Ontario Place is no longer the beacon of optimism that persists in our collective childhood memories, as its once-futuristic structures are laid to waste and the verdant landscape of 850 trees clearcut into a barren expanse of nothingness.

Doug Ford's government is pressing on with its controversial plan to rebuild the once bustling waterfront destination with the much-criticized Therme megaspa and a relocated Ontario Science Centre, which was suddenly shuttered earlier this year.

The destruction of Ontario Place's West Island began in earnest this fall with the clearcutting of trees and the start of demolition on the iconic silos that towered over the destination.

New footage of Ontario Place provides a jarring comparison of the island before and after trees were removed from the site.

Photographer Christopher Kotsopoulos, better known as Kotsy, captured drone footage before and after the clearcutting activity, underscoring the substantial changes to Ontario Place's landscape in recent weeks.

Kotsy tells blogTO that he shot the 'before' footage in early July, and was shocked after taking his drone to the skies again in October and witnessing the wholesale destruction.

"I knew they were going to be taking trees down, but I had no idea they were getting rid of everything," says Kotsy.

"It just looks so bad. I think they could have found a way where they could have kept some of them, or half of them, [rather than] just to get rid of all of them."

The clip was also shared on Reddit, where it was met with several comments from disheartened netizens.

One user who biked past the site a week earlier wrote, "The devastation is stark in person. What used to be greenery on the island now looks bald and barren. Not only that but there's a giant fence around the entire property and the bike lane is narrow, bumpy and unsafe. Ford is selling out Ontario in front of us and we are powerless to stop any of this."

Another commenter characterizes the destruction as "Pretty disgusting," adding that "this wasn't necessary at all," and slamming Doug Ford for "finding as many petty ways to take shots at Toronto."

Ontario Place demolition continues in Toronto... #ONPoli pic.twitter.com/SHaJchxlim

— blogTO (@blogTO) October 10, 2024

Not all commenters condemned the clearcutting, like one user who argued that the province is required to "plant the same number of trees that were removed at minimum. It's part of code."

The user characterizes people "making a big deal about this" as "idiots" and posits that the problem is the planned megaspa and not the trees, which will eventually repopulate the artificial landform.

But, having witnessed the clearcutting via drone, Kotsy disagrees with this takeaway.

"The trees are not going to go back to the state that they're in now," he says. "I'll be dead by then, 50 years from now. I probably won't be around when I'm ninety years old."

While he admits it was depressing to document, Kotsy says he is "so glad I got the 'before' shot, because I had no idea I would be able to share something like this."

"I thought it would just be like a spa coming in, some trees gone, you know, like a normal development."

However, it seems that few traces of the original Ontario Place will survive the site's contentious metamorphosis.