Adam Vaughan joins Ontario Place spa developer Therme
CBC
Former city councillor and ex-MP Adam Vaughan, long one of the sharpest critics of Doug Ford's plans for Toronto's waterfront, is now working for Therme Canada, the company developing a luxury spa at Ontario Place.
In an interview with CBC News, Vaughan revealed that he has been hired as a senior adviser to Therme, the Austrian company granted a 95-year lease to build a destination spa and indoor water park on the west island of Ontario Place, the provincially-owned site on the city's lakeshore.
Vaughan describes his job with Therme as "speaking to the public about what an incredible project this is" and heaped praise on Ontario's premier for the overall vision.
"I'd be the first person to criticize Doug Ford if I thought he was doing a bad thing in Toronto," Vaughan told CBC News.
"This is a good project and I'm totally wholeheartedly in support of it. When new facts, new ideas, and more importantly, great ideas appear on the waterfront, I'll be the first to champion them every single time."
As recently as 2019, when he was still the Liberal MP for Trinity-Spadina, Vaughan made a statement in the House of Commons criticizing the plans Ford was floating for Ontario Place, and said the provincial government had "put a for sale sign on the site."
Vaughan went on to say that Ford's Progressive Conservatives were "talking about a mall or worse — a casino on the waterfront."
"What a waste. What a terrible deficit of imagination. The people of Ontario, the folks of our city, the Toronto Liberal caucus want to keep Ontario Place a public place."
When CBC News showed Vaughan that statement during his interview, he responded: "They abandoned the idea of a casino. They're not building a mall. What they're building is a park."
"It's a blend of paid attractions, ours being one of them, but it's also an amazing set of new green spaces with restored habitat, and beaches that you don't need hiking boots to get to," he said.
Last December, Ontario's auditor general criticized the provincial government's handling of the Ontario Place redevelopment, a project that has ballooned to cost the public purse $2.2 billion. The auditor called the process for selecting new tenants at the property neither transparent nor fair.
The auditor's report found that Therme Group, the international parent company of Therme Canada, did not own and operate five of the six spas cited in its bid submission to Infrastructure Ontario.
Those findings got renewed attention in April as a result of a New York Times story that questioned whether Therme exaggerated its credentials in its pitch, including whether the company had the $100 million in equity the province required as a minimum qualification.
WATCH | How a New York Times story on Therme's Ontario Place spa went down at Queen's Park:
The Yukon's energy provider says Whitehorse is not at imminent risk of blackouts, but with very cold weather forecasted through the holidays, residents are still being asked to conserve power.
A pedestrian is dead after a vehicle crashed into a building in Toronto, said police.
RCMP in Inuvik, N.W.T., say two youth have been arrested after officers found suspected cocaine and a loaded firearm at a home in the community.
Canada and 13 other countries issued a joint statement Wednesday condemning the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Alberta health officials are flagging the circulation of a rare bacteria known as Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) among homeless adults living in Calgary.
The future of a prominent building in London's Old East Village (OEV), once home to the London Food Incubator, is looking uncertain following the relocation of its anchor tenant and the planned departure of another.
As Yukon continues to deal with a prolonged spell of extreme cold, emergency officials are advising people to be prepared in case of a power outage.
Police say they have found and arrested 47-year-old Douglas Yetman, a man wanted for murder.
Confirmed flu cases in northeastern Ontario are much higher now than they were at the same period last year.
The organization that represents some of America's largest spirits producers is calling for the NSLC to remove a policy that gives preferential markup to Nova Scotian spirit products.
Some energy experts are challenging N.B. Power’s claim that a proposed billion-dollar power plant is needed to avoid an electricity shortage predicted for 2028.
After walking a few laps around the shop, Maria Castagna picks up a glass ornament in the form of a pink, sparkly ice cream cone and smiles widely.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says he has much unfinished work from his first term in office, as he prepares to make his pitch to voters ahead of the 2026 election.