Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is going to ask civil servants to “double and triple check” the province’s agreement with a European spa company after reports it exaggerated its success to land a lucrative deal in Toronto.
On Wednesday, the New York Times published an investigation alleging that Therme had misrepresented itself as a bigger company with a longer track record when it landed a deal with the Ford government.
Therme is behind a spa being built at Ontario Place, a facility which is set to be the centrepiece of the government’s massive redevelopment of the waterfront area.
The deal has been the subject of controversy already for the government, which gave the Austrian spa company a 95-year lease to run its private enterprise on public land.
Questions were also raised about the unusual bidding process implemented for the redevelopment and the commitment Ontario has made to build parking spots for the facility. The government is set to spend more than $2 billion to help get the spa underway.
Asked about the Times’ investigation — and suggestion Therme exaggerated its success — Ford said he had asked the Minister of Infrastructure and her officials to look into the claim.
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“When I heard this allegation, I went directly to the minister and to the deputy and said, ‘Here, look into this,’” he said. “They’re going to look into this allegation and find out and make sure all their t’s were crossed and their i’s were dotted.”
Asked if that meant he would consider ending the deal with Therme if the government had been misled, Ford said he was excited about the project. “We want to build a beautiful facility down there,” he said.
Previously, the auditor general found Infrastructure Ontario had failed to properly assess Therme’s application in a report released at the end of last year.
“We found that IO did not conduct due diligence to ensure that spas cited by Therme in its submissions were in fact owned and operated by Therme Group,” the auditor general wrote in a report released in late 2024.
“In its submission, Therme stated that ‘Therme group has proven success of its concept with six globally placed facilities under operation.’ We reviewed the six spas and found five instances where the spa cited in the submission was not owned or operated by Therme Group.”
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said on Wednesday that Therme had been given the green light by qualified government officials.
“Therme passed the financial test that was done by the world-renowned arm’s length agency in Infrastructure Ontario,” she said during question period in response to Liberal MPP John Fraser.
“Now, I think that the professionals and the experts at Infrastructure Ontario have far more experience doing a financial test than the member opposite.”
A spokesperson for Therme said the New York Times story was “inaccurate and not new news.” They said Therme “followed all the rules of the bidding process.”
Fraser called on Ford to cancel the deal outright.
“I’ll give you a chance, Premier,” he said. “Will the Premier just cut this deal like he did with Starlink and the Greenbelt? Just do the right thing, Premier.”
Ford did not address Fraser’s questions in the House, and Surma responded by defending the deal.
Later, the premier said he would get to the bottom of the question.
“We’ll look into it and make sure everything passes the smell test,” he told reporters.
“I’m going to get my deputies to look into it, they’re going to get back to me. I want to see the detailed agreement. … So, I’ll look into it, I’ll dig deep, don’t worry.”
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