Appeal issues are can a government can shield its decisions from existing laws and court review, and is Ontario Place a protected “public trust”?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, July 16, 2026
TORONTO – A coalition of four citizen organizations – Ontario Place for All (OP4All), Toronto Field Naturalists, Democracy Watch, and the National Trust for Canada – has been approved to intervene in the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) by Ontario Place Protectors (OPP) challenging the decision by Premier Doug Ford’s government to destroy Ontario Place and replace it with a spa.
The appeal (File #41805), which will be heard by the SCC on October 15, 2026, focuses on whether a government can shield its decisions and development of land from the requirements of existing laws and court review, and whether Ontario Place is a protected “public trust”. The coalition is represented by Jackie Esmonde, Sydney Lang and Clémence Thabet of the law firm Cavalluzzo LLP.
In 2023, OP4All launched a judicial review of the Ontario government’s Ontario Place redevelopment decisions. Before the case could be heard, the Ford government passed the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act (ROPA), a law that effectively extinguished OP4All’s ability to proceed. OP4All’s case was dismissed right after the legislation passed.
OPP then challenged ROPA in court, arguing that the law is unconstitutional because it essentially removes the public’s right to challenge any decisions of the government concerning Ontario Place under existing environmental and heritage protection laws and generally through court cases and, as a result, shields the government’s decisions from review by the courts.
OPP also argued that there is, or should be, a legal “public trust doctrine” in Canada that protects land like Ontario Place that has environmental, ecological, historical and cultural significance.
The ONCA’s March 11, 2025 ruling rejected both of those arguments. The SCC approved OPP’s application to appeal on January 8, 2026.
The coalition’s factum supports OPP’s position that ROPA is unconstitutional, and that a “public trust doctrine” should be established and applied to protect Ontario Place and similar significant heritage properties.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine how far any government in Canada can go in carving out exemptions from environmental, heritage, and public participation law for projects it favours politically,” said Ann Elisabeth Samson, Co-Chair of Ontario Place for All.
“The Supreme Court has an opportunity to restore Canadians’ right to protest and prevent governments from arbitrarily restricting those rights to push controversial projects through without adequate environmental and heritage oversight,” said Lynn Miller, President of Toronto Field Naturalists.
“The Supreme Court will hopefully strike down the law that Doug Ford’s government enacted to destroy Ontario Place because it is dangerously undemocratic and gives him and his cabinet unconstitutional, king-like powers to bulldoze an important historical site without review under environmental or heritage laws, and unconstitutionally blocks the public from challenging the government’s actions in court,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.
“Legal approaches similar to those used in the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, overriding established protections for heritage and the environment, are now being used to advance projects elsewhere. The precedent established in this case, if unchallenged, would have devastating consequences for heritage places across the country,” said Dr. Patricia Kell, CEO of The National Trust for Canada.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher
Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 416-546-3443
Ann Elisabeth Samson
Co-Chair, Ontario Place for All
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 647-880-8237
Lynn Miller
President, Toronto Field Naturalists
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 647-828-5966
Dr. Patricia Kell
CEO, The National Trust for Canada
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 613-237-1066
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