Properties in Canada that are protected by UNESCO.

1.)  The town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
2.)  Historic District of Old Quebec- that includes the Plains of Abraham, the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, La Citadelle de Quebec and the Louis St-Laurent Building, Old Post Office.
3.)  The Rideau Canal National Historic Site.
4.)  Dinosaur Provincial Park - currently the focus of an agenda to sell-off Alberta landscapes.
5.)  Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.
6.)  Gros Morne National Park.
7.)  Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.
8.)  Joggins Fossil Cliffs.
9.)  Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatschenshini-Alsek.
10.) Landscape of Grand Pre.
11.) L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.
12.) Migausha National Park.
13.) NahinninNational Park.
14.) Red Bay Basque Whaling Station.
15.) SGang Gwaay.
6.)  Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Alberta:

The Waterton International Peace Park during the year 1990. My Mother is on the right, I an pictured on the left.

In my opinion, the following sites are in dire need of protection from redevelopment and demolition.
1.)  Wellington Street buildings across from Parliament Hill. The government of Canada has launched an international design competition to modernize the Parliamentary Precinct. The I.M. Pei Company and an architectural firm from Spain have already signed onto the project.

The I.M. Pei Company from New York City designed the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France.

2.)  The Kingston Penitentiary, Prison for Women, Church of the Good Thief, Rockwood Asylum, Penitentiary Farm House, Corrections Canada Museum, Portsmouth Halfway House, Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House and the limestone tunnel that connects the Pen/the Big House and P4W. They are all located in the village of Portsmouth in Kingston, Ontario.

3.)  All of the buildings in the northern half of the Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa.
4.)  The 1,000 government lighthouses that were abandoned by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
5.)  Sussex Drive, "Ottawa's Mile of History" - the following buildings are on a list of properties that the government of Canada plans to divest:
Connaught or Revenue Canada Building
Lester B. Pearson Building/ External Affairs.
Former Ottawa City Hall. John G. Diefenbaker Building.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney stopped the demolition of the Royal Canadian Mint. The PM was driving by the Mint when he noticed that workers were dismantling it. He told the driver to stop the car, told the workers to go home and made phone calls to find out what was going on. The article is by Susan Delacourt.

My collection of Ray Munro photos and a letter.

I inherited the archives, except for the Marilyn Monroe photograph:

Ray Munro and Marilyn Monroe leaving a press conference at a Vancouver hotel. Ray Munro was a pilot during the filming of a Robert Mitchum/Marilyn Monroe movie "River of No Return."

           
                 
                               

Nova Scotia park land will be owned by ordinary people forever.

The Nova Scotia Provincial Parks Act.
Section 2 (2):
"All provincial parks are dedicated in perpetuity for the benefit of present and future generations of Nova Scotians."

"Ottawa may sell off billions in real estate." CBC News, September 21, 2004.

     ---350 buildings were on the list, the entire Public Works and Government Services portfolio.
       ---Included on the 2004 list:
1.) National Library and Archives, Wellington.
2.) The entire northern half of the Sparks Street Mall.
3.)  National Film Board, 3155 Cote-de-Liesse Road and 120 Houde Street, Montreal.
4.)  The East Memorial Veteran's Affairs Complex,Wellington and Lyon, Ottawa.
The PWGSC Minister made a promise that the Parliament Buildings, Library of Parliament and Supreme Court would not be sold.

---A 1954 Privy Council document approved by Prime Minister of Canada Louis St-Laurent declared that the Experimental Farm was untouchable;
---Letters were sent to H.R.H. Prince Charles and to UNESCO to try to try to stop the transaction. UNESCO sent a warning letter to Parks Canada because the project will have a negative impact on the Rideau Canal.
---The concerns of neighbourhood groups were ignored--- the Little Italy and Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Associations.
---Agriculture Ministers Bud Olson, Eugene Whelan and Gerry Ritz refused to sell or give away even one acre of the site.
---The Farm is a National Historic Site of Canada and a National Interest Land Mass.
---Agriculture Canada employees wanted to transform the Cafeteria Annex into a museum and visitors centre, but the hospital is demolishing the building. AAFC employees were also forced to dig up an historic shrub collection near the DARA Tennis Club, and the hospital evicted the tennis club.

