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Former Liberal MP who opposed province’s plan to redevelop Ontario Place accepts job with Therme Canada

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A former Liberal MP and member of Toronto city council who was a vocal opponent of Premier Doug Ford’s plans for the redevelopment of Ontario Place has taken on a new role with the company building a mega-spa on the provincially-owned property.

Adam Vaughan confirmed to CP24 on Monday that he has taken a position as a senior adviser to Therme Canada, an Austria-based firm that plans to build a waterpark and spa at Ontario Place.

“It is a great project. It is delivering some phenomenal components to the waterfront,” Vaughan told CP24 when asked about why he decided to accept the position after his earlier opposition.

“On balance, I think it is a great project.”

Back in February 2019, while Vaughan was a Liberal MP for the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, he spoke in the House of Commons about the plans to redevelopment the property, criticizing Ford for putting “a for sale sign on the site,” which he described as a “cherished part of Toronto’s waterfront.”

“The Tories at Queen’s Park are talking about a mall or worse, a casino on the waterfront. What a waste,” Vaughan said at the time.

“The people of Ontario, the folks of our city, the Toronto Liberal caucus want to keep Ontario place a public place.”

When asked about his previous comments, Vaughan said Monday that the province’s vision for the site has changed for the better since that time.

“I will give Doug Ford credit where credit is due. He changed plans. He’s come up with I think a really good approach to the waterfront,” Vaughan said.

“I think Doug Ford has listened to the criticism, changed course. We are not getting a casino. We are certainly not getting a mall. We are getting a great, clean, green place for people in Toronto, across Ontario in fact, to come and enjoy the day.”

Vaughan described the project as “affordable family fun” and added that there will be free, public access to the west island.

“I think the park is a phenomenal opportunity,” he said. “The revitalization of Ontario Place is almost impossible without this kind of investment.”

The project came under intense scrutiny in December of last year, when Ontario’s auditor general found that Ontario Place’s redevelopment process was “unfair” and that Infrastructure Ontario “did not conduct due diligence” to ensure that the spas Therme said it had under its umbrella in its submission were actually owned and operated by them.

A recent New York Times article accused Therme of tying its success to a business of the same name, presenting itself as an “industry player” in an effort to redevelop the public land on Toronto’s waterfront.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Therme Group said that the claim it had misrepresented itself was “simply untrue.”

“Therme Group and the Wund companies and Wund Foundation have had a longstanding and formalized relationship which enabled the development of Therme Bucharest and future projects of this nature, with the use of the concept and the sharing of staff and operational expertise,” the spokesperson wrote.

Premier Ford has also repeatedly defended the project, saying last month that he is “very satisfied” with the province’s $2.2 billion agreement to build the mega-spa, which has secured a 95-year lease.

“We have no reason to believe there’s been any wrongdoing. We’re moving forward with this project. It’s going to be world class,” Ford said in April. “It’s going to be spectacular.”

-With files from CTV Toronto’s Phil Tsekouras