Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

Landfilling Toronto’s Parliament Slip

January 31, 2026 · View original


Toronto’s East Bayfront has changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Remember when we used to complain that the waterfront was under-utilized?

Here’s what it looked like circa 2005 (photo via Waterfront Toronto):

And here’s what it looks like today:

The waterfront has, in my opinion, become one of the nicest neighbourhoods in the city. I’m bullish on this part of Toronto. But it’s not done yet.

One key piece of infrastructure that was just completed is the landfilling of a part of the Parliament Slip.

If you go back to the previous aerial photo, you’ll see that the water’s edge now runs parallel to Queens Quay East in this section.

This was an important piece of city-building work because it will allow Queens Quay to continue eastward to Cherry Street, establishing a new city grid that can be used for transit and future development in the area.

If you’d like to see what it takes to landfill part of Lake Ontario, below is a time-lapse video, also from Waterfront Toronto.

YouTube video

If you can’t see it embedded in the post, click here.


Cover photo from Waterfront Toronto

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