In perpetuity meaning forever.

1.) Harbourfront on the Toronto, Ontario waterfront. The Crown corporation was created in 1976 and originally encompassed 247 acres of land. The federal government paid millions to clean up industrial land. A 99-year lease agreement was signed between the government of Canada and the City of Toronto and the lease is perpetual.
2.)  Central Experimental Farm, Carling Avenue, Ottawa - the government of Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent signed a March 19, 1954 Privy Council document declaring that the CEF would be "an open space in perpetuity."
3.)  The government of Sir John A. Macdonald gave the Canadian Pacific Railway $25 million dollars and 25 million acres of land on the condition that any land not needed by the CPR would revert to the Crown.
4.)  During the year 1932 "very substantial areas of land in the Turtle Mountain region were set aside" forever by the American and Canadian governments for an International Peace Garden. The garden encompasses Manitoba and North Dakota border land.

The National Parks
1.) Rouge National Urban Park-'These lands will be protected forever. Once under the care of Parks Canada, park lands will be protected in perpetuity for countless generations of Canadians to enjoy.''
The Provincial Parks

Buildings on Wellington Street Ottawa and the north side of the Mall on Sparks Street. How will Senate Bill S-203 impact the future of these federal properties?
Will Commissioner's Park on Carling always be public? The King and Queen of the Netherlands did not visit the park on their last visit to Ottawa. The people of Canada own or they did own Mile Circle, Gatineau Park and the Major's Hill land that was sold to the American Embassy. You are a gatekeeper/ a protector of Crown land, National Capital Commission.
Will the NCC remove the National Interest Land Mass designation from the Greenbelt, Greenbelt Research Farm, etc.

How to animate the Sparks Street Mall without demolishing or selling off buildings.

1. Create museums in the empty buildings, that will be dedicated to showcasing the history of:
The CBC.
Ottawa musicians - Wayne Rostad, the Family Brown, Bruce Cockburn, Alanis, Bryan Adams.
Historical ballads - "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" by Gordon Lightfoot.
Portraits by Karsh.
Terry Fox
Shania Twain
(work in progress)

Create restaurants that serve exclusively Canadian food.
Reopen the Tourist Information Centre
The CTV Network has archival documents and images from CJOH-TV---Peter Jennings interviewing Mahalia Jackson; Kreskin the Magician; the Galloping Gourmet.
I will donate all of my photos of Princess Diana; Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; foreign dignitaries visiting Parliament Hill; my Ray Munro collection; a tune created by my sister called "A Song for Terry Fox".
In front of the storefronts establish a National Walk of Fame. Encourage musicians, writers, actors, etc. to lend their awards, documents, copies of photographs, etc. to the museums.
The National Film Board probably has hundreds of never-before-seen vignettes and documentaries.
A museum could be devoted to famous animals, either fictional or real, including Winnie the Pooh from White River, Ontario; the groundhog Wiarton Willie; Jack London's dog Buck and wolf-dog White Fang and London from the TV show "The Littlest Hobo."

A plaque that honours Lotta Hitcschmanova at 56 Sparks Street.

Documents pertaining to the redevelopment of Wellington Street and the Sparks Street Mall.

1987

                             

"Possible expropriation of certain buildings facing Parliament Hill". March 24, 1971.

     There are several reasons why this topic is important today, on March 26, 2020:
1.)  The government of Canada expropriated buildings across the street from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Wellington Street and the northern part of the Sparks Street Mall. For two reasons:
  to expand the Parliamentary Precinct and to save the heritage buildings. 
2.)  The National Capital Commission and Public Works are planning to redevelop Wellington and the Mall. There will be zoning changes, demolitions, infill projects, underground parking, office and residential towers and facadism (meaning that only the shell of a structure is retained.) Once a federal building is privatized it loses all heritage protection.
3.) The National Capital Commission, Public Works and the Ottawa politician for Somerset Ward want to "animate" the Mall by permitting the construction of high rise condominiums. I can think of many ways that the area can be transformed into a prime tourist attraction.

