Die Sanierung des Ontario Place durch die Ford-Regierung sei „nicht fair, transparent oder nachvollziehbar“ gewesen, stellt der Auditor General in einem vernichtenden Bericht fest

A few of the sordid details:

>The Progressive Conservatives’ $2.237 billion revamp of the waterfront park, shuttered by the previous Liberal government in 2012, was not done “in accordance with … best practices for large-scale, modern land-use development projects,” the auditor said.
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>In a scathing annual report to the legislature Tuesday, auditor Shelley Spence also found Ford’s decision to close 10 supervised drug consumption sites near schools and daycares was made “without proper planning.”
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>…
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>Against the backdrop of the $8.28-billion Greenbelt land swap scandal now under criminal investigation by the RCMP, Spence was withering about the Ontario Place project and Ford’s penchant for MZOs, a tool used to override local planning decisions.
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>The lakeshore icon will eventually be home to a Therme waterpark and spa, a relocated Ontario Science Centre and an expanded Live Nation concert venue as well as a parking garage that could cost between $280 million and $400 million.
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>“We found that the social and environmental benefits of redevelopment were not factored into the assessment framework or considered in the redevelopment, including in the lease negotiations with anchor tenants,” the audit said, noting “rules and guidelines … were not followed” and “the assessment process was irregular, subjective and not always followed.”
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>“We found that the (call for development) process and realty decisions were not fair, transparent or accountable to all participants,” the auditor said.
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>Spence, who succeeded long-time auditor Bonnie Lysyk in January, found Ontario Place redevelopment costs to the province have ballooned by a staggering $1.8 billion to an estimated $2.237 billion.
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>Her audit said that “contrary to the protocol” for such negotiations involving developers, “three participants attended meetings with staff from the Minister’s Office and the Premier’s Office early in the open period in June and July 2019.”
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>As well some would-be bidders “had direct access to an Infrastructure Ontario executive,” who exchanged nine emails and had one phone call with Therme’s legal counsel after media interest in the company’s potential plans for Ontario Place.
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>Unusually, “minutes of meetings with participants were not kept” so it is not known whether everyone involved “had equal access to the information that was shared” at those closed-door confabs.
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>Similarly, there appeared to be no rhyme nor reason to MZOs, which have fallen out of favour at Queen’s Park since the Mounties began probing the Greenbelt debacle 14 months ago.
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>“The Ministry does not consistently provide the Minister with timely and complete information relating to the projects proposed for an MZO,” wrote Spence, who said rezoning to allow housing or industrial development increases the value of agricultural land by an average of 46 per cent.
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>“We also found there was no protocol and no apparent rationale for prioritizing some MZO requests over others,” the auditor said, pointing out the minister’s office “often selected which of the MZO requests to work on.”

The general takeaway here is that the Progressive Conservative government in Ontario has undertaken a number of actions over the years that had little to do with considering the public good, or with good governance in general and rather were developed with apparently developing cozy relationships with industries and with narrow view of increasing profitability for certain companies. In short, corruption.