Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is calling on the Ford government to renegotiate its Ontario Place deal with a European luxury spa company.
Crombie took aim at the 95-year lease handed to Therme Canada, which plans to build a mega-spa on the site of the redeveloped lakefront attraction.
Last week, the Ford government released details of the controversial lease agreement with Therme, which revealed the deal is for 75 years with a 20-year option to extend and that the province has the right to terminate the lease after 10 years but must give five years’ notice.
The Liberal leader claims a closer look at the deal shows Ontario taxpayers will be on the hook for over $2 billion, which will benefit a foreign luxury spa company.
She produced a document on Wednesday that shows the provincial government has committed to paying $800 million to build a parking lot, $200 million for maintenance and work to prepare the site for construction and $25 million for flood mitigation and shoreline repair. Crombie also says Therme will be paying $1 billion less in rent which should be at 7 per cent of fair market value instead of the 3.5 per cent contained in the contract.
“This mega spa is a mega scam,” she said.
“Just like his $8 billion Greenbelt giveaway, Doug Ford is trying to make his rich friends even richer at Ontario taxpayers expense.”
Dr. Adil Shamji, MPP for Don Valley East, called the deal fiscally irresponsible and will bring “questionable value” to the people of Ontario.
“Two billion dollars. You could build a massive, beautiful hospital for that. You could get every single person in the province access to a family doctor. Instead, Ford is choosing to fund a multi-million parking garage and an attraction in the already congested downtown core of little and entirely questionable value to the people of Ontario. Nobody’s asking for this,” he said.
The government’s lease agreement says it expects to generate almost $2 billion in revenue for the province over the lease’s life in rent payments and site-wide maintenance contributions. The facility is also expected to contribute $128 million to Ontario’s economy and create 800 jobs once fully operational.