4.)  An international competition has been launched to find architects who can redesign and modernize the Parliamentary Precinct. This is the most important landscape in Canada, near the sacred Confederation Square, the Eternal Flame and Rideau Canal. I am sorry, this is a terrible idea, to let architects from a foreign country alter the Parliamentary Precinct-----
as a descendant of United Empire Loyalists who helped to create this country;
as a relative of Canadians who fought in World War 1 and World War 11;
as a former civil servant who was employed in Union Station/the Conference Centre;
as the daughter of a speechwriter for Members of Parliament...
I cannot fathom the possibility of any architects demolishing or altering Canada's built history.I do not want to see their design charettes or portfolios or awards.
This property belongs to all Canadians, and we are not going to sit back and let anyone remove Maple Leaf Flags and the names of prominent people from monuments that stood for over 100 years. This is not Expo or the Toronto waterfront...this is my country's seat of government.
5.)  Senator Serge Joyal created Senate Bill S-203 in November of 2019, to protect all of the buildings along Wellington Street including the Supreme Court and Library and Archives.
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House of Commons Debates, Ottawa        March 24, 1971.
Right Hon. J.G. Diefenbaker (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan)
     "Mr. Speaker, my question to the Prime Minister concerns reports to the effect that the government of Canada is giving consideration to the expropriation of blocks in uptown Ottawa with a view to assuring the maintenance of the majesty and grandeur of the Parliament Buildings and Parliament Hill. Is the Prime Minister in a position to state whether this direction is being considered?"

Right Hon. P.E. Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada.)
     "Mr. Speaker, it is not yet under consideration at cabinet level, but instruction has been given to the minister responsible to come forth with a plan for the future location of Members of Parliament and parliamentary offices on premises which are not now the property of the government of Canada."

Government buildings on the Sparks Street Mall in Ottawa:

Bank of Nova Scotia - 125 Sparks.
Bate Building - 109-111 "       "    .
Birks "         " -  107  Sparks.
Blackburn   " -    85   "       ".
Booth          " -  165   "       ".
Brouse        " -  181-183 Sparks.
Canada's Four Corners - 93     ".
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce - 119 Sparks.
Dover "  "   -   185-187 Sparks.
Hope  "  "   -     61-63   "        ".
Postal Station B - 47-59 "      ".
Saxe  Building  -      75          ".
Slater "          "  -  177-179     ".

 

The Saxe, located at 75 Sparks Street.

Movies and tv shows filmed at National Historic Sites.

Experimental Farm, Ottawa - The Perfect Assistant.

Chris Potter and Josie Davis.

Rideau Canal, Ottawa - Undercover Angel.

Dean Winter and Yasmine Bleeth. The premiere of the film was held at the Coliseum theatre on Carling Avenue, close to where I live.

Chateau Laurier Hotel - Little Gloria, Happy at Last.
Banff National Park, Alberta - River of No Return starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. (1953).
Son of Lassie -starring Peter Lawford and Pal.(1945.)
Saint Vincent-de-Paul Penitentiary, Laval, Quebec - Death Race.
Kingston Pen - Alias Grace.

Current threats to the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Recent developments prompted UNESCO to send a caution letter to Parks Canada:

• Various Federal Infrastructure Program projects along the length of the Rideau Canal World Heritage property;
• Rideau Canal Crossing pedestrian bridge (Ottawa);
• Chateau Laurier proposed expansion (Ottawa);
• Highway 417 bridge rehabilitation (Ottawa);
• Third Bridge Crossing (Kingston);
• Rideau Marina (Kingston); the marina was sold to a company that wants to build a 7-storey apartment building.
• Former Davis Tannery Brownfield Site Redevelopment (Kingston)'
• New Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (Ottawa);

(Google: Rideau Corridor Landscape Strategy.)

