Legislature renovation likely to be delayed
Parking spaces underground may be added to project
The $1-billion renovation of the Ontario legislature — which may now include new underground parking for MPPs and staff — appears delayed until 2027.
More details emerged Tuesday on the massive project originally slated to begin after the next provincial election in two years.
“I thought we’d make 2026. That’s unlikely to happen,” Legislative Affairs Minister Paul Calandra said as officials finalize a location for a temporary legislature and offices nearby. “But it is still on track … we are still moving forward.”
The prospect of underground parking was raised Tuesday at a legislative committee hearing held to study the project — in particular what will happen to the more than 30 statues and monuments on the grounds. They include an 1894 statue of founding prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald, boarded up for four years due to vandalism stemming from his controversial role in creating residential schools that took Indigenous children away from their parents.
With the addition of a Queen Elizabeth II statue last fall, the legislative grounds are getting increasingly crowded amid pressure in some quarters for a new memorial to Indigenous Peoples.
“If we can get parking underground, that would give us a lot of above ground space,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Anthony Leardi (Essex).
Legislative officials told the committee it will take them 18 months to complete a report with recommendations on how best to proceed with the statues and other historic structures.
The prospect of underground parking is complicated by TTC subway tunnels running below the property, where assorted pieces of infrastructure, such as utilities, are owned by seven different public and private entities.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, who will present his budget next Tuesday, said he is mindful of the potential impact of the top-tobottom renovation of the aging 1893 legislative building on taxpayers. “This majestic building needs to be renovated … for the safety of everyone who works here, including the media, and politicians and all of us,” he added, referring to problems such as tap water tainted by lead, asbestos insulation, exposed wiring and an inefficient heating system.
Bethlenfalvy stressed the government must be “as prudent, as responsible, as we can be” to keep costs in line.
Sources have told the Star that 500,000 square feet of space is being sought near the legislative precinct so the temporary lodgings would have the same number of offices as the existing legislature.
That is key because Premier Doug Ford, Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles, Speaker Ted Arnott, dozens of MPPs, scores of journalists in the Queen’s Park press gallery as well as hundreds of political aides, librarians and legislative staffers currently work from Queen’s Park offices.
The Star has a four-person bureau in the legislative building, where other major media outlets such as CBC, the Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, the Toronto Sun, CityNews, Global, Radio-Canada and CTV also have offices.
MPPs on the committee examining the move have been touring potential sites, including a vacant Bay Street office building last month.
As they tour the grounds Thursday, MPP Mike Harris said it would be good to consider areas where the existing legislative building could be expanded if necessary.