A Toronto park that was just refurbished in 2019 is set to once again be ripped up for a second beautification project just a few years later — but, residents need not worry about any misallocation of public funds, as the revamp is being funded by the local billionaire family behind the Loblaws empire.
The Westons, among the richest families in the country, have just offered up a whopping $50 million through their philanthropic arms toward improving Queen’s Park North, the top half of the central downtown green space frequented by tourists, U of T students, TTC riders and more.
The park sits a stone’s throw away from, among other notable sites, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which the Westons have also supported with their wealth over the years. It also lies right outside the doors of the Ontario Legislative Building, where former Lieutenant Governor (and wife to Loblaws’ Galen Weston) Hilary Weston used to work — apparently something that helped prompt the donation.
The park just had a similar revamp in 2019.
The plan thus far is somewhat vague, with City docs simply stating that this new revitalization will include “both focused enhancements in the near term, and long-term maintenance and programming investments that enrich the park experience while sustaining the park’s natural heritage.”
If council approves the partnership with the Westons at its meeting this week, as Mayor Olivia Chow is recommending it do, then phase one will kick off in the coming weeks with public consultations that will help inform the end design and potential future uses of Queen’s Park North.
These could likely include “integration of programming from nearby nationally significant cultural institutions” such as the ROM. We could even see such features as a skating rink and an outdoor cafe, as depicted in early illustrative renderings from consulting firm Janet Rosenberg & Studio and recently published by the Globe.
While Chow has identified this plan as in line with the City’s objective to foster not only this public space but Toronto’s entire parks network, it seems that the last Queen’s Park North construction project had virtually the same objectives.
The team behind that facelift had the key objectives of “enhancing the quality of park destinations,” “rejuvenating the landscape” with more trees and new lawns, “creating a vibrant social heart” to encourage events programming by design and “enhancing the park as a place of respite,” including by adding new seating and upgrading existing paths.
The City wrote this month, though that staff “previously undertook a partial revitalization of the park in 2019, and a new entrance to the Toronto Transit Commission’s Museum Station opened in the park in 2024… additional amenities and investment will allow Queen’s Park to realize its fullest potential.”
This new initiative also includes, very notably, funds for the maintenance of the park for years to come.
