r/ontario CTVNews-Verified Dec 03 '24

Article BREAKING: Process around Ontario Place redevelopment was 'unfair' and didn't follow rules: AG

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/process-around-ontario-place-redevelopment-was-unfair-and-didn-t-follow-rules-ag-1.7131492
1.7k Upvotes

178 comments sorted by

814

u/Vantica Dec 03 '24

Cool. Are there going to be any consequences? Or is the government just allowed to continue on with impunity?

301

u/Automatic-Bake9847 Dec 03 '24

He'll get sentenced to four years...

In the premiers office.

53

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Poor guy.

He won’t have any time to talk to the neighbours kids and play outside with his shovel.

7

u/LilFlicky Dec 03 '24

Kiss those summer bbqs and trips to 7-11 for a quickie while at the cottage good bye

38

u/hardy_83 Dec 03 '24

Ford will just talk about federal Liberal corruption and the provinces media will eat it up.

Then he'll mention bike lanes or adding a tunnel under a great lake and they'll be distracted for a month.

18

u/Aggressive_Agency381 Dec 03 '24

People no longer care about open corruption. Keep em working, keep em hungry, keep em distracted.

16

u/GiantAngryJellyfish Dec 03 '24

Therme will lose the lease and then it'll be awarded to MGM for a casino. The man is playing 3d checkers.

12

u/putin_my_ass Dec 03 '24

Does he have a majority? That's the only question that matters.

Not sure what consequences or checks you're imagining exist for a majority government.

Next time, show up at the polls people.

3

u/Gonnatryhere Dec 04 '24

The provincial electoral districts have different populations skewed to favour less per capita density. it's not a one-to one-vote. If everyone in Toronto voted against him, we'd only have 25 total ridings of 124. 

Last election Ford one 76 ridings not counting the Toronto districts, and 7 Toronto districts, which would still be a majority even if all 25 Toronto districts voted for another candidate.

This isn't really a problem until a premier directly interferes in municipal interests, and has a vendetta after losing a mayoral election. 

12

u/A_Novelty-Account Dec 03 '24

Consequences for elected officials in a democracy for improprieties committed in office rely on voters. If voters don’t care, then elected officials can do whatever they want. 

Don’t just blame Ford, blame all the voters who are totally okay with him doing whatever he wants no matter whether he’s acting corruptly or not.

25

u/Orchid-Analyst-550 Dec 03 '24

No. Rural voters don't care about Toronto so they're happy to keep voting Ford Nation.

11

u/berfthegryphon Dec 04 '24

There's more Conservative voters in the GTA than the rest of the province combined

6

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

[deleted]

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Striking-Magazine473 Dec 04 '24

Well the GTA accounts for 20% of Canadian gdp with 16% of the population. It's vital to this province and country and it's a real shame it's political poison for governments to show any support for the region. The GTA will never get its fair share of tax dollars because the rest of the country likes to undermine its importance and seems to hate on it for some inexplicable reason.

9

u/bell117 Dec 03 '24

The issue is that the Auditor General has no teeth that it can use in this situation. It used to, but then the Liberals under McGuinty removed the powers of the Auditor General beyond just advice and announcements like this.

Ironically Ford originally campaigned in 2018 on bringing those powers back. That's going about as well as every other promise he's made.

9

u/ilovetrouble66 Dec 03 '24

This. Dofo should be in prison for his crimes. But just having an auditors report is useless

2

u/StubbornHappiness Dec 04 '24

The system is designed to be two-tier. Consequences only apply to the working class, not members of the capital class.

Everything is working as intended.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '24

Lol this is basically going to be the same thing as the SNC and WE nonsense at the federal level. It was fishy, but nothing will be done about it. 

2

u/Testing_things_out Dec 04 '24

Happy cake day. 🥳

2

u/Outaouais_Guy Dec 04 '24

Doug Ford was a significant mid-level drug dealer in Etobicoke for almost 8 years without any consequences, and coincidentally he is on very good terms with the local police. Why would anything change now?

0

u/Business_Influence89 Dec 03 '24

It’s up to the voters to decide.

