The NCC cannot change the parkways in the National Capital Region. Reposting.

"Federal, scenic parkways and parks in the National Capital Region are dedicated to the memory of Canadian soldiers who died fighting in foreign wars." The Greber Report of 1950, page 228/395.

Report of the Federal District Commission, 1949, page 14/75: "The Federal District Commission is justly famous for its utilization of the scenic beauty of the federal capital area. Wherever possible, parks and driveways are and will be located along the banks of the Rideau and Ottawa rivers, the Rideau Canal and Dow's Lake."

The Ottawa and Hull government roads are protected by the designation National Interest Land Mass. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Minister of Public Works Erik Nielsen created the NILM to prevent Crown property from being used as a land bank by the City of Ottawa.

Proposed National Interest Lands:

• Experimental Farm Dr. Corridor, Queensway to Experimental Farm - 76.0 ha.
• Western Parkway Corridor, Carling Avenue to Queensway - 40.0 ha.
• Alta Vista Corridor, Kitchener Ave to Smyth Road - 69.0 ha.
• Hull South Parkway, Lucerne Blvd to Gatineau Park - 275 ha,
• Part of Philemon Wright Corridor - 103 ha. (Google: 1988-09-15-TB-re-NCC.)

MP Marlene Catterall never wanted the corridors privatized:

House of Commons Ottawa April 22, 1996: MP Marlene Catterall (Ottawa West, Liberal.) "Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to present a petition signed by close to 1,000 people. It arises from a situation that occurred in our nations capital last year when the National Capital Commission was looking at selling off parts of green space and open corridors. The petitioners call to the attention of the House that when Jacques Greber released his plan for the national capital in 1950 it was dedicated, at the direction of the Cabinet, as a national memorial to those who had fought in the wars in the defence of Canada. Therefore, the petitioners call on Parliament to ensure that this commitment and the greenspaces of the capital are maintained as a war memorial and are not disposed of or sold."

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The Airport Parkway is now owned by the City of Ottawa and will be widened from two lanes to four. The airport parkway should not be widened by Hans on the Bike, February of 2023:

From: Hans on the Bike - February of 2023.

Endangered roads.

• Queen Elizabeth Driveway may be de paved
• Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway may be de paved. "...(Does) it make sense to devote a huge portion of the city's prime real estate to a commuter roadway." From an Ottawa Citizen/Don Butler interview with the head of the Crown corporation on February 25, 2014.
• Prince of Wales Drive that runs through the Experimental Farm was transferred to the City of Ottawa. Isabella Preston's crabapple trees were removed to facilitate the widening of the route. 

Scenic highways and corridors in 1988

• Ottawa River Parkway Wellington Street to Carling Avenue - 254 ha.
• Champlain Bridge, Island Park Drive - 15 ha.
• Airport - 120 ha.
• Eastern Parkway Hemlock Rd. to Hwy 417 - 72 ha.
• Eastern Driveway and Rockcliffe Parkway from Sussex Drive to Greenbelt - 255 ha.
• Ottawa River shoreline, proposed Voyageur Parkway - 84 ha.
• Leamy Lake Park and part of the Philemon Wright Corridor - 285 ha. (Google: 1988-09-15-TB-re-NCC.)

 In March of 1996:

• Confederation Boulevard
• Ottawa River
• Rockcliffe
• Aviation
• Airport
• Voyageur
• Colonel By Drive (Google: NCC Annual Report-1995-1996, page 47/111.)

Petition for the NCC to restore access to the Champlain Parkway, Gatineau Parkway and Fortune Lake Parkway in Gatineau Park. "Starting May 1st 2021 the NCC has closed the Champlain Parkway, Gatineau Parkway and Fortune Lake Parkway to motor vehicle access except from 1pm to half an hour after sunset on Wednesday/Saturday and Sunday "

I am standing in front of a roadblock near the Mackenzie King estate in the Gatineau Hills. May of 2022.

Greenbelt land is being sold.

"Located in the south end of Ottawa, Pine Grove is the largest forest in the Greenbelt. It features a mixture of tree plantations and natural forests, and boasts a network of natural trails. Pine Grove is also an important plant and wildlife habitat. It hosts hundreds of species of plants and animals, including many species at risk, such as the snapping turtle (special concern) midland painted turtle (special concern) and wood thrush (threatened.)" (From: Pine Grove Wetland Enhancement Project.) 

Red pine trees can live up to 700 years.

A Heritage Forest "The criteria for the Heritage Forest are:

• A good mixture of native species with emphasis on Red and White Pine.
• The potential to resemble the Heritage forests of the late 1800's. (Greenbelt Master Plan-Heritage Forest, page 155/196, year 2013.)

