The government opted against plans to make the science centre a 'vital part' of the Don Mills and Eglinton area, choosing instead to vacate it in favour of building a new facility at Ontario Place
Charlie Pinkerton
Nov 15, 2024 4:16 PM
As the former CEO of the Ontario Science Centre approached retirement five years ago, he saw the organization at a fork in the road.
Weeks before his departure, Maurice Bitran, who ran the centre from 2014 until the end of 2019, showcased his view of its possible paths ahead to its board and the ministry.
One way forward — as the Ford government would ultimately choose — was to abandon the 50-year-old building and move elsewhere.
The other, as a presentation Bitran showed to trustees on Dec. 10, 2019 shows, was for the government to finally reinvest in the once state-of-the-art science centre facility at Don Mills and Eglinton and take other steps to reduce its reliance on provincial funding.
Charting either course would require significant change for the organization that, to its detriment, experienced little over Bitran’s tenure and the decade before it — at least compared to what lay ahead.
His presentation to the board three weeks before leaving focused on “subsistence” for the science centre and its “sustainability” and laid out two options for it long-term — revitalizing the existing centre or relocating “to a new building with less costly operating requirements.”
The case Bitran presented for staying at the science centre’s 1969-opened facility was tied to the “exciting development plans for the area.”
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT and Ontario Line subway line were planned to meet at a new station steps away from the science centre, making it more accessible to visitors.
Nearby developments of housing and more also promised to bring thousands or more new residents within walking distance of it.
One of the science centre's goals, at the time, was to be a “vital part of the new, larger community being developed at Don Mills and Eglinton,” said Bitran's presentation, which also outlined how the science centre would use short-term funding boosts from the province to reverse its gradually declining attendance, improve its revenues, and deal with increasing costs.
The provincial government provided the science centre with $19.4 million per year to fund its operations. A few million dollars less than that in revenues each year, and sometimes small one-time funding allotments from the province, tended to cover what it spent each year.
Bitran's presentation estimated that $84.2 million over five years would allow the science centre to "address key pressures in rent, occupancy, labour and other direct operating pressures," spend more on marketing and refurbishing certain aging exhibits and facility components to "reduce (its) reliance on provincial funding" and build new onsite parking to account for the nearby development projects.
A "major reinvestment" would be needed for the science centre to stay put long-term, the presentation added. The only estimate included for catching up on the facility's long-ignored maintenance and repair needs was a 2016 estimate from Infrastructure Ontario of $195 million over 20 years.
Bitran also suggested the provincial government shift to a "flexible agency status" — more like that of Science North, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Art Gallery of Ontario — to allow it to more effectively fundraise from private benefactors.
Minutes from the board meeting show “Board members expressed strong support for the deck” Bitran presented. The meeting minutes also say the CEO was expected to soon show it to the deputy minister ahead of a presentation to the minister.
Bitran was in touch with the deputy minister around the same time, asking her “to request the investments needed for the existing centre," according to an auditor general's report.
“However, the COVID-19 pandemic then shifted the focus of the board and management toward relief funding to sustain operations and to open the centre safely during provincial health restrictions,” the auditor wrote in a report a year ago.
Bitran declined an interview request from The Trillium. In an email, he said he’s expressed his views on the science centre this summer in a Toronto Star-published op-ed. He wrote about some of the same issues that during his tenure led the organization — and facility — to a crossroads. He was critical of certain Ford government justifications for relocating it, while also writing, “The task before us is to look forward and give new life to this enduring vision, so (the science centre) can last another 60 years and beyond.”
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma’s office, which is responsible for the centre’s relocation and the wide Ontario Place redevelopment, declined to comment on the former CEO’s Dec. 10, 2019 presentation. Surma’s spokesperson said she’s refraining from commenting on either topic on advice from Ontario’s integrity commissioner, who is currently considering investigating the redevelopment plan in response to a request from NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
Jason Ash, co-chair of Save Ontario’s Science Centre, wrote in a statement after reviewing the presentation, "It appears Ontario Science Centre had a plan to succeed on Don Mills Road."
"But tragically for Ontario kids, this government had other plans," he said.
The Ford government abruptly closed the science centre on June 21. Its remaining employees' last day working in the building was Oct. 31. A couple of small, temporary exhibits have since opened elsewhere in Toronto. The facility at Ontario Place isn't expected to be completed and opened until 2028 at the earliest.
