Auditor General’s report confirms suspicions about Ford government’s plan for Ontario Science Centre: OPSEU/SEFPO

Ontario Science Centre

This week, the Auditor General’s (AG) report on the planned move of the Ontario Science Centre, confirmed what workers, experts, and community members have been saying for months.

The AG found that the decision to move the Science Centre was based on “preliminary and incomplete costing information.” Meaning the Ford government deliberately excluded costing information that did not work in their favour to mislead the public.

In response to the report, OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick said, “this report confirms our suspicions – that this is a purely political move. The Ford government spent years rejecting funding requests for necessary repairs and upgrades at the two Science Centres and are now using the crisis they had a hand in creating, to make up a case to move the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. They did not consult any stakeholders, like the OPSEU/SEFPO members who have spent years crafting and delivering innovative science programs, nor school boards who make up 25% of the Science Centre’s visitors, and not even the communities in the surrounding areas in Thornecliffe Park and Flemingdon Park. They made this decision unilaterally, but it is all of us who will pay the price.”

The Ontario Science Centre is a beloved cultural and historical institution. Over the last 50 years, workers, scientists, and researchers have crafted world-class interactive exhibits and programs to nurture a love of science in Ontarians. It provides a critical public service to diverse communities and over its tenure has sparked a love of science that many kids take into adulthood.

Moving it to a smaller location in downtown Toronto will negatively impact the quality-of-service workers can provide and create barriers for suburban communities. A smaller facility would also fail to accommodate the current centre’s on-site research, design, building and maintenance services that take place out of the public’s view. This is yet another example of the Ford government leaving vulnerable communities behind like the closures of the Scarborough and North York courthouses.

“This government has a pattern of acting without consulting the necessary stakeholders and putting their donors and greedy corporate interests before the needs of the people of Ontario. Just take the Greenbelt decision – a decision made to benefit corporate real estate companies at the expense of protected natural spaces. Doug Ford hid critical information and bypassed important consultation processes to ram through his decision to pave over the Greenbelt. Only after the public got all the facts and was rightfully outraged, did he backtrack,” added President Hornick.

OPSEU/SEFPO is opposed to any move from this government that will cost workers’ their jobs, and negatively impact lower-income families and the already underserved racialized and immigrant communities that live in the neighbourhoods around the Ontario Science Centre. The union is urging this government to take the Auditor General’s report as wake up call and reverse their decision to move the Ontario Science Centre.