The Greenbelt (Reposting)

• Pine Grove Forest
• Commissioner's Park near Dow's Lake.
• Agriculture Canada research farms on Carling Avenue and the Greenbelt. endangered.
• Green's Creek Conservation Area
• Hornet's Nest soccer fields.
• Pineview Golf Course
• Mer Bleue Conservation Area. endangered.
• Hylands Golf Club
• The Log Farm
• Bruce Pit
• Conroy Pit. endangered "The Conroy Pit (271 acres) is an abandoned sand pit, with recreational integration and development potential." (NCC Greenbelt Plan Background-1996-pdf page 4.)
• Lime Kiln (Trail)
• Stoney Swamp Conservation Area
• Wesley Clover Park
• The 19th Tee Driving Range
• Airport Land
• Connaught National Army Cadet Training Centre
• Shirley's Bay
• The Southern Farm
• Pinhey Forest

Federal politicians who wanted to save the Greenbelt. Reposting.

• MP David McGuinty
• MP Mauril Belanger
• MP Marcel Proulx
• Environment Minister John Baird
• Environment Minister Jim Prentice
• MP and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre
• MP Beryl Gaffney
• Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor

Vancouver BC August 2023

A dress that Kate Winslet wore in Titanic.

The Civic Hospital is removing research land from the Experimental Farm.

Document: June 13, 2018, Planning Committee Report 64.

The zoning change from Agricultural Research land to General Urban Area permits the construction of housing, retail, cultural, leisure and entertainment venues on 12 acres of the Experimental Farm. Page 22/80.

"(The Farm) is owned and operated by the federal government as an active and operating agricultural research station, containing a complex of laboratories, research fields, offices, greenhouses, an arboretum, public gardens and museums...The Agricultural Research Designation of the CEF is intended to permit farming and associated research uses." Pages 22 and 23 of 80.

Proposed Official Plan Amendment comment: "Do not redesignate the Agricultural Research lands as these form a green connection to the CEF and Dominion Arboretum and (they) are important historic green spaces. (Old Hedge Collection.)" Page 63/80.

The Central Experimental Farm & Heritage comment: "How can this loss of Farmland and research land be justified?" Page 71/80.  

Proposed towers on Carling Avenue and Baseline Road threaten research land on the National Historic Site. As I mentioned before---the NCC wanted 700 acres of the Farm in 1974 for housing. And 91 acres of vacant land at Clyde and Merivale were sold to the City of Ottawa in 1989 for housing.

  Measures that could be enacted---find another location for the Civic Hospital; ban the construction of highrises near the site; do not let the City of Ottawa change the zoning from Agricultural to Mixed Use; and remind the NCC that the entire 1,000 acres are designated a National Interest Land Mass and cannot be sold or subdivided.(Google: 1988-09-15-TB-re-NCC land holdings."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.")

"Bill Gates buying up land, threatening small farms under guise of saving planet, author claims"---Fox News, NY Post.

(Reposting) House of Commons Ottawa April 27, 1977 Right Hon. P.E. Trudeau (Prime Minister) Liberal: "Mr. Speaker, might I take this opportunity to table an exchange of letters between the premiers and myself on the question of foreign ownership of land, in both languages."

House of Commons Ottawa March 24, 1976 MP Don Mazankowski (Vegreville): "Mr. Speaker, may I direct my question to the Prime Minister. It has to do with foreign ownership of land in Canada. Can the Prime Minister advise the House what progress is being made with respect to the establishment of measures to deal with the ownership of land by foreigners in Canada."

House of Commons Ottawa June 19, 1972 MP William Knight (NDP): "...At the national level we need legislation which prevents foreign ownership of land." 

House of Commons Ottawa December 14, 1970 MP Andre-Gilles Fortin (Ralliement Creditiste): "What is the area of land owned by the federal government in each province?"

Hon. Arthur Laing (Minister of Public Works) Liberal: "The area of land owned by the federal government as recorded in the Central Inventory of Federal Properties by province is:

Province and 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 and agencies.) 

NCC Capital Urban Lands Plan-December 17, 2021.

 Agricultural and Horticultural Research Designation "The Central Experimental Farm is a National Historic Site of significant importance to the Capital. The Agricultural and Horticultural Research Designation applies to the Central Experimental Farm's agricultural research plots and the Dominion Arboretum, owned and managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The agricultural research plots and the adjacent arboretum make significant contributions to Canadian knowledge in agriculture and horticultural science. The Central Experimental Farm, established in 1886, provides a unique rural setting in the centre of the urban region. If the research requirements of the Farm or the Arboretum change over time, their valued contribution to the Capital Greenspace should be conserved. 

Two other components of the Central Experimental Farm are identified under separate land designations to reflect their current function. The Canadian Agricultural Museum, a National Cultural Institution is identified under the Cultural Installation and Facility. The Skyline Complex as well as other laboratories and offices located south of Carling Avenue are identified under the "Other Federal Facility" designation."

savecfbrockcliffe- I have a few questions: 1.) Are construction companies and Ottawa City Hall more powerful than Agriculture Canada? Several local politicians approved the construction of towers on Carling Avenue across from the Farm--- and research land and greenhouses will be negatively impacted by shadows. 

2.) Why does the City of Ottawa have the power to remove federal land from Baseline Road, Carling Avenue and the Arboretum for transit projects. 

