Toronto Ripley's Aquarium of Canada | 13.11m | 2s | Ripley Entertainment | B+H

Toronto's tourism product is already quite strong. It's a matter of adding depth, which is what this aquarium will do. Anything that causes people to extend their trip by even a few more hours is a great addition to our tourism sector.

Also, the outside of the building is no where near as important as what's inside. Yes, it'd be great if the building was attractive, but tourists won't avoid a building if what's inside is fantastic. They just need to create a great space, with interesting aquatic life and there's nothing to suggest that that's impossible to do at this location. And as it was said before, the current surrounding area does nothing to enhance our tourism product, so this would be a great improvement.

Also, for those mentioning the Olympic Spirit, you cannot possibly put that in the same sentence as this project. That project was completely untested and the powers that be simply thought incorrectly that people would be interested in the Olympics because people are interested in the Olympics for two weeks every two year. It was a wrong assumption to make, especially in a place that has never held the Olympics. A large Olympics museum in a place where it makes sense would work, but not here at the small size they built. Many aquariums have been built around the world, and as long as they do their homework and measure how other aquariums price their product with relation to its size and quality, then it should be fine. The only real concern is if they over-price the admission charge. It's been shown elsewhere that aquariums can attract a million people per year at an average price of $15/person. If this aquarium is simply an average aquarium with average attendance and ticket prices, it'll be a fantastic addition to our tourism sector.
 
World class eh... name me anything in Toronto that is World Class.:rolleyes:


Her legacy?
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The CN Tower is probably the only world class thing you mentioned. The ROM is cool but far from one of the greatest museums in the world.

Its architecture and that of the AGO is by two architects known and admired around the world. And we've got plenty more where that came from. To be world class is not to be the absolute greatest but comparable. Our institutions have quite impressive collections. We've exported great artists and intellectuals, we've built a fine film international festival, a stadium with the first retractable roof. These are just quick things that come to mind. It's quite obvious that this isn't some provincial city.
 
CN Tower, ROM, AGO, Ontario Place, Eaton Centre, Science Centre, Toronto Zoo to name a few.

I'll agree with most of the items you listed ... but definitely not the Science Centre + Toronto Zoo
 
What's really interesting is that I bet that the Ontario government was somewhat blindsided by this aquarium proposal. It wasn't on the radar in the summer and I think a lot of people figured that the revitalization of Ontario Place that is slated for the next 5-10 years would include an aquarium. At least we're getting a nice addition to our tourism industry, but you have to wonder if the aquarium could have been way better in Ontario Place.
 
This aquarium project has been for a while. The Ontario Place location was ruled out by the developers and city officials because there was not enough foot traffic.
The two locations their study found out is that the aquarium needs to be located in the downtown core. The CN Tower location and Yonge Dundas being the two best locations for the aquarium.
 
I'll agree with most of the items you listed ... but definitely not the Science Centre + Toronto Zoo

I agree about the Science Centre but the Toronto Zoo has been ranked as high as 7th in worldwide rankings.

But it is without question that we have the best world class group of inferiority complexed perpetual whiners and complainers in this city.
 
This aquarium project has been for a while. The Ontario Place location was ruled out by the developers and city officials because there was not enough foot traffic.
The two locations their study found out is that the aquarium needs to be located in the downtown core. The CN Tower location and Yonge Dundas being the two best locations for the aquarium.

"A while" as in the annual aquarium announcements? As far as I'm aware (and I could be wrong because all it takes is for one person from the province to see the report) the province didn't know about this aquarium as of September. Perhaps there were high level discussions between Ripley's and the powers that be at Ontario Place, but if there was a study done it never made it to the advisor level. I'd love to see this study, who did it, and who they talked to (if anyone can post a link...).

Maybe discussions were in place with the city, but you'd think that considering the province has openly said they are looking to revitalize Ontario Place and put money into it, Ripleys might have wanted to work with the province? From a financial perspective, wouldn't you rather have the province help pay for something instead of doing it on your own?
 
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But it is without question that we have the best world class group of inferiority complexed perpetual whiners and complainers in this city.

For sure. I don't really know if they outnumber the rest of us but they are definitely more annoying and much louder.
I suppose we could drown them in the Aquarium? (how is that for staying on topic?)
 
What's really interesting is that I bet that the Ontario government was somewhat blindsided by this aquarium proposal. It wasn't on the radar in the summer and I think a lot of people figured that the revitalization of Ontario Place that is slated for the next 5-10 years would include an aquarium. At least we're getting a nice addition to our tourism industry, but you have to wonder if the aquarium could have been way better in Ontario Place.

The Ontario government claims that they are going to do some major renovations/upgrades to Ontario Place, so you would think an aquarium would be perfect. There was talk that the huge parking lots could be put under ground, so that would give them plenty of room to build a massive aquarium and a whole lot more.

Ontario Place is a great complex, the architecture still blows me away. Now all they need to do is bring in a few attractions, upgrade things a bit and it will be an amazing place. How many cities have a park that cool on their waterfronts? I've been a huge fan of Ontario Place from day one, even though the government has allowed it to lose it's way. I'm hoping for a serious metamorphis.
 

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