"The Greber Report of 1950."Federal parkways and green spaces in the National Capital are memorials in perpetuity, to Canadians who died fighting in foreign wars. "The Master Plan is dedicated as a National War Memorial (page 11/396). "The Master Plan herein set forth organizes and protects a vast area of urban, rural and wooded territories." (page 7/395.) The National War Memorial encompasses 900 square miles.
"The Policy for Parkways and Driveways" an NCC document published in July of 1984.
"The Official Plan of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton" as approved by the Province of Ontario, November 1983.
"The Official Plan of Land Use of the City of Ottawa" June 1984.
"The National Interest Land Mass" document, Google: 1988-09-15-tb-re-ncc.
"The National Capital Act of 1958" Section 10 (1).
House of Commons Ottawa March 10, 1986. Member of Parliament Barry Turner (Ottawa-Carleton) Progressive Conservative. Mr. Turner: "Mr. Speaker, this is my first experience with an adjournment debate as a follow-up to my question on February 24 to the Acting Minister of Public Works and I intend to get to the heart of an extremely serious concern quite quickly."
"The National Capital Commission will be making a fundamental planning and policy error if it recommends to the Government that the Mile Circle be used to house embassies. The local, regional and indeed national outcry of total opposition to this proposal should in itself be a proper, clear, concise message to the Commission that it is making a serious mistake. The duly-elected representatives of the four levels of Government directly affected are unanimously opposed to the proposal. Those representatives are myself at the federal level, Mr. Gilles Morin, the local alderman, and the Reeve of Rockcliffe Village which borders on the site, Mr. Pat Murray."
"There is no political will for the project, why should there be a bureaucratic administrative one? The Mile Circle land has been held in trust since 1904 by the federal Government as parkland. I cannot believe that today, in 1986, with all of our collective knowledge and experience, that the Commission is actually threatening to destroy these parklands. I cannot accept the arguments that any development will be done in such a way as to maintain open spaces and a parkland setting. That is impossible since thousands of tons of concrete and steel will be sewn together by architects, engineers and construction workers to build embassies on the Mile Circle."
"My professional background is in conservation and tourism development. I know what impact infrastructures can have on parkland. If parks are for people, and I truly believe they are, then you put any and all development outside of them. Thomas Keefer meant for the Mile Circle to be used by people-people of all ages and from all places, not just from the National Capital region."
"...I have received letters from across Canada opposed to this proposal from Canadians who feel that the Commission is compromising one of its fundamental philosophies, namely to conserve many of the natural parkland settings of our great capital. I am very proud of our magnificent city, and I credit the Commission with making it that way."
"The Policy for Parkways and Driveways, published by the NCC as approved in July 1984, the official plan of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton as approved by the Province of Ontario in November, 1983, and the official plan of land use in the City of Ottawa, published in June 1984, all state their commitment to the public open space corridor along the Ottawa River, with the Mile Circle as part of this landscape conservation. These are commitments by three levels of Government. If the federal government places embassy offices on this land, it would be an expression of contempt for the due process of planning."
(The Mile Circle is adjacent to the Sir George-Etienne Cartier Parkway. The NCC and City of Ottawa want to "Put the Park back in the Parkway" and eventually ban motor vehicles from the Sir George-Etienne Cartier, Queen Elizabeth and Sir John A. Macdonald Parkways; the National Capital Commission Scenic Driveway and Gatineau Park highways, etc. Depaving the roads will prevent older and disabled individuals from accessing federal green spaces. That is a form of discrimination. We have just as much right to enjoy parkland as people riding bicycles and walking. savecfbrockcliffe.)
Opposition to the American Embassy location next to Major's Hill Park and the Connaught Building. There were concerns about placing the embassy in a densely populated area and the loss of important views.
No comments:
Post a Comment