Updated March 5, 2026 at 10:36 a.m.
March 3, 2026
3 min read
Premier Doug Ford’s initial estimate for a new Science Centre was $322 million. That’s now grown to more than $1.04 billion.
Sammy Kogan The Canadian Press
By Matt Elliott Contributing Columnist
Matt Elliott is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GraphicMatt.
I felt a twinge of sadness last week while riding the new Eglinton LRT.
Not because the transit line is tragically bad. I am relieved to report that this LRT is actually pretty good. There are things that need improvement, and a public inquiry still seems like a good idea to figure out exactly why it took so darn long, but this train isn’t a rolling disaster.
Instead, the sadness came specifically when the LRT pulled into Don Valley Station.
Because for most of the 15 long years the Crosstown project was under construction, the station had a different name. It was called Science Centre Station.
It got to the point where the signs were installed and maps bearing the name were printed. The expectation was that this new line would provide a super convenient transit connection to the Ontario Science Centre at Don Mills and Eglinton. With no slight intended for the giant bear statue you can see while riding the train in the area now, the Science Centre would have been an even better trip generator for the LRT route. A real draw.
It’s hard not to think about what could have been. Had things not changed, I could be taking my four-year-old on a fun trip this weekend to ride the brand-new LRT to the old Science Centre — the same Science Centre I went to when I was young.
But it wasn’t to be. After Premier Doug Ford’s government abruptly closed the Science Centre in 2024, the LRT station was officially renamed last year. The signage was torn down. The maps were reprinted. Any dream of taking the LRT to the Science Centre was permanently dashed.
And the part that really adds insult to injury is that it’s now clear that none of this was ever necessary.
At the time the centre was closed, the Ford government argued that it had to be done because the roof was in such poor condition that a heavy snowfall could cause a collapse. We have, of course, had several very heavy snowfalls since, including one this January that literally broke records, and the roof has reportedly very much not caved in.
But maybe that’s just a lucky break, right? Maybe not. The engineering report cited by the government never concluded the building had to close. Instead, it said some high-risk roof panels had to be quickly replaced, and that there had to be a plan for maintenance over several years.
Not cheap, but doable.
But Ford, of course, also justified the closure on financial grounds. Fixing the roof and other repairs and upgrades would have cost $478 million, the provincial government said, while in a business case, they pegged the cost of building a new facility at Ontario Place at around $322 million.
But those Science Centre estimates appear to have been, well, perhaps a bit unscientific. Last week, the Ford government announced they’d issued a contract to build the new Ontario Place facility. The price tag? $1.04 billion.
The contract also includes maintenance costs, but even if those are separated, you’re looking at a cost of more than double the original estimate — and well above the cost offered to fix the roof at the old building.
The public shouldn’t let itself be blinded by the Science Centre designs Ford’s showing off. The new facility will be smaller than the old one. And for many people access will be worse.
Sure, the new Ontario Place is, on paper, well-served by the Ontario Line subway via Exhibition Place station. But if the new Science Centre meets its projected opening date in 2029, it will be in operation years before its new transit connection arrives. While riders wait, the best option will be less-frequent GO Train service or often-stuck-in-traffic streetcars.
And none of these connections will really get commuters right to the door. The question of how to provide transit connectivity for the approximately 500-metre span of various parking lots and busy traffic lanes between Exhibition Station and Ontario Place is still very much unanswered. There could be a gondola. There could be some kind of self-driving shuttle bus. They could fling people there in some sort of catapult.
There are options, but no answers yet.
Meanwhile, in addition to the LRT stop on the now-operating Eglinton Line, the old Science Centre would have also eventually had a station on the Ontario Line. Twice as nice for about half the price.
The biggest loss, though, is time. The engineering report was clear that roof repairs could have been completed at the old centre while the facility was open. So instead of the dinky mall exhibits and the temporary facility at Harbourfront the government will soon offer as some kind of Science Centre substitute, the real Science Centre could have just kept operating. We could have visited it today.
For parents like me, there’s no getting that lost time back. My son was two when Ford closed the Science Centre. He’ll be at least seven if the new project opens on time — and that’s a big if. That’s five years gone. All for a Science Centre that’ll cost more and deliver less. There’s no science that could ever make sense of this.
