Ford calls Ontario Science Centre a 'decrepit building', says repairing it is 'foolish'
CTV
Ontario's premier pushed back against critics of his government's controversial decision to shut down the Ontario Science Centre, calling the building 'decrepit' and saying completely fixing it would cost upwards of half a billion dollars.
Ontario's premier pushed back against critics of his government's controversial decision to shut down the Ontario Science Centre, calling the building "decrepit" and saying completely fixing it would cost upwards of half a billion dollars.
Doug Ford said keeping it open would be unsafe and fixing the current building would be too expensive, promising a new engineering report to be publicly released on Friday would justify the dramatic move three weeks ago.
"It's not as simple as you just saying, 'Go in there and throw some shingles down, and we're all done," Ford said when asked by reporters at an unrelated press conference.
"That place is absolutely a mess from top to bottom. Front to back. Every single building. Even the bridgeway is closed. The air conditioning is gone. It would be a foolish decision," he said.
The building was shut down on June 21 in the wake of an engineering report that found aging roof panels needed to be fixed before heavy rain or snow caused them to be a safety hazard.
"When engineers are telling me this is critical, it's unsafe – I'm not chancing it," Ford said.
But the engineering report itself gave other options than shutting down the building. Others, including the firm that designed it, also said the buildings could be renovated safely by cordoning off some of the areas.
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