A new planetarium is needed in the GTA

The McLaughlin Planetarium was opened in 1968. It was closed in 1995 - open for 27 years. It was closed 26 years ago - nearly as long as it was open. Toronto is the largest city in the world without a medium to large planetarium. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax all have medium to large planetariums. Hamilton, Sudbury, St John's and maybe a few that I am missing have smaller versions - as does the Ontario Science Centre, although it is rather small and currently is not open.

Why is this? The ROM closed the McLaughlin Planetarium in 1995, citing waning interest and falling attendance. The other five large planetariums in the country stayed open, underwent renovations and modernization and the one in Montreal was even rebuilt. McLaughlin was in dire need of a renovation and revitalization in 1995. It was closed to satisfy provincial budget cuts. It could have been saved and still been open today,

The picture above was taken recently, showing the very sad looking McLaughlin building. It is a shame, as it provided many hours of entertainment to thousands of people. Many people think it is still open, not knowing that the ROM has purchased and is using portable planetariums to support its astronomy school programming. Why not just reopen the McLaughlin Planetarium? It has been sold to the University of Toronto and will ultimately be demolished and a new university building put in its place. So the planetarium days at this site are over.

Several groups have tried to resurrect this building or build another one. For some reason, Science Culture in Toronto gets little support. The OSC has been struggling for years - maybe due to where it was built - far out of the downtown core.

Many large cities are proud of its science cultural institutions. This is lacking in Toronto.