It has been another busy week for Ontario Place news, with a new report from the province's Auditor General shedding further light on Premier Doug Ford and co.'s plans for revitalizing the property.

After a value-for-money assessment indicated on Wednesday that Ford's idea to move the province's science centre to the waterfront site may have had something to do with him agreeing to provide a "site-wide parking solution" for Therme and other tenants, multiple headlines emerged.

While some had to do with the government's contractual obligation to provide Therme with thousands of parking spots, others were about the $2 million Ford invested into ads for the project, or the fact that the business case for moving the science centre was made using incomplete financial information.

Then there is the fact that the original Call for Development (before Therme was selected) told applicants to "consider the adequacy of parking for their development concept."

Interesting… so the expensive publicly-funded parking garage wasn’t part of the original plan or RFP for Ontario Place until the secret contract with Therme was signed. The province added that subsidy and contractual obligation for itself…. Why? https://t.co/ZrwRfO2425

— Brendon (@eyeonthefly) December 7, 2023

In the midst of all of these updates, residents have been chattering about the potential of moving the controversial mega-garage (which the public only gained knowledge of in October) to Exhibition Place, a location Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow had proposed the entire spa be moved to earlier in the fall.

While Ford confirmed earlier that he was considering this option, many don't seem to be aware that he has actually formally agreed to it, as per the province's new deal for Toronto that was announced on November 27.

It was the same deal that made forthcoming maintenance of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway the province's problem, that promised tons of funding and new vehicles for the TTC as part of a total $7.6 billion in capital relief for the city — all of which appeared to overshadow some of the finer details.

Posts from the toronto
community on Reddit

As of this week, citizens were still posting on socials about how they think the parking should be moved to the Ex Grounds, with one Reddit post on the subject garnering hundreds of upvotes and dozens of comments from individuals who seemed to have no idea this was already happening.

"Per the auditor general report the province promised parking within 650m of the potential spa. This circle is set to 500m and clearly shows the exhibition centre parking lot could be used and it would comply," the post from Wednesday noted.

What! Hard to keep up with the Ford government. 🤦🏻‍♀️

— Lena (@SouthMacedonian) December 6, 2023

Meanwhile, journalists from various outlets were tweeting out the news of the parking structure's relocation as if it were new and constituents, talking about it as if it were new thanks to Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma substantiating the news in a press conference Wednesday.

Again, it is news that the Province told blogTO the same day is not new, outlining the specific clause in the agreement between Ford and Chow that addresses the topic.

"The Province agreeing to change its current planned location for parking at the Ontario Place site and work with the City to establish an alternative parking solution at Exhibition Place that will improve public access to the shoreline at Ontario Place and could reduce the overall area needed for parking," a document containing the full terms of the deal reads.

It is dated November 26, 2023.

NEW: Infrastructure minister Kinga Surma now says conclusively the Ontario Place parking will not be built on the waterfront, but across the street, somewhere on the exhibition grounds #onpoli #topoli pic.twitter.com/wneLOdQS2v

— Siobhan Morris (@siomoCTV) December 6, 2023

Of course, along with all of the support the Province is granting to cash-strapped, indebted Toronto, the City had to give up its fight against the much-contested Therme and the rest of Ford's scheme: the deal hinged on Chow "accepting that the province has the authority to advance project approvals for Ontario Place and intends to do so imminently."

This means Ford has the power to expropriate the small portion of the Ontario Place property that is still under Toronto's jurisdiction, while he has also been able to exempt the lot from local noise bylaws and the usually requisite environmental and heritage assessments.

The contract with Therme states that if the province doesn't provide those "dedicated parking spaces" 650m away from its entrance the province would face a "financial penalty."

Now the minister of infrastructure suggests she doesn't believe moving the garage would be a breach.

— Colin D'Mello | Global News (@ColinDMello) December 6, 2023

According to reporters who were on the scene when Surma spoke on Wednesday, the minister herself said she didn't believe moving the garage would be a breach of the Province's contract with Therme, though the Province had already formally agreed to relocate the planned lot more than a week earlier.