Non-profit coalition joins Supreme Court intervener list challenging Doug Ford’s Ontario Place destruction plan

A coalition of four organizations is the latest to join other non-profits and First Nations intervening at the Supreme Court to challenge the Ford government’s plan to replace Ontario Place with a luxury spa.

Ontario Place for All (OP4All), Toronto Field Naturalists, Democracy Watch and the National Trust for Canada were approved as interveners in the case, which will begin hearings on Oct. 15.

“The Supreme Court will hopefully strike down the law that Doug Ford’s government enacted to destroy Ontario Place because it is dangerously undemocratic and gives him and his cabinet unconstitutional, king-like powers to bulldoze an important historical site without review under environmental or heritage laws,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. 

The plan “unconstitutionally blocks the public from challenging the government’s actions in court,” he added.

The four are the latest interveners to be approved in the case, which has drawn Canada-wide attention and attracted at least 18 interveners from outside the province, including four First Nations in Yukon, the Yukon government, the City of Toronto, as well as Canada’s and several provincial Attorneys General.

The First Nations say they are concerned with how the ruling might affect their own territorial health legislation disputes.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine how far any government in Canada can go in carving out exemptions from environmental, heritage, and public participation law for projects it favours politically,” said Ann Elisabeth Samson, co-chair of OP4All. 

From waterfront attraction and park to luxury spa

Ontario Place closed as a seasonal theme park in 2012 due to declining attendance and financial deficits.

Following the closure, the Ontario government sought private proposals to revitalize the 145-acre site.

While some areas, such as Trillium Park and the William G. Davis Trail, were reopened to the public in 2017, much of the site remained closed.

In 2019, the City of Toronto listed Ontario Place on its heritage property register, and the World Monuments Fund added it to its 2020 Watch list of at-risk cultural sites.

In July 2021, the provincial government announced a redevelopment plan featuring LiveNation upgrading the Budweiser Stage and Austrian company Therme Group building a private spa and waterpark on the West Island.

This plan faced intense public backlash, and opponents, led by OP4All, launched a judicial review in 2023 to challenge the redevelopment decisions.

To fast-track the project, Premier Doug Ford’s government passed the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act (ROPA) in December 2023.

OP4All’s ongoing judicial review was immediately dismissed after the new law was passed.

In response, Ontario Place Protectors (OPP) challenged ROPA’s constitutionality, arguing that the law unlawfully shields government decisions from court review and violates a “public trust doctrine” meant to protect culturally and ecologically significant lands.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected these arguments in March of 2025, and the Supreme Court of Canada granted OPP leave to appeal in January 2026.

So far, at least 18 groups have been granted intervenor status in the case, which allows them to submit a written document to the court addressing the specific issues of the case. 

Time is of the essence as ROPA is being used to approve projects elsewhere, said Dr. Patricia Kell, CEO of the National Trust for Canada.

“The precedent established in this case, if unchallenged, would have devastating consequences for heritage places across the country.”