The government of Canada wanted to demolish the Rideau Canal.

Canada Heritage Foundation - Measure to Establish Foundation   Ottawa  May 26, 1970.
Edmund Boyd Osler (Winnipeg South Centre) Liberal
Mr. Osler:
     "I have had the pleasure of boating on the Rideau Canal. All one has to do is spend an afternoon reading the historical background on the life of Colonel By, look at some of the stones on the banks of the canal and at some of the wooden gates to understand the wonderful craftsmanship, engineering skill and workmanship which went into this project. What a crime it would have been had all of this been allowed to go.It was nearly let go...I gather it was only a few years ago that the federal government decided it was worth preserving."
I hope that Parks Canada will not go ahead with their plan to privatize the infrastructure in Canada's National Parks. The Rideau Canal is a Parks Canada National Historic Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And all of the Rideau Canal locks and lock stations are classified as infrastructure.
Do not let the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa Hospital or the town of Smiths Falls construct buildings that  interfere with sight lines of the National Historic Site. 

"A wise nation preserves its records, gathers up its monuments, decorates the tombs of its illustrious dead, repairs its greatest public structures and fosters national pride and love of country, by perpetual reference to the sacrifices and glories of the past." Joseph Howe, a Nova Scotia journalist, politician, public servant and poet.

Parks Canada 2012 Rideau Corridor Landscape Character Assessment and planning and Management Final Report
1.)  Understand and respect the local landscape character.
2.)  Conserve historic buildings and cultural heritage features.

The town of Merrickville and Rideau Canal locks.

3.)  Conserve, protect and enhance wetlands.
4.)  Maintain and retain natural shoreline.
5.)  Locate development back from shoreline.
6.)  Work with the landscape, not against it.
7.)  Design buildings to complement the site.
8.)  Design residential docks and boathouses for low impact.
9.)  Protect the water quality.
10.)Prevent hazards and property damage.

The Bytown Museum. The photo is from ottawatourism.ca.

Government owned real estate during the year 1970.

House of Commons Debates, Ottawa     December 14, 1970.
Mr. Fortin, Ralliement Creditiste
     1.)  What is the area of land owned by the federal government in each province?
     2.)  Is there a complete and perpetual inventory of federally owned properties?
     3.)  What actions have been taken since the Glassco Report to improve the management of real property?

Hon. Arthur Laing (Minister of Public Works.) Liberal.
     1.)  The area of land owned by the federal government in the Central Inventory of Federal Properties, by province, is:
Province Number of Acres
Newfoundland                  96, 041
Prince Edward Island         1, 353
Nova Scotia                      22, 514
New Brunswick              318, 532
Quebec                           280, 485
Ontario                           268, 283
Manitoba                          51, 707
Saskatchewan                  77, 445
Alberta                          101, 751
British Columbia           164, 158
Yukon Territories            21, 125
Northwest Territories      90, 193 (includes only property that is being utilized by federal departments or agencies.)

     2.)  There is a perpetual inventory of federally owned lands.   3.)  Several of the recommendations made by the Glassco Report to improve real property management have been acted upon...

My 1979 visit to Greece.

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens. 

The Temple of Sounion.

The sale of all federal real estate in Canada.

     "It concerns me that in one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible that there will be no Crown land assets left." Mr. Dennis Mills,( Broadview-Greenwood, Toronto) Liberal - November 22, 1991. Regarding changes to the Federal Real Property Act.

