Ontario wanted to keep the building alive in science centre closure, minister says [Video]

Days after abruptly closing it to the public without time to say goodbye, Ontario’s infrastructure minister says she wanted to keep the science centre open until 2028.

But stark warnings from engineers about the short-term and long-term safety of the building forced the government to take action sooner, Minister Kinga Surma said on Monday.

“It was my hope that we could keep the building alive until the new science centre was built but unfortunately we have to take the warning signs of engineers very seriously,” Surma said.

“This is a health and safety matter; it is workers and children that are in the building every day and therefore I am not going to risk the safety of workers and children. I will not under any circumstances.”

On Friday morning, the government began erecting tall security fences around the perimeter of the Ontario Science Centre at Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue. Hours later, it announced …