Adam Vaughan: A bold new vision for Ontario Place

National Post

06-05-2025

My love for Lake Ontario began when I was young. Like many people, my parents were not born in Canada. We didn't have a family cottage up north to escape to every summer. Our family stayed in Toronto and the waterfront was our playground. It's why I've spent my career fighting to make the waterfront an even better place to live, work and play. I've represented this part of Toronto at city hall and in Parliament.
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I see Therme — which is developing a public park and beach, along with a water park and spa at Ontario Place ­— as a great addition to the work I've done. This is why I've joined their team.
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Over my career, I've helped lead movements to build waterfront parks and improve transit. I served on Harbourfront Centre's board and, while in politics, helped create new cultural facilities on Queen's Quay. I also worked to deliver the budget for Waterfront Toronto, to naturalize the Don Valley and move a vision for the Port Lands forward.
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But more importantly, I've made sure we didn't just protect affordable housing along the shore of Lake Ontario, I helped build new social housing in the area, to make sure Toronto really does have a clean, green waterfront for all.
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Critics have thrown everything at Therme's project. It's too big, too exclusive, too foreign, too expensive, too this and too that. It's too bad.
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You have to wonder what these protesters would have said about the original Ontario Place. Imagine the push-back to dumping contaminated landfill in the lake to make artificial islands and then surrounding them with acres of surface parking lots on the water's edge. How would they have responded to a ticketed regional tourist draw with futuristic architecture, a luxury yacht club and fast-food outlets?
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To be clear, Therme is not doing any of this. But that's how the original Ontario Place was built in the 1970s.
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Therme's new facility is different. Plans include indoor water slides and pools, as well as places to indulge yourself with a massage or a sauna. It will be a place to bring kids or hang with friends or just relax on your own and have fun.
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I've been to Therme's locations in Germany and Romania. Therme is not elitist or an expensive experience. It's affordable, popular and entirely in keeping with what Ontario Place used to be.
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There is, however, one key departure from the original design. The admission gates to the grounds are being removed. Accessing the waterfront and the new green space the size of Trinity Bellwoods Park will be free at Ontario Place. You won't need a ticket to have a picnic or watch the sun set over Lake Ontario ever again.
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One thing I hope everyone can agree on is that ever since the pods closed, free access to the water's edge has proven to be a good thing. The success of Trillium Park needs to be celebrated and expanded. Therme is excited to deliver around 16 acres of publicly accessible green space along the water's edge, with more shoreline habitat and over 3,000 new trees planted next to the lake. Building more parks is good for the people of Toronto.