House of Commons Debates, Ottawa      November 22, 1991.
 Mr. Dennis Mills (Broadview-Greenwood):
      "Madam Speaker, when I got up this morning and headed to the House I actually had no intention of speaking. Then in my office I read part of Bill C-3, an act respecting the acquisition, administration and disposition of real property by the Government of Canada...as I started to reflect on what is really going on in this bill I became concerned. There is another aspect of this bill which disturbs me immensely. It concerns me that in one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible that there will be no Crown land assets left...I think of Toronto, my own city, of Toronto, and the way this government has disposed of Harbourfront land...and of the disposition of the CBC lands. This is a bill that is going to make the developers of every region and every city of Canada ecstatic...We could find that we sold off a piece of land and then 10 years from now we may say "Why did we do that? We could have used that for parkland. We could have used it for public housing."
 In my opinion, the Government of Canada should buy the 20 provincial parks that the Province of Alberta no longer wants...that includes the UNESCO protected Dinosaur Provincial Park. 

---multinational resource companies will descend upon Alberta and cut down thousands of trees,siphon away the water which is known as blue gold; extract the minerals and oil and gas; build housing subdivisions for thousands of workers; put up "NO TRESPASSING" and "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs and chain link fences and shoot any wild animals that dare to trespass on their own habitat.  The dinosaur bones will be scattered to the winds or dump trucks will haul them away to a museum, perhaps the Drumheller Museum.
I visited Peace River, Grande Prairie and several other Alberta cities not long ago. Sometimes an hour would go by, and I would not see another car on the road.

I am in front of the World's Largest Honeybee located in the village of Falher, Northern Alberta.

Friendly extraterrestrials in the middle of nowhere, Northern Alberta.

Harbourfront was a government of Canada Crown corporation created in 1972 . The Trudeau government expropriated 100 acres of waterfront land in Toronto, Ontario, in order to clean up industrial land and return it to the citizens of Toronto, as parkland and a cultural and artistic mecca. Eventually Harbourfront land holdings were reduced from 100 acres to ten acres.
 As I have said before on this blog, I lived in Parkdale during the year 1978, and the waterfront was beautiful. There were thousands of trees, sandy beaches that were staffed by lifeguards; picnic tables and hibachis; nature and bicycle trails, and I saw people riding horses. Nearby there were chip wagons, hot dog and hamburger stands and venues to buy ice cream and popsicles.
I could hear children laughing as they played on the playgrounds; the wind whistling through the trees; birds and chipmunks; and dogs barking as they ran after Frisbees.
It was a paradise, an oasis.

The 100-acre Harbourfront during the 1970's.

  

   

Enlightening YouTube videos.

1.)  David Icke.
2.)   Project Camelot by Kerry Cassidy.
3.)   H.A. Goodman.
4.)   Crowdsource the Truth - Jason Goodman - especially the videos "Ghost town NYC-Columbus Circle subway station virtually empty" and "I am a Coronavirus Legend - Walking the Streets of NYC in the Wake of the Pandemic."
5.)   Ole Dammegard.
6.)   George Noory, Coast to Coast AM. Paranormal topics.

The never-ending sale of public property.

--We have already lost 2 veterans hospitals: the Rideau Veteran's Home on 363 Smyth Road, and Wallis House, 589 Rideau Street.
--the Lees Avenue armoury and the 933 Gladstone armoury.
--The Energy, Mines and Resources Complex on Booth.
--Dow's Lake parking lot on Preston and Prince of Wales.
--the 88-acre Moffat Farm that Mayor Chiarelli and 17 councillors wanted the City of Ottawa to buy, for a city park.
--the Daly Building.
--the 806-acre CFB Rockcliffe, where my Dad was stationed during the early 1950's.

The airman who is second from the left is my Dad. National Archives photo.

--CBOT-CBOFT station - 250 Lanark.

The Fraser Institute wants to see the devolution of National Parks in British Columbia to the province of BC.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario on October 28, 1991,

Troubled waters in Kingston, Ontario.

