By Lincoln DePradine

Premier Doug Ford “unilaterally decided’’ to shut down the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) using “a manufactured crisis”, municipal politician Josh Matlow has charged.

“The premier misled the people of Ontario,” Matlow said at a news briefing Tuesday. “There seems to be no willingness to keep the science centre alive for future generations.”

Matlow, City of Toronto councillor for Toronto-St. Paul’s, is among millions in Ontario that have opposed the closure of the OSC.

The science centre was opened in September 1969 with a mission “to inspire passion for the human adventure of discovery”, and promising that “through science and technology, we can create a more curious, creative, and resilient world”.

The OSC is located Don Mills Road in Flemingdon Park, a North York working class neighbourhhod, represented by parliamentarians Michael Coteau, a Liberal Party Member of Parliament; MPP Adil Shamji; and Toronto councillor Jon Burnside.

Flemingdon Park residents, according to census reports, are two-thirds “immigrants”, with significant public housing units in the community that is served by two school boards.

Councillor Matlow admitted that, while the OSC’s roof and other parts of the centre needed repairs, he’s adamant that the building should not have been closed down.

“Every report, without exception, has shown that they can be fixed,” he said. “But the critical part of the roof that needs fixing this year, would only come to a price of $500,000; we have philanthropists in our city who are willing to pay that bill to call the province’s bluff, if money is a factor.”

Engineers said they found parts of the OSC’s roof to be at risk of collapsing because of the type of concrete used in its construction.

The science centre was abruptly closed June 21 by the provincial government, which already had scheduled its relocation, in 2028, to a new facility at Ontario Place in Downtown Toronto, making it part of a redevelopment there, along with a privately owned spa.

Ford has defended the closure decision, describing the OSC building as “decrepit” and “absolutely a mess, from top to bottom. Front to back”.

However, the shuttering of the OSC has sparked public protests and the signing of a petition in support of the science centre by thousands of people.

Marit Stiles, head of the New Democratic Party and Opposition Leader in the Ontario Legislature, has said that “the fight for our science centre is far from over”.

The fight, she adds, “has only just begun. The future of the science centre is not in Doug Ford’s hands; it’s in our hands”.

MPP Shamji, an Ontario Liberal Party member, also criticized Ford, saying the premier’s “half-baked plan to temporarily relocate the science centre is unambitious, ill-conceived and an insult to the original version of the science centre”.

On Tuesday, Matlow brought forward a motion to city council that called on its executive committee “to take a stand for the future of the Ontario Science Centre”.

The motion extends a formal request to the Ontario government to work collaboratively with the City of Toronto with the aim of finding a solution to the OSC issue.

The motion, among other things, proposes that a working group be established with the Province of Ontario and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to review the province’s “obligation to keep the Ontario Science Centre in a state of good repair”.

It also recommends an examination of “opportunities and commitments for the Province of Ontario to work in partnership with the City of Toronto, and local community, on the future of the Ontario Science Centre”.

In Matlow’s words, Ford’s “story kept changing”, as the premier argued for the shutdown of OSC.

“When the Ford government unilaterally decided to close the science centre permanently, it was a manufactured crisis,” Matlow told reporters Tuesday.

“In Fact, the province a year ago, decided to close the science centre in Flemingdon and move it to a much smaller facility at Ontario Place, where he also has a deal with a private Austrian spa company. And they made a decision before there was any suggestion of any (OSC) fixes being necessary.”

Matlow said under a 1965 lease agreement – signed with the province and involving City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority – “there is a commitment to have a science centre. There is a commitment to maintain and keep the science centre in good repair. And now, that commitment and that promise need to be kept”.