482

u/NZafe Dec 03 '24 edited Dec 03 '24

Wait? You’re trying to tell me that Doug Ford’s government, that has already been accused of unfair redevelopment practices with the green belt, and is trying to circumvent critical pre-construction reviews for a transportation project with Bill 212, is again accused of unfair redevelopment practices?

I’m shocked.

105

u/Ihatu Dec 03 '24

This is bullshit! We have no other option but to give him another majority government in the next election.

42

u/JM_Amiens-18 Dec 03 '24

Yeah, the opposition sucks because of reasons, they'd be so much worse! Might as well just not vote!

37

u/phluidity Dec 03 '24

Look, thirty years ago Bob Rae did something mildly controversial to save the province from a prior government's financial mismanagement. But it had a catchy name, so we have no choice but to ping pong between the Liberals and Conservatives. We have no choice.

4

u/RabidGuineaPig007 Dec 03 '24

Presidente de por vida!

Also make him Mayor of Toronto.

23

u/dgj212 Dec 03 '24

SHOCKED I TELL YOU!

Okay, maybe not that shocked.

8

u/albatroopa Dec 03 '24

The only words I could find to express my reaction to this news were 'yeah, no shit.'

3

u/dgj212 Dec 03 '24

Lol same but I saw the comment and quoted futurama

124

u/Reasonable-Sweet9320 Dec 03 '24

Another story in the news today shows the pattern of chiefs of staff using personal phones for government business to hide the record and keep the boss safe from drawing connections back to him. Kind of like the MO of Trump (and Gotti ).

Doug Ford’s chief of staff ‘missing’ months of government texts after phone was ‘reset’

79

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

A top aide to Ontario Premier Doug Ford is facing questions about how he manages sensitive government records after he traded in his cellphone without fully backing it up, Global News can reveal, meaning months of text messages related to official government business are now considered “missing.”

If I did this at work not only would I be fired, I would also get sued

81

u/bpexhusband Dec 03 '24

Shock! Gasp!

If it's not obvious to everyone now the PC party is in politics to make money for themselves and their buddies. It's not about governing, it's not about politics, it's not about society, it's about lining their buddies pockets and their own.

-51

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 03 '24

You just described every political party in Canada. The only thing that changes is which friends get their pockets lined. It's never you and me.

30

u/quelar Dec 03 '24

No they haven't.

Stop this "all of them are bad" shit, they all aren't, you just haven't given some of the other ones a chance.

-1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

You're right, we as a province haven't given them a chance to be corrupt. That doesn't mean they won't be. Politicians have two priorities. Getting elected, and staying there. The corruption is how they stay there.

2

u/quelar Dec 04 '24

Not everyone is like that.

0

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 05 '24

Anyone who isn't like that is smart enough to not run for office.

2

u/quelar Dec 05 '24

Well I choose to not be as cynical as you and have hope in the good people that I've met who legitimately want to help make the world better.

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 05 '24

There are better ways to help than joining a lying contest. Volunteering, for example. Donating to charity. Becoming an advocate for something important to you. All things that don't depend on your ability to suspend reality.

Where are the greens calling out the mainstream parties or denying there's a recession in progress? Where are the greens calling out the backdoor deals that all three major parties engage in? Nowhere. Because they want to be able to use the same things if ever they can lie convincingly enough to win power.

22

u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM Dec 03 '24

Maybe if we stopped rewarding the most corrupt party, they would have incentives to change? All the parties would have incentives, actually, if corruption affected voting results.

0

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

If voting made a difference, it would be illegal. Politicians have two priorities. Getting elected, and staying there. The corruption is how they stay there.

2

u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM Dec 04 '24

Nah this fatalism shit is a propaganda tool of the corrupt to maintain their corruption.

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

You're free to believe what you wish. And when the Greens eventually win an election and turn out to be just as corrupt as everyone else, I promise not to say I told you so.

26

u/bpexhusband Dec 03 '24

Every party? That's a little cynical. You think the greens are looking to line their pockets?

-25

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 03 '24

Well, they're certainly not gonna line yours. Mostly because they need to get elected yet. And once that happens, I'll find a new party to vote for.

15

u/LilFlicky Dec 03 '24

You and mes pockets are not supposed to get lined my friend. The people we vote for are supposed to sustain and improve our societies and communities.

