Overview
- The union representing staff says 31 workers were let go, including 27 permanent roles and four contract positions, and that the move eliminated the centre’s standalone science unit.
- OPSEU said the unionized workforce will fall from 166 to 136 and named losses in live-exhibit business development, security, education, marketing and IT.
- The provincial tourism ministry described the action as an organizational restructure to deliver programming at an interim Harbourfront site and at a new $1‑billion Ontario Place centre, and it said some impacted staff will be offered new roles and that 1,000 jobs will be created.
- Architects, union leaders and community advocates dispute the need to fully close the original east Toronto building, argue many roof issues could be repaired, and say the cuts erase more than 540 years of combined service and risk losing institutional expertise.
- The immediate consequence is reduced in-house science capacity at the centre and questions about how hands-on education will be sustained during the interim Harbourfront operations and before the planned Ontario Place centre opens in 2029.