Yeah, again, this isn't a raw "Toronto's losing its heritage" issue per se; because one *could* whatabout this by raising, say, the past destruction of the "more important" Massey-Harris and Inglis complexes as precedent. Rather, it's about a blithe, wilful violation of a procedure and mechanism of retention that was already in place.
And of course, the ministry spokesperson speaking of the site being neglected since the 80s is a crock of bleep, because if it were *that* neglected, it wouldn't have been "utilized", with preliminary procedures, for the Pan Ams. By that measure, anything from Wychwood Barns to the Symes Road Destructor would no longer be with us, because DoFo-type leadership would step in with the bulldozers pronto once it was clear that a special interest group of hysterical preservationists and NIMBY neighbourhood nervous nellies were holding these "eyesores" hostage. So, cut the red tape and induce a clean slate; that'll shut'em up--after all, Massey-Harris is long gone, and nobody's boo-hooing but the usual "Toronto's losing all its heritage" whiners, you have a harrumph-harrumph "vibrant neighbourhood" of housing here and in Liberty Village to the south, etc. And likely ditto for Hearn, Canada Malting, etc if demolishing them weren't so "involved" an affair. (And of course, they *tried* the same with Ontario Place--in the end, they sorta-relented there, but they could argue that these warehouses "aren't as important" so they have more carte blanche here)