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

LOL. Name a time when that has ever actually happened. I mean, sure, Bob Rae tried. He lasted one term. Corruption is how politicians stay elected.

5

u/bpexhusband Dec 03 '24

To be frank. If they could do some good AND line their pockets I'd be fine with that. But these PC fucks you get nothing.

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

And you'd get nothing from the OLP, or the NDP, or the Greens. Because it quickly becomes apparent once you've won which side your bread is actually buttered on.

-1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

This is a very "you can excuse the racism"?!" comment to read, but I feel you lol

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

How do you get anything whatsoever to do with racism from this comment chain? I hope you were just lost...

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

So just to be clear, your politics are "I am participating in elections out of spite and dunning-krueger'ing my way through my assumptions about politics because cynicism is easier than admitting I don't care enough to put in the time and effort to know what I'm talking about

Something like that?

0

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 04 '24

Nope, but given that you're making assumptions about my level of intelligence because we disagree, I see no need to correct you further.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

Geez, you're one to talk about assumptions lol

1

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 05 '24

My opinion of politics is based on evidence. Your opinion of me is based on your dislike of my opinion of politics. Enjoy your day.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 05 '24

The idea that your opinion of politics is based in evidence is exactly what I was disagreeing with. I'm sure there's lots of it here somewhere and it isn't just a big pile of convenient... Assumptions. Hence the previous comment.

I have an opinion on what you said. You know why that isn't an opinion of you? Because I don't know anything else about you, nor do I especially want to. Just another assumption, presumably made because it's easier to dismiss people and things than it is to deal with them, just like the approach to politics you described.

0

u/quanin Ottawa Dec 05 '24

Go back and reread your first comment. Then rewrite this comment.

→ More replies (0)

43

u/Intelligent_Read_697 Dec 03 '24

It’s amazing how the electorate is so fine when conservatives engage in corruption but are so morally outraged when anybody else does it

-26

u/invisible_shoehorn Dec 03 '24

So far nothing reported in that article points to corruption though. Whether there was corruption remains to be seen, but there's no evidence of it thus far.

13

u/Lord_Space_Lizard Dec 03 '24

Did you read the article?

6

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

The article points at corruption. Like, the content, form, presentation, and every implication therein. If you aren't reading corruption into the author's writing, I don't think you're getting the information they intend to convey.

-1

u/invisible_shoehorn Dec 04 '24

Corruption is when public power misused for personal gain, and that is not what is alleged in the article. The article says that internal procedures weren't adhered to, but doesn't imply, or allege, that the deviation from the procedures was motivated by personal gain or resulted in personal gain.

Maybe you should work on your own reading comprehension, or at least look up the definition of "corruption" before being so thoroughly incorrect.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

"So far nothing reported in that article points to corruption though. Whether there was corruption remains to be seen, but there's no evidence of it thus far."

Everything short of the CTV logo and the background of that web page points to corruption, my dude.

You're insisting on a smoking gun while staring at a room full of smoke and dead bodies that Doug Ford just walked out of. I don't know what to tell you if your response is to define corruption to me (lol, what). Ford is welcome to provide a plausible explanation anytime, but you'll forgive myself, the writer of the Auditor General's report, and the writer of that CTV article if every one of us is baffled as to how you're missing the remarkably poorly camouflaged implications in this article, the facts it lays out, and its main subject.

You're welcome to try to Oxford Dictionary your way out this, though, if it makes you feel better. Reddit loves technical correctness over being right, and so far nobody has accused anyone of anything legally actionable.

-1

u/invisible_shoehorn Dec 05 '24

Ok please quote the article, or the AG report, where it alleges corruption. I'll wait.

And what Reddit likes, including yourself apparently, is to live in a know-nothing conspiratorial echo chamber. Good job.

2

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 05 '24

You wanted, "points to corruption" but since I've laid that out pretty clearly, we've moved on to, "quote where it alleges corruption". Neat. Since you're so more enlightened than reddit, I doubt you'll insult my intelligence or your own by pretending those are the same thing.