The province of Ontario gave the Olympic Yachting Centre and surrounding land to the City of Kingston after the 1976 Olympic Games. "Since the facility would later remain available to the  public, the government of Ontario provided funds for the purchase of the land, and the federal government shared the cost of the installation." (From: Montreal Olympics Official Report 1976 - Volume Two - Page 215/238.)
The federal and provincial governments would never have built a $6 million dollar venue and donated land, if they had known that high-rise condos would eventually dominate the site. (Montreal Olympics Official Report 1976 - Volume One - Page 85/275.)
A petition has already been launched to protest the devolution of public land to private enterprise:
Save the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Greenspace and Character.
     "The park land owned by the city should not be sold for condo/residential building development. WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE UP THIS GREAT WATERFRONT PARK TO DEVELOPMENT."
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Exploration 1 - From The Kingstonian. The park is on the left and the Penitentiary is on the right.

Exploration 1 - Tall buildings (+/- 18 storeys) on west side of marina; Portsmouth Olympic Harbour building is removed and rebuilt on north west side of harbour; marina remains on west side of harbour; park/parking along north end of marina; townhouses along east and west edges of former Penitentiary; signature tall buildings at the south side of the former Penitentiary site.
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HOWEVER:
Corrections Canada prohibited the construction of any buildings along the following edges of the  Pen:

All of the property within the red lines will remain public.

Correctional Service of Canada - Kingston Harbourfront Property - Environmental Assessment Result.
     Update - After the environmental site assessment and risk assessment were completed, clean up options were presented to CSC. The option chosen was to excavate and replace the impacted soil so that the land would be revitalized and restored to green space. The re mediated area will no longer be leased for boat slips or long-term boat storage, so the refreshed space will be open for the public to have access to and enjoy!  2015-16-29.

My sister wrote a song called "There's no such thing as coincidence."

Rachel Lipsky performed the song when she was an opening act for the "John Corbett Band", at the Coach House, San Luis Capistrano, California. To view on YouTube, Google: "U-Report: Rachel Lipsky performs-2009-01-29." Nancy and Rachel mailed a copy of "There's no such thing as coincidence" to George Noory of Coast to Coast AM and it was part of a broadcast.

John Corbett and Rachel.

My sister is on the right, Nashville, Tennessee.

An update - politicians who opposed the privatization of Canadian government property.

An Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
Prime Minister of Canada Louis St. Laurent - Privy Council Cabinet Conclusions-March 19, 1954.
 Member of Parliament Marlene Catterall.
 City politician Clive Doucet.
 City politician Katherine Hobbs.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Agriculture Minister Bud Olson.
Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan.
Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa, Ontario.
Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.

Lebreton Flats, Ottawa.
Former Member of Parliament John Baird.
Former MP John Manley.
The Greenbelt that surrounds the Capital.
Hull-Aylmer Member of Parliament Marcel Proulx.
Ottawa MP John Baird.
Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice.
100 acres of railway land on the Toronto, Ontario waterfront.
Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau who created a Crown corporation called Harbourfront.

Downsview, Toronto, Ontario.
Municipal politician Maria Augimeri.

CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia.
Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay.
Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor.
Member of Parliament Bill Casey.
MP Peter Stoffer.

The Senneville Veteran's Lodge, Senneville, Quebec.
Former Senneville mayor Jane Guest.

The Upton Experimental Farm in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Charlottetown mayor Clifford Lee.
Member of Parliament Shawn Murphy.
Prince Edward Island Premier Pat Binns.
PEI Premier Robert Ghiz.

The Ravenwood Experimental Farm in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. 
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. The farm is still operating.

CN Rail.
Former MP Bill Blaikie from Manitoba: Who said in the House of Commons when the railway was privatized "This is a sad day for Canada."

Kingston Penitentiary.
Local politician Bridget Doherty: "I believe it is our responsibility to preserve historic sites for future generations and ensure there are physical reminders from all aspects of the lives that came before us." (November 2018 interview.)
Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands Ted Hsu.
Sydenham politician Bill Glover.

The proposed sale of $8 billion dollars worth of roads, nature trails, bridges, culverts, dams, etc. in our National Parks.

