The MZO is enabled by a law Canada’s Supreme Court will hear a challenge to
By Charlie Pinkerton
The Ford government quietly updated the zoning order shaping its redevelopment of Ontario Place to accommodate the construction of a new science centre, a massive above-ground parking garage nearby, and more.
Tourism Minister Stan Cho officially made the changes to the special minister’s zoning order (MZO) that applies to the site on Tuesday.
An MZO is a regulatory tool that certain provincial government ministers can issue to supersede local planning rules or requirements, typically to speed up a development project.
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma issued the first version of the MZO for Ontario Place in 2024, while she was in charge of the redevelopment of the provincially controlled Toronto waterfront site. The Infrastructure Ministry said in a news release at the time that the zoning order would allow the Ontario government “to maintain site plan control … and make much-needed improvements.”
Surma issued the original MZO a few weeks before the Ford government closed the Ontario Science Centre’s Don Mills location, and while it still favoured building an underground parking garage at Ontario Place.
Tweaks made to the MZO this week allow a “public parking garage” in the area where the Ford government is planning it, plus an “artist studio,” a “custom workshop” and “education uses” where the new science centre buildings are planned.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism told The Trillium the updates “support all planned uses and operational needs of the new Ontario Science Centre, including updates to permitted structures on the site, and allow flexibility with design-build construction.”
“The amendments will also add traffic control measures and improve access and connectivity to the site,” wrote Denelle Balfour, a media relations officer for the Tourism Ministry, in an email.
A few more changes to the MZO also refer to Ontario Place’s section of the Martin Goodman Trail, a 56-kilometre multi-use path that stretches across much of Toronto’s waterfront. Balfour explained that these updates “relate to distance between the trail and buildings to be constructed as part of (the) Ontario Place redevelopment.”
The MZO is enabled by the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, which is the subject of an ongoing court challenge. Despite two lower courts' rulings upholding the law passed by the Ford government a couple of years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada decided a month ago that it would hear a challenge from a group opposing the PCs’ multi-billion-dollar redevelopment, which includes Therme’s private spa and waterpark.
The Supreme Court does not release explanations for taking up cases. In most instances, it must be convinced that a case involves a question of public or national importance.
Hearings in the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act case are expected to be scheduled for sometime later this year.