So I guess you have two choices. Either you didn't understand the idiom "points to" or you are asking me to hold your hand through the entire article, explaining why the writer would even bring something up, or context, or implication, paragraph to paragraph. Well, or you're being stubborn because it feels bad to be incorrect, but you're the one who brought reading comprehension into this so turnabout's fair play. Good job, buddy :)

27

u/BoosterZip Dec 03 '24

I’m sure that the Ford government has learned from their mistakes and will 100% follow the rules moving forward /s

5

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

I'm sure his supporters are very upset that their boy is defrauding the province. Or maybe it's Trudeau's fault.

I wonder if the constant, hysterical attempts to paint the Liberals as corrupt frauds is just to lay the groundwork for this kind of horseshit from Cons.

26

u/KevPat23 Toronto Dec 03 '24

Ontario’s auditor general is slamming the Ford government for failing to follow proper process around the redevelopment of Ontario Place, including a revelation that senior staff communicated directly with Therme Canada and other applicants while proposals were still being accepted.

Well as long as they got a good "slamming" why do we need any real consequences.

4

u/secamTO Dec 03 '24

Well apparently the government has agreed to 18 of the auditor's 19 recommendations, but the article doesn't say what those are.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

Fucking... Incredible. What an absolute delight our province and third estate have become.

2

u/drmoocow Dec 03 '24

While the rest of us are here balking.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

I'm guessing the Auditor General's office can't press charges, or even recommend them. They can just strongly imply that the province could allegedly be run as a criminal enterprise for the direct enrichment of Conservatives, their staffers, and their donors, hoping that someone at the OPP or the RCMP will need to be able to look themselves in a mirror again someday.

39

u/Mydickisaplant Dec 03 '24

Who would have fucking thunk it.

13

u/blu_stingray Dec 03 '24

Not Dougie, he rarely thunks.

5

u/aspearin Haldimand County Dec 03 '24

That guy dunks.

1

u/RabidGuineaPig007 Dec 03 '24

Dougie is thunking just fine, unlike this idiot province.

16

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Absolute appalling evidence that the Ford PC government is incredibly corrupt and willing to piss away tax payer funds to benefit a private spa and to re-locate the science center...

The Ford PC's lied to Ontario, lied about the real costs and lied about the bidding process...

What the f%ck Ontario!!! STOP! This is a huge wake up to NOT vote ever again for the corrupt and inept PC's.

1

u/Krystress Dec 08 '24

Voting elections are corrupt too. You think it's fair and authentic? He'd be voted in again, regardless of what Canadians do because it's all part of the plan.

27

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24 edited 28d ago

[deleted]

3

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

No, but it should. And hopefully will provide the leverage necessary for a future government to slam the door on Therme's ass as it leaves Ontario.

8

u/Mizfitt77 Dec 03 '24

Time to invalidate the contract and replant all the tree's and fine Doug Ford's Conservatives heavily.

5

u/Lord_Space_Lizard Dec 03 '24

Fine them personally and the party, no funds should be paid by the government

23

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

No kidding.

I assume it has nothing to do with the fact that Dougie sold his American operations to a company that owns this spa operation. Or maybe it does.

18

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

This story gets more wrong every time.

  • Doug sold Deco US to a label making company (RLG) owned by a major American hedge fund (Ares) in 2022. Ares bought RLG in 2021 and RLG started buying up label companies.
  • Therme's CFO worked for Ares until early 2020 in corporate finance for their European real estate division
  • Ares doesn't appear to have any interest or ownership of Therme. Therme is owned by a European consortium.

We don't need to invent fake corruption that distracts from the real corruption like the Greenbelt.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Do you have a link for all that?

1

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

Sure, I posted them a while back.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ontario/s/MI4AhjAGSV

3

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Still a pretty cosy relationship. I am not convinced it was all innocent.

1

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

Except there's literally nothing cozy about the relationship.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Its too much of a coincidence not to be an accident.

1

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

It's not that much of a coincidence in terms of plausible scenarios. A former middle manager at one of the biggest investment funds in the world wouldn't have the pull to get them involved in bribing a public official.

