Province Plans a 400-Job Science Complex in North Oakville

The Ontario government wants to build a new science complex in north Oakville that would merge two provincial laboratory operations and bring about 400 jobs to town. Planning applications are now in front of the town.

The four- to eight-storey facility would go on vacant, provincially owned land on the north side of William Halton Parkway, just north of Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. It would house the Ministry of Labour's Radiation Protection Services laboratory and environmental science labs run by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, which the province says would let the labs share advanced equipment and workspace while saving money over the long run.

The work done there would include environmental and radiological sampling and monitoring, laboratory testing, data management and regulatory enforcement. Plans also call for a 250-space employee parking lot and outdoor storage for boats and monitoring equipment.

Ward 7 councillor Scott Xie has asked town staff to address safety and emergency planning before the application returns to council. He said the town needs to confirm there will be no safety, environmental, noise or compatibility impacts on the hospital, nearby residents or the Glenorchy Conservation lands next door.

The province owns about 20 acres north of the hospital and plans to split it, using 7.5 acres on the east side for the science facility and extending Glenorchy Road toward Hospital Gate with a new public road. The western half has no confirmed use yet. It was once slated for a Halton courthouse that the province cancelled in 2020, weeks before construction, then quietly revived last September.