One of Toronto’s Canada Day fireworks displays has been canceled and another postponed after a vendor pulled out at the last minute.
According to the city, the vendor providing the pyrotechnics for Ashbridges Bay Park, Stan Wadlow Park and Milliken Park informed officials Thursday that they “do not intend to fulfill their contractual obligation to perform fireworks.”
“City staff worked throughout the day and into the night to secure new vendors to perform fireworks at all three locations. We have contacted companies in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and across the U.S.,” staff said in a news release issued Friday morning.
“The town has been able to secure the services of a new supplier to allow the Ashbridges Bay fireworks display to go ahead tonight. The vendor was also able to secure a July 2nd fireworks commitment for Stan Wadlow Park.”
However, officials said the potential vendor for Miliken Park in Scarborough, located near Steeles Avenue and Middlefield Road, confirmed Friday morning that they did not have the resources for the event. These fireworks have now been cancelled.
“They just backed out of a contract we had with them,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said at a press conference ahead of the Canada Day parade. “City staff messed up. They literally talked to 20 different suppliers.”
City officials said they used the supplier, who they identified as David Whysall International Fireworks Inc., on multiple occasions, including for the Victoria Day weekend. They say officials contacted the company as early as June 20 to confirm details about the Canada Day fireworks.
“We, just so everyone knows, will certainly hold this seller responsible for any costs and damages that the city will actually incur as a result of this last-minute notice of default,” city spokesman Brad Ross said of CP24 on Friday morning.
Fireworks at Ashbridges Bay Park, Mel Lastman Square and Downsview Park will continue as planned tonight at 10pm
“We apologize to residents for some of these cancellations and rescheduling, but we hope people will be able to enjoy the Canada Day weekend, certainly tonight in Ashbridge Bay and Mel Lastman Square,” said Ross, adding , that the city will “pay back the people of Scarborough in the near future.”
Ross said he hasn’t seen the fireworks planned for Friday night, but remains hopeful it will be a great show.
The city also reminds residents that fireworks are allowed on private property without a permit until 11:00 pm on Canada Day, but are not allowed to be set off in city parks, beaches, balconies or parking lots.
Tory, for her part, urged residents heading into the city to watch the fireworks to do so respectfully – citing the long Victoria Day weekend in which two people were shot, one person was stabbed, others two were robbed at gunpoint and seven police officers were injured after being hit by multiple fireworks.
“It was a very small group of people, you know hooligans really, on Victoria Day that weekend that ruined it for everyone,” he said. “They showed very reckless behaviour, it could have resulted in the literal death of someone because they were shooting fireworks at each other and at police officers and there’s just no excuse for that.”
“That’s just not the kind of behavior we believe in in the city of Toronto.”
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