Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ontario is exploring the possibility of expanding Toronto’s shoreline into Lake Ontario using artificial infill to create space for a new convention centre.
Premier Doug Ford discussed the concept during a news conference, saying the province is examining whether additional land could be created along Toronto’s waterfront using fill materials such as silica sand, recycled tire parts, sand, cork or coconut fibres.
The goal is to create enough space to build a significantly larger facility capable of attracting international events that currently bypass the city.
“We’re losing out on so many large conventions in the world, because we just don’t have the size and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is a dated convention centre, but we’re exploring that,” Ford said, noting that any lake-fill project would require environmental review.
“But we have a tremendous amount of fill right now,” he said. “And we need to expand the land.”
Ford said the existing convention centre opened when former premier Bill Davis was in office and is now more than four decades old.
“When I get told by the convention centre board that we rank one of the worst in the world for conventions, 24th out of 25, that’s unacceptable,” Ford said. “When you have a world-class province, world-class city, we’re going to build a world-class convention centre.”
Ford said the province is considering a new facility with about two million square feet of space.
“We’re going to build a world-class, 2,000,000-square-foot state-of-the-art convention centre,” he said. “And we will go from last to first.”
The premier said the current footprint for the convention centre site is limited, making it difficult to compete with larger venues internationally.
“It’s not conducive when you’re sitting on a six-, eight- or seven-acre site,” he said. “It’s not good, but we’re going to make it spectacular, absolutely spectacular.”
Ford said an announcement on the location of the proposed convention centre is expected soon, adding that the project would aim to position Toronto to compete with major global convention destinations.
