Reinforced fence appears around Ontario Place and people are furious

Premier Doug Ford's controversial Ontario Place pet project managed to anger the public yet again last week, when the province erected an enormous reinforced fence around the perimeter of the site.

Photos have been appearing on social media for the past several days showing a newly added barrier consisting of wooden hoarding, steel bracing, and concrete highway dividers — much heftier in construction than your standard work site perimeter fencing.

#ONpoli

Doug Ford has turned Ontario Place into a crime scene pic.twitter.com/3gS6aaYxmA

— TDot Resident (@TDotResident) October 28, 2023

One commenter characterized the fence as a means "to hide the destruction" of Ontario Place, joining a chorus of similar posts on social media in the days since the fence appeared.

And the Doug Ford fence at #OntarioPlace is no basic fence. This fence is designed to withstand anything. Why has @fordnation built such a fence on gov't property? What are they afraid of? Who are you trying to keep out Doug Ford? What are you trying to hide? pic.twitter.com/c4r9pEJNK2

— FrameToFrameNature (@FrameToFrameBJ) October 27, 2023

A spokesperson for Kinga Surma tells blogTO that, "As part of the Ontario Place redevelopment project, perimeter fencing has been put up across Lake Shore Boulevard and throughout the property to ready the site for site servicing construction activities, which includes designing new internal infrastructure for water, sanitary, storm, electrical, gas and telecommunication systems."

"This work requires heavy machinery and construction equipment, as well as trained personnel with proper safety gear."

"To ensure safety and longevity of the perimeter fencing, solid wooden hoarding has been installed along Lake Shore Boulevard," says the minister's spokesperson, adding that the province's "first priority is ensuring the health and safety of our visitors and workers."

The province's controversial plans to redevelop Ontario Place's West Island with a proposed megaspa from Austrian resort developer Therme have been the subject of intense debate since the company was selected for the project back in 2019.

Therme has clawed desperately to win over public opinion, even redesigning their project in response to opposition, revealing a new plan in 2023 that reduces the spa's scale and includes additional publicly accessible space.

A revised development application was filed with the City of Toronto in September, though voices within the municipal government are pushing to have the Therme spa proposal relocated to a new site on the Exhibition Place grounds.