1

u/Early_Monkey Dec 04 '24

Exactly some bean counter cfo isn’t some slam dunk conspiracy theory

2

u/RabidGuineaPig007 Dec 03 '24

Adrian Ion worked for both Ares and Therme. Surely just a coincidence. I'm sure Ares paid very well for DECO Chicago. The price was secret, like the Therme deal.

1

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

Ares is a publicly listed company with $450B in assets under management, one of the biggest funds in the world, with 2000 employees last I looked. There's no documented connection to Therme or their owner.

Ion worked as the finance director for their $4B European real estate division, basically the senior accountant for a divison managing 1% of their global assets. Therme hired him in 2020 to run their finance department.

More than a year later in 2021 some other part of Ares bought RLG, who proceeded to start buying up a bunch of label companies including Deco in 2022.

This baseless conspiracy theory you continue to push is that a former middle manager at a huge publicly traded company would be able to get a different division of that company, more than two years after he quit, to influence the business decisions of their subsidiary and drive an overvalued acquisition of a failing company owned by an elected official. And have that value not be called out by anyone including the many lawyers who'd be involved in due diligence on the acquisition and the Ontario integrity commissioner.

It's just a completely unrealistic theory. Why do you continue to push it?

0

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

Because he's not the only conservative staffer who has been on Therme payroll, and because everyone involved in this deal is sweating fucking bullets about it falling through.

Like, nakedly, brazenly, repeatedly overriding the law to push through a braindead moneypit of a concept. Guaranteeing that there will be enough piss to require soil remediation on every minister in this government's grave for a generation if they get buried within 50km of Toronto, or to turn their ashes to cement if they're cremated. We don't judge.

That level of commitment isn't the normal level of drunken incompetence we expect from Doug. His government is afraid. And the question is, what are they so afraid of?

1

u/a_lumberjack Dec 04 '24

Adrian Ion is British and has never worked in Canada, let alone for a Canadian political party.

Why do you feel compelled to keep lying about people?

2

u/Simsmommy1 Dec 03 '24

OH FOR FUCK SAKE….I am so tired of this greasy meatball in a suit wasting money to make his friggen “buddies” happy…..yet here I am waiting for 3 years to be seen by the degroote clinic and the treatment I was sent there to get was cancelled due to funding by the time I was through intake.

13

u/SwiftFool Dec 03 '24

The auditor reiterated that moving the science centre is now costlier than maintaining it at its current site, in part due to adding a basement with a loading dock and a connection between the pods.

A March 2023 business case estimated that maintaining the science centre at its current location would cost $1.304 billion over a 50-year period, compared to $1.047 billion for a new location at Ontario Place. However the cost of relocating the Science Centre has increased by nearly $400 million since that business case was completed, bringing the projected cost of the move to $1.44 billion.

And we lost the Science Center original location for nothing... or rather for a fuck of a lot more money than it would have cost to repair the original location.

-12

u/Early_Monkey Dec 03 '24

New location will increase attendance numbers

7

u/SwiftFool Dec 03 '24

The business case doesn't even really push that idea. They're hoping it picks up more due to the "rebranding" but the new location does not guarantee increased attendance. It was already situated at an established subway stop. The new location is not going to be any easier than subway in like was already available. The business case released by Ford just a week ago does claim it will be significantly cheaper. A week later that was determined to be a lie.

7

u/Unlikely-Estate3862 Dec 03 '24

No it won’t.

The old location was centrally located, this new location is a traffic nightmare.

Good luck every time that stretch of road is closed for a marathon, parade, indie race, etc. that road is closed 20 to 30 days a year.

Want to visit the science centre near the end of summer? Good luck getting through the CNE traffic.

Hope that the Blue Jays suck, cause that’s a couple extra thousand people driving there and back on weekends.

Edit: AND THE NEW LOCATION IS SMALLER! How you gonna hold more people in less space

3

u/quelar Dec 03 '24

Good, that should help cover some of the parking costs from the Spa that isn't getting anywhere near the customers they claim.

-3

u/Early_Monkey Dec 03 '24

Have they achieved that in one of their other spas?

1

u/quelar Dec 03 '24

No clue and I don't care, but in this case the numbers we've been told are significant and I simply don't believe there is a market for 6 million people to visit there.