3.) Why is the government of Canada selling agricultural land to China and Bill Gates---when the government should be teaching children in this country about nutrition, how to grow food and test water. And we should be encouraged to establish our own farms. When I was growing up, every classroom had Canada's Food Guide posters on the walls, and we learned how to cook and sew through classes in home economics. I will never eat "alternate sources of protein" World Economic Forum and World Health Organization. I do not care if the federal government recently signed a treaty with the WHO. More than ever before, my country needs the Canadian Food Inspection Agencies on Carling Avenue and the Greenbelt. 

In the year 1996, 50 of the Farm's 82 buildings were slated for demolition. 

Ideas that were presented to the NCC.

 Turn the Experimental Farm into an urban park by removing the research fields, greenhouses, barns and laboratories.

Concern was expressed that the Farm was covered by three designations.

The CEF could be improved and repurposed.

The Old Ottawa East Community Association provided perspectives on the Parkways Policy Review, indicating that Colonel By Drive and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway are essential routes for residents, as well as a vital part of the community's green and blue landscape. Its recommendations were related to the following:

• Safe crossings
• Safe cycling and walking
• Support for the Fifth Avenue-Clegg Street Canal footbridge
• Landscaping plan for Colonel By Drive
• Enhanced Canal usage From: page 25/49 of the "Capital Urban Lands Plan and Parkways Policy Review", March 1998.
• Shopping opportunities in the core and areas such as Dow's Lake should be diversified with stores that people need. The Dow's Lake area was a park, a children's playground and a Tulip Festival venue.-savecfbrockcliffe.

The Pinhey Sand Dunes should be taken off the map. (The sand dunes are within the Greenbelt and are not subject to this plan.)

It was felt by some respondents that the concept of parkways as an opportunity for a leisurely "Sunday drive" was out of date.

Charge a toll on parkway use.

Limit roadway connections to the parkway network (i.e. entrances and exits to the parkways.)

Ban cars on the parkways.

Some parkways such as the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway should be converted to natural-setting parks.

 (From: "Capital Urban Lands Plan and Parkways Policy Review," March 1998.)

Why the Civic Hospital should not be located on the Experimental Farm.

 Unauthorized uses:

• Any use or works deemed incompatible with the protection of natural habitats.
• Commercial uses---a massive parking garage is currently being constructed and it will generate revenue. Also, the people of Ottawa have not been told why the Carling Towers are being built---are they hotels, residential condos, or living spaces for out-of-town visitors and hospital employees. 
• Public infrastructure-hospital infrastructure is not permitted on land that is adjacent to the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site or part of a National Historic Site. (From: Capital Urban Lands Plan, National Capital Commission, page 57/124- December 17, 2021.) As I mentioned before, the United Nations will remove the designation UNESCO World Heritage Site from the Rideau Canal if the Ottawa Hospital is constructed and if the Chateau Laurier Hotel addition proceeds.

  

  National Historic Sites have buffer zones. Sites include the Parliamentary Precinct, the Experimental Farm and Dominion Observatory.

   

Building a provincial or municipal hospital on the Farm is unconstitutional. "The National Interest" from the 1975-1976 NCC Annual Report: "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. Provincial and municipal authorities have responsibility for local concerns in their respective jurisdictions in the Region. But their responsibilities cannot be construed as representing the national interest. Neither can they be substituted for national concerns or interests. If Parliament had not wanted to see a national character for the Capital, it would not have created a national agency for that purpose."

The National Parks (reposting with new information.)

 

A Fraser Institute document from the 1980's. The National Parks in British Columbia are Yoho, Kootenay, Glacier, Mount Revelstoke, Pacific Rim, Gulf Islands and Gwaii Haanas.

Also, government officials wanted to transfer Stanley Park to the City of Vancouver but Prime Minister Brian Mulroney refused to consider that idea.

House of Commons Ottawa March 15, 1972 The Hon. Martin O'Connell (Minister of Labour) Liberal: "In our government's four years in office our national parks have increased from 18 to 28. There is a 50 per cent increase in the area set aside in perpetuity for national parks. Canada leads all nations in the world in land set aside for future generations."

House of Commons Ottawa February 24, 1970 The Hon. Jack Marshall (Humber-St. Georges-Barbe) Liberal: "National parks are a national domain set aside by the Parliament of Canada for all the people."

House of Commons Ottawa March 19, 1998 Bill C-29, an Act to Amend the National Parks Act: MP Nelson Riis (Kamloops, BC) New Democratic Party) "Members can probably tell that I do not support Bill C-29 at this point. This bill involves a great deal of Canada: 31 national parks, 786 historic sites, a number of historical canal systems (Rideau Canal), 661 sites that are ecologically or environmentally significant, 165 heritage railway stations, 31 heritage river systems and others..."

MP Howard Hilstrom (Selkirk-Interlake) Reform: "Mr. Speaker I am quite interested in the financial aspects of this bill. Is there a possibility of foreign interests getting involved in our parks system?"

MP Nelson Riis: "...Obviously the answer is yes."

Returning the Quebec Bridge to the citizens of Canada.

House of Commons Ottawa March 24, 2010 MP Brian Jean, