An Update on Work to Protect the Science Centre and Support Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park - by Councillor Josh Matlow, seconded by Councillor Jon Burnside

It would be a real blow to this community to lose the Science Centre just as the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown's "Science Centre" station is about to make the attraction more accessible to the entire city. So far, over 21,500 letters regarding the importance of the Science Centre have been sent to Premier Ford through the Save Ontario Science Centre campaign. The City of Toronto has an obligation to explore all possible means to keep the Science Centre at its current location. In July 2023, MM8.4 requested City Staff to explore avenues to have the Province continue operating the site Don Mills and Eglinton and the feasibility of the City operating the Science Centre as it does the Toronto Zoo. The financial impact statement attached to MM8.4 indicated that this work would take 9 to 12 months to complete. In the time since the motion, the Provincial government spent 1 million dollars on a business case regarding the science centre relocation, and the Auditor General of Ontario has released a value-for-money audit of the business case, concluding it was based on "preliminary and incomplete costs". This motion requests a status update on the initial work as well as supplemental analysis of the business case and value-for-money audit.

the feasibility of the City operating the Science Centre at its current location, including an assessment of potential revenues from event rentals; and c. an analysis of the November 29, 2023 Provincial business case of the Ontario Science Centre relocation and the December 6, 2023, the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario Value-for-Money Audit: Science Centres (2023), which evaluated the November business case.