Thread by @JohnLorinc

#topoli #onpoli Of all the many disingenuous claims made y'day by @fordnation and @KingaSurmaMPP re: Ontario Place & the Science Centre, the most egregious involve money/transparency. A great deal of public funding will be spent, and there has been zero transparency to date. 1/n

@fordnation @KingaSurmaMPP #topoli #onpoli The premier claimed the govt will release all the figures at some point -- I'm not waiting up! -- but I'd say that between the two sites, all in and accounting for the predictable under-estimation of capital costs, we're looking at $1b, not incl. private $$. 2/n

@fordnation @KingaSurmaMPP #topoli #onpoli What we don't know: the actual cost of site remediation; the murky financial arrangement btwn @ThermeCanada & the province, which is enabling side-loading of expenses; lease terms; and the source of the $100m the spa company claims it w/ spend on public realm. 3/n

@fordnation @KingaSurmaMPP @ThermeCanada #topoli #onpoli It's conceivable that between the public and private entities, almost $2b will be sunk into Ontario Place alone when all is said and done. Which raises the question of opportunity costs: what else could all that money have achieved? 4/n

@fordnation @KingaSurmaMPP @ThermeCanada #topoli #onpoli Quite apart from the slap-dash planning & privatization mania, @fordnation has not provided any sort of cost-benefit analysis, no estimate on public subsidies required, no thinking about whether the extravagant garage will negatively impact transit use. 5/n

@fordnation @KingaSurmaMPP @ThermeCanada #topoli #onpoli I get that @fordnation's brand is about economic development & it sees @OntarioPlace as a theme park, not a public space. But you'd think fiscal conservatives might pause & say, what's the ROI? Can we achieve similar goals yet spend less? Voters sd ask why not...