The Ford government is looking at moving its Ontario Place parking lot north, according to emails and documents obtained by Global News, and appears to be canvassing sites at Exhibition Place to build the garage it promised in its deal with a private spa.
A series of emails and meeting minutes accessed using freedom of information laws document meetings and discussions involving Toronto and Ontario considering where in Exhibition Place a new site could be built.
That would mean the province abandoning its original plan to build an underground parking lot directly beside Ontario Place as part of its redevelopment of the area to include a private spa, new music venue and relocated Ontario Place.
The idea of relocating the parking garage northwards was first suggested by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow at the end of 2023 as she tried to steer the government away from building it directly on the city’s waterfront.
The province agreed at the time, as part of a broader new deal with the city, to consider moving its garage but appeared to have made no promises.
An email from one Ministry of Infrastructure official sent last year, however, suggests an agreement is already in place.
“The New Deal between the Province and the City of Toronto, finalized in November 2023, commits the Province to change its current planned location for parking at the Ontario Place site and work with the City to establish an alternative parking solution at Exhibition Place,” the email said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Infrastructure told Global News that — despite the wording in the internal email — no final decision has been made.
“The Province and City agreed to investigate the possibility of a parking structure at Exhibition Place but not to a final decision on building at this location,” the spokesperson said.
As part of its contract with private spa company Therme, the Ford government has committed to building 1,800 parking spaces for Therme, as well as other spaces for Live Nation and the Ontario Science Centre. The Ministry of Infrastructure has estimated that could cost $307 million.
At the end of 2023, the City of Toronto and the government of Ontario reached a historic new deal.
Queen’s Park agreed to take control of the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway. It also pledged to pay to run the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs, along with money for new subway cars and to address homelessness.
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The main concession Toronto made was to recognize that it had no control over the waterfront lands of Ontario Place, with the mayor effectively agreeing to stop vocal opposition to the Ford government’s redevelopment vision.
The deal included another clause: that Toronto and Ontario would set up a technical table to look at whether a plan to build a parking lot at Ontario Place could be moved north to Exhibition Place.
According to one of the internal emails seen by Global News, the deal also “commits the Province to change its current planned location for parking” and work out how to relocate it to Exhibition Place.
That new parking lot could be built above ground.
Premier Doug Ford himself has hinted at the Exhibition Place option, and said the province didn’t want to build underground.
“I don’t believe we’re going to be spending a fortune on an underground garage,” he said in December 2024. “We just don’t need it.”
Internal documents show the Ministry of Infrastructure has started to consider specific areas at Exhibition Place to build its parking lot.
Minutes from a meeting on May 23, 2024, show that the province asked for a full list of all the places it could build an overground — or underground — parking garage at Exhibition Place.
“IO has requested that ExPlace comes back with a map that is marked up with sites that they could put above grade/ at grade and below grade parking locations,” one line said.
The same meeting said Infrastructure Ontario could consider a “creative solution across the site.”
Among the locations considered for parking by Toronto and Ontario officials was an area beside the OVO Athletic Centre.
“Two sites at the northwest corner of the grounds are identified as potential opportunity areas, which are appropriate locations for future buildings or structures, and may include above-grade parking facilities where displaced parking spaces or staging areas may be relocated,” a Toronto staffer wrote in one email.
A spokesperson for the province said the Ford government is also still to decide whether or not the parking would be above ground.
“No decision has been made on the location or on above vs below-ground options,” they told Global News.
Other sites that have been weighed include the area directly south of BMO Field, and the potential to redevelop the Better Living Centre by knocking it down and digging an underground parking lot below it.
Don Boyle, the CEO of Exhibition Place, suggested his organization hoped the province would build parking that makes “best use” of the grounds.
“Ultimately, Exhibition Place is striving to ensure that any parking solution sited on our 192-acre grounds to serve Ontario Place, Exhibition Place and the local precinct, be planned to incorporate the highest and best use of our grounds in order that we can continue to host existing and future events of significant business to business and public interest.”
The sites being weighed at Exhibition Place also come with some potential major problems.
The lease between Therme and Ontario binds the Ford government to have a parking solution with 1,800 spots ready for the spa to open in 2028 — or face a penalty of $5 per space per day.
Exhibition Place, however, will be used for the 2026 FIFA World Cup throughout that summer, as the global soccer tournament descends on the city. As a result, any parking lot would need to be built over roughly a year to avoid penalties for late delivery.
Minutes from a meeting between Toronto, Exhibition Place and the province on March 21, 2024, confirmed that Exhibition Place — including its parking lots and the Better Living Centre — would be “tied up” until “late fall 2026 due to FIFA requirements.”
The land directly south of BMO Field, which could host a parking structure, for example, will act as the FIFA village during the World Cup, making construction there impossible until well after the event has concluded.
Using land at Exhibition Place would also impact the Canadian National Exhibition, which turns the area into a massive outdoor event every summer.
Darrell Brown, then-CEO of the CNE, wrote several times to City of Toronto officials in 2024 to complain about the plan.
“To say this is a problem is a big understatement,” he said in one message. In another, he said an overground parking lot at Exhibition Place was “a flawed concept that will not adequately serve Therme’s needs and certainly won’t serve ours.”
In a message to local Coun. Ausma Malik, Brown said the CNE could go public with its complaints.
“We are prepared to mount a public campaign opposing any surface parking redevelopment on the site,” he wrote.
“My understanding is that the Committee members charged with developing a parking plan were all requested to sign NDAs — wonderful transparency. That said, it seems the NDAs have not kept information from flowing.”
Brown is no longer the CEO of the CNE, which currently has an interim leader.
A spokesperson for the organization said that “any previous statements made by Darrell Brown would be a misrepresentation on behalf of the Canadian National Exhibition, as Mr. Brown is no longer associated with the organization.”
The spokesperson did not say if the CNE’s new position is in favour of an above-ground parking lot at Exhibition Place.
“We continue to stay engaged and are closely monitoring Ontario Place development plans as it relates to the Canadian National Exhibition,” they wrote in an email.
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