 Government buildings worth billions of dollars:
MP Mark Holland - (Ajax-Pickering, Ontario.) Liberal.
MP Diane Bourgeois - (Terrebonne-Blainville, Quebec.) BQ. "You sold the seven most beautiful buildings."
MP Charlie Angus - (Timmins-James Bay, Ontario.) NDP.
(Google: Evidence OGGO (39-2) Number 7, House of Commons-December 10,2007, 39th Parliament.)
MP Peggy Nash - (Parkdale-High Park, Toronto.)

Toronto, Ontario City Councillor Jack Layton.
Federal Minister of Public Works and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Erik Nielsen.
The Royal Canadian Mint, Sussex Drive:
Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney was driving by the Royal Canadian Mint when he noticed that workers were demolishing the building. The prime minister told the driver to stop the car, told the workers to go home, and then phoned the Minister to find out what was going on. The news article is by Susan Delacourt.

Moffat Farm.
On April 10, 2002 the City of Ottawa offered to buy the Moffat Farm from the National Capital Commission, so that the 88-acre park could remain an open space in perpetuity. The proposal by Mayor Chiarelli and 17 councillors was rejected.

Expo 67, Montreal.
Mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau wanted to see all of the pavilions and La Ronde preserved.

Public Works Canada was the country's largest realtor in 1980.

The Harry Hays Federal Building was privatized during the year 2007. (National Archives document.)

Controversies.

1.)  Giving the Walt Disney corporation the right to market the RCMP image.
2.)  Canada Post issuing a Winnie the Pooh stamp that included an image of Disney World. It is analogous to placing Smokey the Bear in Banff National Park. A statue and plaque in the London, England zoo honour the little black bear from White River, Ontario.

Save the Kingston Pen and Prison for Women.

A postcard that I purchased from the Corrections Canada Museum, across the street from The Big House.

Recent News

The television programs "Murdoch Mysteries", "Titans" and "Star Trek: Discovery" were recently filmed in the Pen and a Danielle Aykroyd video entitled "Small Minds by Vera Sola."

Individuals and organizations trying to save Kingston, Ontario's architectural history:
Friends Of Kingston Penitentiary.
Frontenac Heritage Foundation
Coalition of Kingston Communities
Kingston Municipal Heritage Committee

Chris Ball, a municipal candidate in the Portsmouth District, told a local reporter:
"The biggest thing that everyone's mentioned when I'm at their door is change, between all the redevelopment that has been happening in Portsmouth District: the Kingston Pen, the Provincial campus and the Prison for Women. There's a big concern about the changing character of neighbourhoods." (To see the YouTube video Google "Kingston Municipal Election Candidates: Portsmouth Village" by Elliot Ferguson, Whig Standard.)

Bill Glover, a city councillor for Sydenham District:
"It's not inconceivable that they could level the entire site." ("Group tries to get Kingston Penitentiary heritage status" by Peter Hendra, Toronto Sun, September 2012.)

The Taylor Hazell Architects Report recommends that the entire KP site be given heritage designation.

Politicians Ted Hsu, Mark Garretsen and Bridget Doherty want to preserve the city's heritage.
Petitions
ipetition - Don't Erase History, Protect the Kingston Penitentiary.
#ygk Challenge - Save Kingston Penitentiary and the Regional Treatment Centre.

Floyd Patterson, President of the Frontenac Heritage Foundation:
"The federal government has the power to demolish them. (All of the Penitentiary Buildings.) However we have concluded that would be absolutely atrocious, grievous, scandalous." ("Group tries to get Kingston Penitentiary heritage status" by Peter Hendra, Toronto Sun, September 2012.)
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The Kingston Penitentiary proposal- "The proposal...recommends preserving roughly half of the existing federally owned penitentiary grounds as is, for tourism and heritage purposes. The other half of the grounds-mostly closer to the waterfront-could be re purposed for commercial or residential development, including towers as high as 25 storeys." (Sailing Centre, waterfront park touted for Kingston Penitentiary redevelopment" by Trevor Pritchard, CBC Radio, All in a Day, 2017.) Three of the four perimeter walls surrounding the site will be demolished and the guard towers will be preserved if possible.
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YouTube videos 
Music from The Big House - Rita Chiarelli.
He's 38 years old and never kissed a girl - Tragically Hip.
I've come to get My Baby Out of Jail - The Rattlesnake Choir/ Handsome Ned.

