Glover: Ford seizing control of Exhibition Place

QUEEN’S PARK — A provision buried in the Ford government's Fall Economic Statement (Bill 68) allows the government to seize the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) lands owned by the City of Toronto.

“This is an unconscionable land grab,” said Ontario NDP MPP Chris Glover (Spadina—Fort York). “Especially on the heels of an Auditor General report that found the Ford government was not fair, transparent, or accountable in its Ontario Place redevelopment.

“Exhibition Place has been managed by the City of Toronto. It organizes events including the CNE, the Royal Winter Fair and TFC games that draw millions of visitors each year. Everywhere Ford has gone with his real estate deals, he has left a trail of destruction and wasted taxpayer dollars. We cannot trust him with Exhibition Place.

"The Ford Conservatives are once again showing their contempt for the rule of law and the City of Toronto.

“This is a government that has created real estate scandals at Ontario Place, the Science Centre, and the Greenbelt,” said Glover. “They are bringing the entire Exhibition Place grounds under the same bill as Ontario Place where they’ve given a $2.2 billion subsidy to support a foreign megaspa company that lied about its credentials.”

BACKGROUND:

• Schedule 15 of Bill 68 amends the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act to include land designated by property identification numbers (PIN) that correlate with the entire Exhibition Place grounds, along with a street in Liberty Village, and Manitoba Drive.
• The Rebuilding Ontario Place Act established Ontario Place as an early example of a "special economic zone," where the government has given itself the power to arbitrarily exempt the site from any law, regulation or policy it chooses.