Premier Doug Ford is hinting that his idea for a brand new convention centre will be located near Ontario Place, promising an announcement once he has co-ordinated with other levels of government.

The premier recently declared the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was “one of the worst” in the world and said he would spend “a few billion dollars” building a new one.

The policy hasn’t been officially announced, but over several public appearances, Ford has dripped out details of what it could look like.

Most recently, he has hinted at where it might be.

During an unrelated event on Monday, Ford described how someone who visited his planned convention centre would remember the experience.

“Wow, this is world-class,” he imagined someone saying. “Then, I  was able to go down to the science centre with the kids, then we caught a concert at Live Nation. Or we went to the waterpark.”

Ford also said his plan would be for a “world-class, state-of-the-art” convention centre that spans two million square feet.

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In response to the suggestion that Exhibition Place grounds were the only area large enough to accommodate that size of building near the new science centre or Ontario Place’s planned Therme waterpark, Ford didn’t deny the idea.

“Just stay tuned, I have to just cross some T’s, dot some I’s,” he said. “When you see it, it’s going to be jaw-dropping.”

Ford made his concerns about the Metro Toronto Convention Centre public last Thursday when he unveiled new designs for the Ontario Science Centre.

That evening, he went to an event at the convention centre and repeated his concerns.

“The Toronto Convention Centre, it’s had its life,” Ford told a surprised audience. “It’s a terrible convention centre.”

The comment was met with raised eyebrows, especially by those working at the convention centre where the event was being held, prompting the premier to quickly say it was “no one’s fault in this room.”

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which describes itself as a “globally acclaimed, premier choice for event planners,” is a Crown corporation of the Ontario government located beside the CN Tower in the heart of the downtown core.

Recently, however, the centre has struggled to fill the 442,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and, according to a review by Ontario’s Auditor General, lost 20 international conventions “because the conventions had outgrown the centre.”

“Event planners we spoke to told us there was a shortage of meeting rooms and pre-function areas at MTCC,” the auditor said in a 2023 report, which highlighted that the post-pandemic occupancy rate stood at 54 per cent.

For Ford, the convention centre’s status also weighs heavily in the government’s decision.

“Do you know that out of 25 of the largest cities that have conventions, we’re in last place,” Ford told the audience at the convention centre on Thursday. “We’re going to go from number 24 up to number one.”

The premier promised this week his new plan for a convention centre wouldn’t enable a gambling centre in the downtown, something pitched more than a decade ago by one of the owners of convention centre land.

“It won’t have a casino, that’s an automatic,” he said.

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