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Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday he is considering filling in part of Toronto’s waterfront for a new convention centre.
Ford has mused several times over the past week that the city needs more convention space and that the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is no good.
The Globe and Mail reported that two sources said Ford was considering multiple sites across Toronto’s waterfront for his idea of a massive new convention centre.
One of those ideas would be a new island created from infill, the Globe reported.
“I wouldn’t call it an island, but we may look at putting fill in until we can put a convention centre,” Ford said.
Ford has been arguing that the city is losing out on conventions, calling the Metro Toronto Convention Centre “terrible” and saying he was flustered by its layout and all the escalators in the building.
“You go in there and you’re going up, you’re going down, you’re going up, you’re going across the road. That’s unacceptable,” he said Friday.
“We’re losing a massive amount of business. So we’ll build something, just something out of this world.”
He has said the new convention centre could cost a few billion dollars and would be some two million square feet in size.
“It will be unlike any other location in the entire world,” Ford said earlier this week at an unrelated press conference inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which was hosting the world’s largest mining convention.
The new convention centre Ford envisions would be nearly three times the size of the current one.
He said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has endorsed his idea.
“The mayor has said she is prepared to work with the province if they plan to invest in upgrading the convention centre to attract more visitors and more business,” said Braman Thillainathan, Chow’s spokesman.
“This could help support our local economy and bring in more customers for Toronto’s small businesses.”
But he said any major development proposal would be reviewed “to ensure it is in the best interest of Toronto and communities along the waterfront.”
Chow has not received a formal proposal on the future of the current convention centre.
The proposed convention centre is the latest in Ford’s moves to revamp Toronto’s waterfront. The province is spending more than $2 billion on a new Ontario Place.
Last week, Ford unveiled plans for a new Ontario Science Centre at Ontario Place with work beginning this spring.
Construction is well underway to build a spa and waterpark, owned by an Austrian company. There will be a new marina, a concert venue and several beaches and parks.
Across the street at Exhibition Place, the province is building a new subway route, the Ontario Line, that will connect that area in the west through downtown and up through midtown to the site of the shuttered Ontario Science Centre.
New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said “Ford Island” is the latest distraction by the premier from more serious problems that plague the province.
“Ontarians are wondering when Doug Ford is actually going to do something to make their lives better,” Stiles said.
“He needs to explain why these pet projects are more important than our hospitals, schools and highways.”
Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser questioned how much “Ford’s Fantasy Island” would cost.
“He’s acting like a billionaire except it’s our money,” he said.
“His priority should be making people’s lives easier. It is absolute insanity.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2026.
Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
