New poll wants Ford government to repair, reopen Science Centre at its current location

A new poll finds most people in the GTHA want the Ford government to repair the Ontario Science Centre and keep it at its current location.

The poll, commissioned by OPSEU – the union representing some of the workers at the Science Centre, found 72 per cent of those asked want the current building reopened immediately, saying it’s in the best interest of Ontarians.

Nearly eight out of 10 people polled – including 50 per cent of Ontario PC voters – do not believe the Ford government is putting the province’s best interests first by closing the Science Centre while 86 per cent expressed concerns about the cost of a new Science Centre at the developed Ontario Place.

“This poll that’s been released today shows us that people across Ontario understand that its not in the best interest of kids, families or Ontarians to close the Science Centre to relocate it to Ontario Place,” said Elsa Lam, Editor at Canadian Architect Magazine.

“Ontarians know that the repairs to the roof and the building, just like the engineers reports say, those repairs can be phased, they can be completed with minimal disruption to the visitor experience and they do not in any way justify either a short or long term closure of the building as a whole.”

On June 21, the Ford government announced the Science Centre would be permanently closing after engineers found structural issues with the roof with Ontario infrastructure officials releasing a peer review that supported conclusions in an earlier engineering report, as well as more details about problems in the facility aside from the roof.

Despite a public outcry and offers from the architecture firm to help make the necessary roof repairs and keep the facility open, Premier Doug Ford said he would not be changing his mind on what he called an “old decrepit building.”

“That place is absolutely just a total mess from top to bottom, to front to back, to every single building – even the bridgeway is closed, the air conditioning is gone. It would be a foolish decision (to repair it),” he said back in July.

The government is currently looking to lease a temporary location for the Science Centre for the next four to eight years and a request for proposals indicates the space would be between 50,000 to 100,000 square feet – or about one-fifth of the size of the current facility.

The poll also found a large majority of people are concerned about the loss of a cultural and educational institution in the Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park communities, where the current Science Centre building is located.

The online poll contacted 1,003 adults between August 12 to 16 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.