On Thursday May 19th, 2004 Prime Minister Paul Martin, accompanied by MP Dennis Mills and other local Liberal MPs, made an announcement of $125 million for various waterfront projects. The list includes waterfront parks and recreational facillities, street improvements on Unwin Avenue and Cherry Street and money for a study on locating a UN University in Toronto. You can read the list of the projects on the web site of Human Resources and Skills Development. Government of Canada announces support for Toronto's waterfront revitalization. Is this the 'kick start' for Toronto's waterfront that Paul Martin claims it is, or a cynical re-election ploy as claimed by the local media and Toronto's own federal party leader Jack Layton?Martin's waterfront proposal political “gimmick”: Layton. I think to try and ascertain the near future we need to look at the recent past.

The paint peels off the Cherry Beach Life Saving Station as it waits for the promised revitalization. Is this an harbinger of the fate of the newly announced waterfront projects.

Since the initial announcement of Toronto's most recent waterfront revitialization effort three years ago there has been very little actually done on the ground. The one exception was the Cherry Beach Revitalization Project that was started in June 2003. (See Press Release). It was a project intended to rejuvenate the facillites at Cherry beach, polish up one of the diamonds, hidden, in the rough of the portlands. The Martin Goodman Trail runs through this park and is a favourite stop for cyclists and other trail users. The June 2003 announcement held out the promise that this destination could be even better. (See previous article) There were several elements to the project. To quote from the above press release they were:

• Clean-up beach and surrounding area
• Install tree-lined grand entrance running south from Unwin Avenue ending at a turning drop-off circle
• Establish with landscaping a defined parking area
• Formalize trail on east side as part of the Martin Goodman Trail
• Construct trail to Cherry Point
• Install proper restroom facilities - new water service, new sewage and holding tank, new interior fixtures etc.
• Restore life saving station and change house, identified as significant heritage resources on the Central Waterfront
• Reconstruct another structure to house covered picnic area and kiosks
• Add new benches, bicycle racks, bbq grills and picnic tables 

The project was to be completed as of Summer 2004. Soon after work started however elements started to be crossed of the list, cut back or postponed. First, the renovation of the parking lots was scaled back to include only those to the west of Cherry Street, lack of money was given as the reason.

In 2004 the scale backs continued. I noticed this spring when riding by Cherry Beach on the Martin Goodman Trail that work had not yet started on restoring the historic life saving station and the new picnic shelter that was in the plans and that had not been started. A couple of weeks ago I called the Toronto Waterfront Revitilization Corporation(TWRC) who is responsible for the project to see if the work was going to be done this year. They informed me that the picnic shelter has been deferred indefinately and that the renovation of the life saving station will only go ahead if the required money is advanced by the Federal Government.

This brings me back to the announcement of the money for the Waterfront. When I heard that $125 million was going to be spent on the waterfront I was hopefull that this would mean that the Cherry Beach Revitalization Project could be completed. I again called the TWRC to see if the postponed elements of the project of the plan would go ahead now. The answer was that none of this money was for Cherry Beach. I was surprised by this so I phoned the office of Dennis Mills the local MP who accompanied the Prime Minister at the announcement. The staff person that I contacted there told me that the Cherry Beach Project had actually been completed. When I told him of the elements of the project that had been deleted, delayed or deferred, the response was that it was probably a municipal project, implying that it was the City of Toronto who was responsible for the lack of completion. In fact it is not a municipal project. It is being carried out by Canada Lands Corporation which is a crown corporation of the federal government. An earlier call to that organization had confirmed that further work on the project has been delayed until more money is advanced by the federal government.

It seems this project has fallen out of view of the federal government and will be left half completed while new, future projects are announced. The irony is that the recent announcement occurred in view of Cherry Beach. I tried to attend the announcement on Thursday but was turned away by the police guarding the Toronto Port Authority site where the announcement was taking place. The announcement was for invited guests only, I was informed. I managed to get a glimpse of the proceedings through a barbed wire topped fence that separates the eastern end of Cherry Beach from the Port Authority site.

Prime Minister Paul Martin announces waterfront funding to local Liberal MPs and invited guests

Will the new baubles being offered up on the eve of the election end up as Cherry Beach has, partly polished and half-faceted? Or is their the will there to see them through to their completion. Will they fit in with the City of Toronto's plan for the waterfront which is outlined in broad strokes in the Secondary Plan and now being further defined by the precinct plans being worked out by the City of Toronto in consultation with its residents? Will Toronto residents get a say in the planning of these projects? These are questions we can ask of the polititians who represent the waterfront ridings. This election will be the perfect time to ask these questions.