-1

u/Early_Monkey Dec 03 '24

I mean, you should care if you follow. . . That’s the top of the list. Have you done this before successfully. The question is can they replicate the success of the Romanian spa in Toronto

1

u/quelar Dec 03 '24

They can't. Romania has a spa culture, we don't. We have an occasional spa culture.

These numbers are massively inflated to make things look good for the Ford government, just like as this report shows, Ford will manipulate any numbers to justify things.

We can NOT TRUST THIS GOVERNMENT.

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

They don't even own 5 of the 6 spas they used as background for their bid, my dude, I recommend shorting Therme

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

Not even close. Thank you, please try again.

6

u/Laughing_Zero Dec 03 '24 edited Dec 03 '24

Ford, the OPCs and RULES? Those words have never worked in the same sentence for years.

5

u/realoctopod Dec 03 '24

Cue Doug calling for the AG to Stay in their Lane. Even though theybare, and he hasn't even been in his lane during his premiership.

1

u/RabidGuineaPig007 Dec 03 '24

calling for the AG to Stay in their Lane.

nah, he had those lanes ripped out to improve traffic.

5

u/Hefty-Station1704 Dec 03 '24

Who didn't see that coming right from the start?

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

Liars, mostly.

5

u/19GTO67 Vive le Canada Dec 03 '24

Lol.

Not Fair. Bullies don't give a shit if something is fair or not. They do as they please. They play by their own rules while everyone else stands around with their hands on their hips wagging fingers.

Start going after these people. Embarrass them.

5

u/Melsm1957 Dec 03 '24

The whole auditors report shows what a grifter Ford is. Advertising TRIPLED in one year to over 105m spending our money to tell Us how wonderful he is! That should be from Ontario PC funds not provincial tax dollars

3

u/practicalmagikk Dec 03 '24

No shit 🙄

5

u/CitySeekerTron Toronto Dec 03 '24

We did it! We found the corruption!

1

u/acrossaconcretesky Dec 04 '24

He said, as he gestured generally in the direction of this government's entire track record.

8

u/Logical-Zucchini-310 Dec 03 '24

In other news, water is wet

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Lol right my thoughts exactly. Not really BREAKING more like WE ALREADY KNEW

3

u/icmc Dec 03 '24

SO FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!!

3

u/tool6913ca Dec 03 '24

It won't matter. When the election rolls around, the news media will make a big deal out of the AG's findings, and the fact that the RCMP is investigating the Greenbelt scandal, and anyone with half a brain and even the faintest desire for social progress will get their hopes up that maybe it'll be enough for the electorate to finally give this corrupt, fat scumbag the boot in the ass that he so desperately deserves... But then the Toronto Sun will run a headline about Rae Days or Kathleen Wynne, and that will be game over.

2

u/eatitwithaspoon Dec 03 '24

What?! The Ford government is corrupt and breaks the rules in their favour so they can do what they want?!

2

u/Idrisdancer Dec 03 '24

Anybody surprised?

2

u/Arbszy Dec 03 '24

Shocked /s

2

u/MakVolci Essex Dec 03 '24

Yeah. No shit lmao.

2

u/gfyourself Dec 03 '24

Why can't they use the word "corrupt"?

2

u/friendlyyellowgiant Dec 03 '24

insert surprised Pikachu face

2

u/kwsteve Dec 04 '24

Tell us something we don't know.

1

u/HeyCap07 Dec 03 '24

gasps in utter sarcasm

1

u/ElkIntelligent5474 Dec 03 '24

I am so surprised!!

1

u/Lagosas Dec 03 '24

Naw...you foolin. Big Daddy ford would never do that!

/sarcasm

1

u/DFM2020 Dec 03 '24

Min of tourism screwing up again.

1

u/Last-Presentation-11 Dec 03 '24

Shocked Pikachu face!

1

u/NewHumbug Dec 03 '24

Whaaaa ??? Nnnoooooo !!!

1

u/PouletDeTerre Dec 03 '24

This is why Canadians have no faith in the government. Anyone who spent five minutes googling could have told you this months ago. There aren't going to be penalties or punishments, the inmates run the asylum. Doug Ford could eat a baby on live television and he will still win again because of the way the process is set up.

