Bill S-203 will prevent the clear cutting of properties opposite Parliament Hill.

PWGSC is planning to change the character of the Parliamentary Precinct south of Wellington.
Senate Bill S-203, created in the year 2019, will save the properties opposite Parliament Hill.
The federal government expropriated all land and buildings between Wellington, Elgin, Sparks and Bank Street in the year 1973 in order to preserve the architectural history of the site and to provide office space and committee rooms for government departments and agencies.
The properties listed below are part of the Sparks Street Heritage Conservation District, and they have been designated as historic buildings by Parks Canada.
Blackburn Building - 85 Sparks. Recognized Federal Heritage Building.
Bate - 109-111 Sparks. Recognized    " 
Dover - 185-187 Sparks. Recognized " 
Slater - 177-179 Sparks.  Recognized " 
Brouse - 181-183 Sparks.Recognized " 
Postal Station B - 47-59 Sparks. Classified " 
Hope - 61- 63 Sparks. Recognized "     
Bank of Nova Scotia - 125 Sparks. Classified " 
Birks - 107 Sparks. Recognized "    "    "
Canada's Four Corners - 93 Sparks. Recognized "   
Saxe - 75 Sparks
Scottish-Ontario Chamber - 42-50 Sparks. Recognized "
The President's Report      Heritage Ottawa-Carolyn Quinn    Spring 2000
"The NCC recently unveiled Phase 11 of its planning initiative for "The Core Area of Canada's Capital..." It is the Sparks Street area initiative that raises immediate concerns..The clear-cutting of the south side of the block of Sparks Street between Metcalfe and O'Connor makes a mockery of the NCC's claim that the core will be "a model of urban ecology through the protection of the built and natural environment". Both the demolition and relocation of heritage buildings and the creation of a public square ignores the historic significance of Sparks Street, an important cultural landscape.

The only building on the block in question that the NCC seems to be prepared to acknowledge as having heritage significance is the Hardy Arcade (which has been recognized by the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO), a modest but rare example in Canada of both Art Deco architecture and a shopping arcade. This attitude ignores the municipal heritage evaluation of the block that gives all building category 1 rating, the highest rating of heritage significance, with the exception of 148 Sparks that has a category 2 rating.
Some of the buildings under threat of demolition date back to the 1870's...The former Bowles Lunch built in 1913 at 134 Sparks Street, remains unique in Ottawa. The NCC has been given $40 million dollars to purchase properties; $9.2 million has already been spent to buy 100 Sparks Street with a market value at the time of purchase at $2.7 million. The eagerness to progress with the "conceptual" plan becomes only too evident.

Interestingly, the final report of the Central Area West Heritage Conservation District Study, commissioned by the City of Ottawa, that deals with the identification, protection and management of heritage resources in the Central Area of Ottawa makes important recommendations that address the need to balance the civic realm and the capital realm more effectively. The report made three key recommendations: firstly, that Sparks Street, south of Wellington and north of Queen between Bank and Elgin, be designated a Heritage Conservation District.

Secondly, that Bank Street between Gloucester and Albert be designated a Heritage Conservation District; and thirdly, that the full length of Sparks Street, including Elgin from Sparks to Lisgar and extending east to the Rideau Canal be designated a National Historic District.
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Heritage Conservation District
National Historic District
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List of properties designated under Part 1V of the Ontario Heritage Act
within the proposed Sparks Street Heritage Conservation District.

50 Wellington (Langevin Block) By-law 354-78.
32-36 Elgin Street (former Bell Block) By-law 155-87.
38-54 Elgin Street (Central Chambers) By-law 87-78
42-50 Sparks Street (former Scottish-Ontario Chambers) By-law 198-87.
125 Sparks Street (former Bank of Nova Scotia) By-law 88-92.
156-158 Sparks Street (former Poulin Dry Goods) By-law 300-80.
(from: Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee-Agenda 6, May 2, 2000.)
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