ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

Coming in the wake of the lengthy and frustrating Eglinton Crosstown transit line delay, that is raising questions about how major projects like Premier Doug Ford’s proposed tunnel under Highway 401 and a planned modernization of the 132-year-old Ontario Legislature would be handled. 

“If the government can’t do a relatively simple thing correctly, then how do taxpayers trust that the government is going to do the bigger, more complicated things right?” Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says of the upgrade a block east of Queen’s Park.  

There’s no reopening date and no dollar figure on how much the renovation of the four buildings in the Macdonald Block Complex dominating Bay Street between Wellesley Street and Grosvenor Street has topped the initial $1.5 billion price tag. 

“Is it millions of dollars over budget? Is it hundreds of millions of dollars, a billion dollars over budget? Taxpayers deserve to know,” says Terrazanno.  

Infrastructure Ontario, the Crown agency tasked with overseeing major projects, refused to make that information public.

“Reconstruction of the Macdonald Block Complex is continuing to progress,” the government agency said in a statement to the Star this week. “Renewed timelines are being finalized.”

That’s similar to what Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma told the Star in spring 2024, when the complex was supposed to reopen to 6,000 bureaucrats and political staff still occupying leased office space across downtown ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and elsewhere. She acknowledged unspecified cost overruns and pledged “a new plan and a new timeline and schedule on how to address the challenges we face.”

Surma’s office declined a request for an interview for this story.  

The challenges she mentioned last year included major problems getting 38 elevator shafts and hundreds of elevator entrances up to modern fire and building codes, which was described as a “significant” snag discovered after the project began in 2018 under the previous Liberal government.

About 4,000 staff worked in the buildings before the renovation began and the increased capacity of 2,000 was intended to save the government $26 million a year on rented office space elsewhere.

Built five decades ago to house civil servants close to their political masters at the legislature, the complex includes underground parking lots, a daycare centre, meeting spaces, a cafeteria, an art gallery and a concourse shared by all four buildings.

They remain surrounded by tall, protective fencing and signs reading “no trespassing” and “construction personnel only.” Landscaping has been underway so long that plantings from last year have taken root and are lush despite this summer’s punishing heat waves. 

There’s pressure to get the building reopened because Ford has ordered Ontario’s tens of thousands of public servants to return to their offices five days a week starting in January as pandemic-era work-from-home protocols are phased out.  

Opposition parties and the taxpayers federation are slamming the government for a lack of transparency and accountability on the project, saying it does not bode well for other projects like the planned Highway 413 from Highway 401 northeast to Highway 400, and the Bradford Bypass east from Highway 400.  

“The premier promised the people of Ontario that he would run government more efficiently, that he was a good businessman, a sound businessman, and he would spend our money properly and avoid these kinds of situations,” said Liberal MPP Stephen Blais (Orleans), his party’s infrastructure critic.

“Obviously, we’re smack dab in the middle of one.”

While Infrastructure Ontario noted the exterior reconstruction is mostly complete and landscaping work underway, it would not reveal comprehensive details on the status of interior work. 

“Planning related to occupancy continues. We cannot comment on specific dates due to commercial sensitivities. The final cost is yet to be determined as there are active negotiations underway with the Project Consortium (PCo) and this information remains confidential to ensure the province’s ability to negotiate is not compromised.”

Pressed for detail on the elevator situation, Infrastructure Ontario said it faced the prospect of “costly and time-consuming total replacement of the elevator doors and assemblies,” but was able to “save time and money by developing an alternate process” to refurbish them. That includes “additional sprinkler heads and fireproofing work” that began in January after getting permits and approvals late last year.  

“Discussions regarding the cost of this work are currently ongoing and disclosing any information publicly would jeopardize the bargaining position of the province and hinder our ability to obtain best value for taxpayers,” the agency’s statement said. 

New Democrat infrastructure critic Jennifer French said there is nothing to prevent the government from revealing how much has been spent so far, separate from any ongoing negotiations.  

“They are keeping it close to the vest. That’s wrong, and that’s inappropriate,” added the Oshawa MPP. “The Ontario public knows far less about multibillion dollar projects that they’re paying for than they should.”

Terrazzano agrees.

“If the government can give an initial estimate up front on the original budget, then it can give taxpayers an estimate of how much it’s already spent,” he says.

Blais said Ford seems not to have learned lessons from the public inquiry he called into problems that plagued Ottawa’s error-ridden, unreliable light rail transit system — such as officials understanding “their first duty is to the public,” in the words of Justice William Hourigan. 

The Macdonald Block project is ripe for an investigation by Ontario’s auditor general, Blais added. 

“When governments turtle like this, it’s an indication they’re afraid of what the results might be.”