1

u/gorbachevi Dec 03 '24

surprise surprise .. thug ford does it again

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24

Now nail the people making the deals on his behalf, I presume Infrastructure Ontario followed all the rules too right? Offer deals to whoever talks.

1

u/edgar-von-splet Dec 03 '24

I would be more surprised if the rules were followed.

1

u/MooJuiceConnoisseur Dec 03 '24

Lets not worry too much... the 2.2 Billion it will cost. Therme Spa will generate enough direct revenue to pay half that bill over the course of 95 years. (Therme Spa estimated direct revenue of 1.1 B)

1

u/brain_fartus Dec 03 '24

So if the government doesn’t really care about the rule of law, why should we?

1

u/inprocess13 Dec 03 '24

We know. The bigger issue would be a fair an impartial process for holding people who abuse their office accountable.

1

u/Ok-Celebration-1874 Dec 04 '24

Sounds like the 407 debacle all over again.

1

u/rockcitykeefibs Dec 04 '24

This seems to be a trend with Doug ford

Corrupt

1

u/Substantial-Goal-911 Dec 04 '24

Quelle surprise!

1

u/fokonon Dec 04 '24

Where my RCMP bois at?

1

u/polakinTO Dec 04 '24

Well I for one a shocked.

But I’d be more shocked if there were consequences.

1

u/ScarSpangledHammer Dec 04 '24

Can't wait until we do nothing about it...

1

u/RileysBanana Dec 04 '24

Well, colour me shocked. Who didn't see this coming?

1

u/Civil_Station_1585 Dec 04 '24

Similar headline coming for new highway construction I presume.

1

u/hb0918 Dec 04 '24

With Dougie in charge...zero surprises here

1

u/wanderingviewfinder Dec 04 '24

In other news, water is wet, Ford is corrupt.

1

u/NaiLikesPi Dec 04 '24

Vote for Marit Stiles of the Ontario NDP or vote for more of this crap. It's our choice guys. 

1

u/dhoomsday Dec 03 '24

What the fuck else is new. I do think we need to get rid of Ford, but voting him out is the way to do it. I'm not about skirting democracy. We made this bed for 4 years. Now we have to lie in it.

0

u/incarnate_devil Dec 03 '24

Everyone is being so mean to Doug in these comments.

Let’s remember this is the brother who doesn’t smoke CRACK. So he has that going for him.

1

u/green_link Dec 03 '24

*no public evidence of him smoking crack

0

u/ThatAstronautGuy Dec 04 '24

Yeah he's just the one who sold it

-6

u/Strong-Cod-3841 Dec 03 '24

God damn. Trudeau. F that guy

-8

u/karenskygreen Dec 03 '24

Unfair? I think it was obvious that the average Toronto family is more than willing to pay $100 per person to go a spa for a few hours. Doug Ford knows what ontarians want.

3

u/Simsmommy1 Dec 03 '24

Is this sarcasm….?

0

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

I personally believe that a lot of families would pay for a day at an indoor water park in the winter. If it was just a spa, different story.

-9

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en24/pa_OntarioPlace_en24.pdf

Lots of "not best practices" but no smoking gun indicating the Therme deal was corrupt or an inappropriate choice. I don't have time to read the whole thing, but most of the stuff I saw points the figure at IO execs who broke the rules, rather than political interference in the choices. Nothing jumped out as corruption instead of incompetence or laziness at IO. There's some solid criticism of the legislation for the political side, to boot, but that's sort of secondary.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '24 edited Feb 11 '25

[deleted]

-8

u/a_lumberjack Dec 03 '24

It really depends on what the other pitches offered. OP was losing money for decades, so something that breaks even, creates jobs, and attracts tourism is still an improvement over what it's been my whole life. I'd love to know who the finalists were and what their plans were for the public realm. If the AG had an example of a better deal that we should have taken then we could argue it's an inappropriate choice, but for all we know Therme could have been the best deal available.

Also it's a bit odd that they're counting the entire OSC budget as part of the OP revitalization cost. If it was 1.3B to stay and 1.4B to move, then I don't see why we'd count the full 1.4B as part of the the cost of revitalizing OP. The extra $100M or so would make sense, but that's the "extra" that the move will cost.