The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) is too small and antiquated for a world-class city, Premier Doug Ford said on Monday while teasing the construction of a massive new centre that would “awe” the public.

Ford was at the MTCC announcing an accelerated Ring of Fire road construction plan when he said the convention centre would be rebuilt at a new, yet-to-be named location.

He also said it would be huge — two-million square feet compared to the current centre’s 442,000 square feet.

“The reason it has to be (so big) is we are losing so many conventions,” he argued.

A 2023 Auditor General of Ontario report confirmed that claim, finding over the past two decades the “MTCC lost 20 international conventions because the conventions had outgrown the centre.”

“The last time these 20 events were held at MTCC, they had an average attendance of about 11,700 delegates and an estimated total economic impact of about $490 million,” the report added.

Ford said the MTCC’s own board told him that it ranks as “one of the worst in the world for conventions.”

“Twenty-fourth out of 25, that’s unacceptable when you have a world-class province, world-class city,” Ford said.

“We are going to build a world-class convention centre.”

The MTCC is a Crown corporation, located beside the CN Tower. It’s not clear where a new one of such magnitude would be built, but Ford said that would be revealed shortly.

“I can’t wait to announce the location … and when I say world-class, it will be unlike any other location in the entire world.

“Wait until you see the design,” he teased.

Ford said the current MTCC would continue to operate while a new one is under construction.

“What we are going to make is spectacular, absolutely spectacular and that announcement will happen soon.”

The premier didn’t touch on the cost of a new centre on Monday, but at an event last week he speculated a price tag of a “few billion dollars.”