document, a scorecard evaluating Therme’s submission that was prepared in October 2019.
Therme confirmed in an email to the Star that it was in talks with Aecon at one point. After talks fell apart, Therme said it “moved to a different construction model with another established Canadian construction company,” but would not name the new company.
The Infrastructure Ontario scorecard refers to the Therme-Aecon partnership as a “key strength,” noting that “Therme Group’s construction partner AECON Group is a Canadian leader and partner-of-choice in construction and infrastructure development projects.”
The document also notes that Therme has “no experience working in Canada/Ontario/Toronto, but Aecon is identified as a strong local delivery partner (construction and equity partner).”
The partnership was presented in a manner that would lead readers to believe it was a done deal and there was no indication that it was tentative or under discussion.
A former Infrastructure Ontario employee, who the Star allowed to remain anonymous because speaking publicly could impact future work opportunities, said the Aecon partnership would have been a “major benefit to that proposal” as it was being evaluated.
“Having a reliable construction partner is certainly valuable,” said the former employee, who was not involved in the assessment of the Ontario Place submissions.
“Any time you’re doing any construction work, it’s very complicated. There’s lots of permitting and approvals. That requires local knowledge.”
Infrastructure Ontario spokesperson Ian McConachie did not respond to questions from the Star about how Therme presented its relationship to Aecon in its proposal, referring questions to Therme.
The provincial Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, which oversees the redevelopment of Ontario Place, directed questions to Infrastructure Ontario.
The scorecard also lists Aecon as a “potential” equity contributor to the spa. Therme said in an email that “at no time did Therme Group hold out that Aecon was an equity partner.
“Aecon had preliminary discussions with Therme Group about the potential to convert a portion of construction fees to equity in the project, should a construction contract be negotiated,” the email said.
The Star obtained Therme’s scorecard after filing a freedom of information request in 2023. Infrastructure Ontario initially refused to release the relevant filings, but the Star appealed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, which ordered the records released last year.
Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto, said it’s not unusual for partnerships and teams to change over the course of a big development.
“But I’d want to know more about why that happened, and who the new partner is, and if they have the same reputation and level of expertise and experience in the local market as Aecon,” he said.
Infrastructure Ontario evaluators also cited six completed projects in Germany and Romania and three under development in China and Dubai as a key strength in the scorecard.
But last December the Auditor General raised concerns that Infrastructure Ontario did not ensure that the spas cited in Therme’s submission to the government were, in fact, owned by the firm.
“We reviewed the six spas and found five instances where the spa cited in the submission was not owned or operated by Therme Group,” the Auditor General wrote in its December report.
With files from Brendan Kennedy
