Surplus federal properties in the National Capital Region.

Site 143-Public Works Canada - Queen Juliana Park, 870 Carling Avenue was sold for $1 dollar to the Ottawa Hospital Corporation.
Site 145-Public Works Canada - Plouffe Park, 933 Gladstone is the future site of a housing project called "Gladstone Village." The land was probably donated to Ottawa Community Housing because of a recent CMHC policy.
Site 163 - The Telecommunications Engineering Lab was located near Clyde and Baseline, close to the Laurentian High School before 91 acres of Experimental Farm land were sold to the Municipality of Ottawa.
Site 169 - The Central Experimental Farm is a National Interest Land Mass and a National Historic Site.However, the Ottawa Hospital Corporation is paying $1 dollar for 50 acres of Agriculture Canada, Public Works and National Capital Commission land on the Farm.
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Proof that the Dominion Observatory Campus is doomed, if a hospital relocates to 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa.

The yellow lines signify the current boundary of the Ottawa  Hospital property. The DARA Tennis Club is depicted on the lower right hand corner. DARA has been evicted by the Civic and Agriculture Canada employees have been forced to uproot and relocate the historic hedges. The Observatory Campus is depicted on the upper left hand corner of the photo.

1.) Astronomer Arthur Covington wrote a letter to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970 asking the Prime Minister to save the Observatory.
2.)  During the mid-1990's plans were underway to demolish the Dominion Observatory, Booth Barn and at least 40 other buildings. The Government of Canada planned to "get out of the business" of running Experimental Farms.
3.)  The Federal Dominion Observatory located at 302 Denison Road, Victoria, British Columbia was sold to a provincial government agency through a Privy Council Order-in-Council.
4.)  TOH does not want "irregular shaped parcels of land."
5.)  The Observatory, South Azimuth and Photo Equatorial Building are Classified Heritage Buildings. But properties automatically lose all heritage protection when they are privatized.
6.)  The City of Ottawa is planning to widen roads and pathways including Maple Lane. The South Azimuth will have to be removed or flattened when Maple Lane is widened.
7.)  TOH is planning to expand and that is exactly why the Sir John Carling Building site was chosen, read the National Capital Commission's "Site Review for a new Campus for the Ottawa Hospital."
8.)  The photo zenith transit telescope was removed in 1963.

The photo zenith transit telescope was removed from the Observatory campus.This Archives photo is from 1959 and the Photo Equatorial Building can be seen on the left in the distance.

This relocation of a hospital to the Farm will cause incalculable damage to:
---the integrity of the 1,000 acre National Historic Site of Canada.
---major tourist venues including Dow's Lake, the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site and Commissioners Park.
---the landscape of the Farm; former Ottawa Mayors Jacquelin Holzman and Jim Durrell wrote a letter to the NCC after documenting how many trees will be clear cut; they stopped counting at 500.
---the morale of scientists; the Friends of the Farm; the Ottawa Field Naturalists Society; the hundreds of volunteers who maintain the gardens; work as tour guides and organize events; the volunteers at Heritage Ottawa who spent decades saving the Booth Barn and other endangered heritage buildings.
The losers are:
The people of Canada, who never wanted to see the Farm carved up and given away to a corporate entity; who never wanted to see all the green spaces paved over.