Conceptual drawings of Queen’s Park North, the oval-shaped public park next to the provincial legislative building in Toronto.Janet Rosenberg & Studio/Supplied
John Tory is the former mayor of Toronto.
As the FIFA World Cup unfolds in Toronto, our city is experiencing something remarkable.
Thousands of visitors are filling our streets. Restaurants are packed. Transit is bustling. The city is being broadcast to millions of people around the world.
None of this happened by accident.
Hosting the World Cup required governments to take a risk, invest in a bold idea and believe Toronto belonged on the world stage. Like any major undertaking, there were skeptics. Healthy conversations about costs and disruption were had. But had we allowed fear to win, we would have missed out on an extraordinary opportunity.
That lesson extends well beyond sport.
If Toronto wants to remain one of the world’s great cities, we have to rediscover our willingness to embrace ambitious civic projects. We need to stop defining ourselves by what could go wrong and start asking what could go right.
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The revitalization of Queen’s Park North is exactly that kind of opportunity.
At the heart of our city sits one of its most important public spaces, surrounded by world-class hospitals, the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the provincial legislature. Every day, healthcare workers find a quiet moment between shifts. Students gather on the lawn. Families picnic beneath the trees. Tens of thousands of people move through the park every week.
And yet, despite its importance, Queen’s Park North has never reflected the city that has grown up around it.
The Weston family has stepped forward with a $50-million gift to transform it, alongside funding that will support its stewardship for decades to come. It is the largest private investment ever made in a public park in Toronto.
This is exactly the kind of civic leadership we should be celebrating.
Toronto is growing faster than almost any city in North America. Our infrastructure, parks and public spaces all require investment. Municipal governments simply cannot do it all alone.
When philanthropists step forward to build libraries, parks, trails, cultural institutions or public spaces, they aren’t replacing government. They are allowing public dollars to stretch further, freeing governments to invest more in housing, transit, policing, community services and the countless other responsibilities only governments can fulfill.
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This is a model that has built many of the world’s greatest cities, and we’ve seen it in action in Toronto before. The Matthews family has helped transform the city through the creation of the Bentway, a vibrant public park, multi-use trail, and winter skating rink under the Gardiner Expressway. The Weston family has done the same, not only with Queen’s Park North but through projects like the Meadoway in Scarborough, helping turn hydro corridors into kilometres of connected green space that communities across Toronto now enjoy.
These investments create public assets that belong to everyone.
Of course, ambitious projects should be scrutinized, and Queen’s Park North has been no exception. Community members raised thoughtful concerns about protecting mature trees, preserving open green space and respecting the park’s heritage. Those concerns deserved to be heard – and they were.
The plan evolved through consultation. More lawn space was preserved. The ecological approach was enhanced. Tree protection, always central to the design, became an even greater focal point. Indigenous voices helped shape key elements of the project. What was unanimously approved by city council is stronger precisely because people participated.
That is how public consultation should work. But consultation cannot become a veto.
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Every significant project will have opponents. Every change will make some people uncomfortable. If a small number of loud voices or special interests can stop every ambitious civic investment, we will slowly become a city incapable of building anything worthy of our aspirations. I saw such unproductive opposition firsthand with Rail Deck Park, which I saw as an opportunity to transform downtown Toronto when I was mayor. Canada’s biggest city deserves better than that.
Great cities are built over generations by people willing to imagine something bigger than what exists today. They are built by governments willing to partner with communities. They are built by philanthropists willing to give back. And they are built by residents willing to embrace progress, even when it requires potentially uncomfortable change.
As we cheer on Team Canada and welcome the world to our city, we should remember that civic pride is about more than sport. It is about believing Toronto can build extraordinary things. It is about recognizing generosity when it appears, and encouraging others to follow.
Every successful philanthropic project makes it more likely that another family, another foundation or another business leader will ask how they can help shape this city’s future. We should want more of that, not less.
Queen’s Park North is ultimately about far more than one park. It is about whether Toronto still believes in bold ideas. I believe we do.