Groupe Écorécréo will ultimately not be part of the Ontario Place revitalization project, a site similar to Parc Jean-Drapeau in downtown Toronto. The company, which notably offers activities at the Old Port of Montreal, announced in July 2021 that it was one of the three companies that embodied the renewal of the site.
In a statement, Sofia Sousa-Dias, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Infrastructure, confirmed the information first revealed by the Globe and Mail. The departure of Écorécréo is due, according to the spokesperson, to “unforeseen challenges”. The use of the land which was reserved for the possible installations of Écorécréo “has not yet been determined and is open to other opportunities”, specified the ministry.
In an email, Jean-Philippe Duchesneau, co-owner of Groupe Écorécréo, said the company had been unable to finalize the terms of a long-term rental agreement “despite all efforts on the part of of both parties”. Citing a confidential agreement between the company and the province, Mr. Duchesneau says he cannot go into the specific details of the discussions between Écorécréo and the Ontario government.
In July, Jean-Philippe Duchesneau had declared by email to the To have to Écorécréo had submitted plans and the layout of the proposed activities to Infrastructure Ontario, a Crown agency that manages Ontario Place. Jean-Philippe Duchesneau said that discussions with the organization were “in progress” and that the project “continued to evolve”.
Écorécréo was selected following a call for proposals process launched by the province. The company planned to build an adventure park on the site, a former amusement park. In an interview, in the fall of 2021, Jean-Philippe Duchesneau told the To have to that he hoped the Toronto project would mark the beginning of a breakthrough in the North American market. “We had been looking for a location in Toronto for six years,” he said.
Diane Chin, president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO), said she was “surprised” by the announcement. Thursday morning, at a meeting it attended to discuss Ontario Place’s conservation plan, Infrastructure Ontario reportedly didn’t even discuss leaving the company. The president of the ACO maintains that she was not completely opposed to the installations of Écorécréo since the idea tallied with the recreational mandate of the site.
Like others, however, she opposes the construction of an aquatic complex by the Austrian group Therme. Entertainment company Live Nation was the third member of the trio of partners in the site’s renewal. Since the three companies were named in the summer of 2021, several groups, such as Ontario Place for All and The Future of Ontario Place (of which the ACO is a member) have signaled their opposition to the Ford government’s plan, criticizing among other his lack of vision.
Toronto urban planner Ken Greenberg, of the organization Ontario Place for All, wonders about the departure of the Quebec company. “Maybe they didn’t want to be associated with the project anymore?” he said. Members of his organization are struggling to understand the direction the government’s project is taking. Diane Chin, for her part, even wonders which ministry will ensure that the project is completed.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.