Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised $29 million dollars to the Ottawa Hospital.

What the people of Canada are losing:

1.) 50 acres of an Agriculture Canada research farm; a commemorative park and eventually Commissioners Park and the Dominion Observatory.

2.) Designation of the Rideau Canal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

3.) 750 mature trees. 165 fully grown trees were illegally destroyed at Lansdowne Park 10 years ago. And Ottawa City Councillor Diane Deans halted the illegal clearcutting of trees, when a community member phoned her office and the councillor drove out to the site and told the chainsaw crew to leave immediately.

4.) Designation of the Farm as a National Interest Land Mass. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney created the NILM to ensure that Central Experimental Farm land, the Greenbelt, etc. would never again be sold to the City of Ottawa or any other federal/provincial or municipal entity:

The National Interest Land Mass -- "The NILM consists of national shrines, the Confederation Boulevard, the Gatineau Park and the Greenbelt in the National Capital Region...considered essential to the realization of the Vision of the Capital. There are 37 individual parcels of property in this category currently owned by the NCC totalling some 44, 200 ha. in area."

"Land forming part of the NILM will be retained by the NCC in perpetuity for purposes which lie at the core of the NCC's mandate." (Google: 1988-09-tb-re-ncc.)

91 acres of the Experimental Farm were sold to the Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1988.

Hundreds of trees on the CEF were clearcut to create the Central Park subdivision, strip malls and a Walmart.

5.) Canadians are also losing one of the last Agriculture Canada Research Farms in the entire country.

6.) One of the major tourist attractions in Ottawa.

7.) Maple Drive, which will be converted to an ambulance route after the South Azimuth Building is removed.

8.)  Prince of Wales Drive is being widened from two to four lanes and converted to a garbage truck/commercial vehicle route.

9.) The Ottawa Hospital owns the air rights above the parking garages, condominiums and clinical towers. 

Did the National Capital Commission have the authority to transfer the Farm to a municipal or provincial institution? No."The National Interest" by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau: "Under the National Capital Act, the Commission is responsible for protecting and promoting the national interest in the Capital. The objectives and purposes of the Commission are set out in the Act:" To prepare for and assist in the development, conservation and improvement of the National Capital Region in order that the nature and character of the government of Canada may be in accordance with its national significance."

"It has been argued by some that only municipal authorities have the responsibility for promulgating and implementing region-wide planning in the National Capital Region. The Commission holds that this view is unconstitutional."

"The NCC is the agent of the national government of Canada. Its programs are regulated by Parliament. It is responsible twice over to elected federal representatives: the government and Parliament. Parliament votes annual sums of money for development and conservation of the Capital Region. It does not vote this money in the interest of provincial, municipal or private ventures. It allots this money in the national interest to enhance a capital for all Canadians." (From: NCC Annual Report, 1975-1976, page 9/52.)

The Farm is federal property that is owned by all Canadians, not by the Ottawa Hospital Corporation, National Capital Commission, the Government of Ontario, City of Ottawa or municipal councillors. The board members of the NCC are from every province and territory in this country.

 Did the National Capital Commission have the authority to donate the Laurier Avenue Bridge and the Mackenzie King Bridge to the City of Ottawa? Both of the bridges span the Rideau Canal:

Did the NCC have the authority to donate the $4 million dollar Dows Lake parking lot, owned by the citizens of Canada, to a local medical centre? No.

 There is massive opposition to the Ottawa Hospital's relocation to a beloved green space and tourist venue. Little Italy is overwhelmed by current and future high-rise developments. Letters have been written to His Royal Highness Prince Charles, and Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn created a video condemning the takeover of federal property for a medical centre. Prime Minister Joe Clark's Minister of Public Works, Erik Nielsen, wanted to decommission the NCC and transfer control and management of the land to Public Works.