Obnoxiously huge Ontario Place parking garage will block Toronto waterfront

The provincial government has released the final plans for its controversial Ontario Place project, unveiling dozens of new renderings that include a glimpse of an aggressively large parking garage that would form a wall between Toronto and its waterfront.

Ontario is pressing forward with the contentious project, which notably includes a vast five-storey "publicly owned" parking structure that the province claims "will generate revenue for the province and help the public conveniently access Ontario Place's many attractions."

"We're rebuilding Ontario Place into a world-class destination for families and tourists, with convenient connections for visitors coming by car, GO train or the Ontario Line's nearby Exhibition Station," said Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday.

It appears from renderings that "car" is the operative word in this equation.

Among the over 30 newly released renderings, the province shared just two images of the enormous parking structure that — despite the construction of a new subway line terminating nearby and the near-permanent congestion clogging Lake Shore Boulevard — leaders somehow felt was integral to the success of the project.

The garage is configured with an east-west alignment that would, despite some porous exterior ornamentation, form a more-or-less opaque wall dividing Lake Shore Boulevard from the actual lake shore it is named for.

Above-ground parking has remained one of the most contentious aspects of the Ontario Place rebuild, at times even overshadowing the Therme megaspa that will reallocate a formerly public area on the site's West Island to wealthy spa-goers.

A 2024 report stated that the over 3,000-space parking structure could cost a whopping $800 million in taxpayer funds, and public reactions to the planned parkade — which the province contractually obligated itself to provide for Therme —have been critical, to say the least.