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The Ford government is shutting down the Ontario Science Centre immediately and permanently amid concerns that the roof is no longer structurally sound – a drastic step announced just hours before the popular attraction was sealed off from public access.
The provincial government said a new engineering report has found “serious structural issues” with the science centre building that could materialize by the winter. The Ministry of Infrastructure recommended to the attraction’s board of trustees that the building should be closed.
The news comes with hours to go before the closure takes place, with events already booked, including summer camps for children. The province said private events would still take place over the weekend but summer camps would be cancelled and reimbursed.
Work to close the attraction began on Friday morning, with fencing erected around the perimeter of the site.
“The actions taken today will protect the health and safety of visitors and staff at the Ontario Science Centre while supporting its eventual reopening in a new, state-of-the-art facility,” Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said in a statement.
The government arranged a technical briefing for 2:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon with Infrastructure Ontario CEO Michael Lindsay, the civil servant responsible for the file. Surma, the minister in charge, will be absent from the announcement.
“In the meantime, we are making every effort to avoid disruption to the public and help the Ontario Science Centre continue delivering on its mandate through an interim facility, as well as alternative programming options,” Surma said.
The issue stems from a professional engineering report, the government said, which identified issues with panels on the roof of the building.
The report identified panels in “distressed, high-risk condition” that need to be fixed by the end of October in case the weight of snow damages them further.
The government said the report estimated the cost to replace the tiles would be between $22 million and $44 million.
“While the building remains safe over the summer with an enhanced process for rainwater monitoring and roof facility management, these months will be required for staff to safely vacate the building,” the government said.
The state of repair at the science centre, which was built in 1969, has been under scrutiny ever since a business care, prepared for the Ford government, revealed $369 million in critical and deferred maintenance over the next 20 years.
According to a separate report by the auditor general, at least 42 projects that were deemed to be critical since 2017 were not repaired and multiple requests for funding to address the repair backlog were denied over the past five years.
In 2022, Infrastructure Ontario ordered the closure of a pedestrian bridge that connects the main entrance to the exhibition halls after it was deemed unsafe. In October of that year, an extra $7 million in short-term funding was approved to keep the building open in the interim.
The Ontario Science Centre’s sudden closure means families who had booked children into summer camps at the tourist attraction will see their plans change dramatically.
The government said it would reimburse those who had paid for summer camps and will arrange alternative child care at a “nearby school that will house similar programming.”
The province will also be reimbursing anyone who has a membership to the Ontario Science Centre.
Private events, meanwhile, will still be allowed to continue through the weekend.
The science centre was already set to close — although not as suddenly as the government announced on Friday — with plans to move its programming to Ontario Place.
“For more than five decades, the Ontario Science Centre has been a beloved landmark and an integral part of our community and our province,” said Paul Kortenaar, CEO of Ontario Science Centre.
The new science centre location is currently planned to open in early 2028 at its new waterfront home, with the province recently issuing a call for companies to build the new site.
In the meantime, the province also said it is looking for a new, temporary home for the facility.
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