 The Stompin' Tom Connors video "Don Valley Jail"---

Lyrics---I said goodbye to Nova Scotia, travelled to Ontario

There I chose the wrong companions,

And we tried to rob the mail

And now I'm in Toronto city

In the old Don Valley Jail.

We become our own wolves - an animated video by Rae Spoon. Words and art by women prisoners are located at the Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, across the street from the Pen and P4W.
Time Off for Good Behavior by Neil Young
     "My brother went to prison
      He's in Kingston doin' time
      He got seven years for sellin'
      What I've been smokin' all my life."
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Local historian Jennifer McKendry stated that ten buildings at the Pen are slated for demolition. ("Concern raised regarding the Penitentiary planning process" by the Coalition of Kingston Communities.) Books by Dr. Jennifer McKendry:

                                                                                                                       

Reversion of CN Rail and CP Rail property to the Crown, the people of Canada.

Recent sale of CN Rail properties in Calgary, Alberta and Montreal, Quebec. The land should have been returned to Canadians.
"On April 6, 2018, the Company completed the sale of land located in Calgary, Alberta excluding the rail facilities for cash proceeds of $39 million dollars. On April 9, 2018, the Company completed the transfer of its capital lease in the passenger rail facilities in Montreal together with its related agreements, for cash proceeds of $115 million dollars. On September 5, 2018 the Company completed the sale of property located in Montreal, Quebec for cash proceeds of $40 million dollars." (2018 Annual Information Form.)

The Crown corporation Via Rail has to pay CP and CN to use railway tracks and Via does not have priority use of the tracks:
House of Commons Debates, Ottawa       October 20, 1981.
Mr. Corbett, Progressive Conservative
"   At their own discretion, CN and CP bill Via for the use of its rail lines at exorbitant profit. Sixty three percent of all Via Rail expenses are paid for rail line usage alone...If Via is to operate efficiently, it must have some sort of fixed contract with CN and CP than to be subject to the greed of these two mega corporations."

The July 22, 1993 Privy Council Order-in-Council that transferred a billion dollars worth of Canadian Government Railways property to the CNR for $1 dollar, two years before the Crown corporation was privatized:
PC Number 1993-1603    Date: 1993-07-22.
Precis  "Authority to enter into an agreement with CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY and to dispose of all rights, title and interest in the Canadian Government Railways land to the Canadian National Railway Company and termination of of the management and lands entrusted to the CNR." As far back as 1992 discussions were underway to sell off the Crown corporation: "In 1992, a new management team led by ex-federal government bureaucrats started preparing CN for privatization by emphasizing increased production." (Wikipedia.)

                                                               

Reversionary Interest Law and Legal Definition.
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1984 Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Section 6.90.

House of Commons Debates,  Ottawa.     November 18, 1977
Mrs. Simma Holt (Vancouver-Kingsway) Liberal
     "I strongly support this motion which would lead the government to amend section 88 of the Railway Act, causing the railway rights-of-way, originally obtained through subsidies, to revert to the Crown when they are no longer in use as a railway and for railway purposes. I would go further than the hon. member and suggest, when they use the land actively for other purposes, that they also revert to the Crown...I would like to go back to the CPR agreement. The CPR was to provide passenger service to this country in perpetuity."
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The term "in perpetuity" means nothing in this country. The Farm in Ottawa was supposed to be an open space in perpetuity:

Privy Council document pertaining to Canada's Farm, March 19, 1954.

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A 1976 movie called "Silver Streak" was filmed in southern Alberta and Union Station, Toronto, Ontario.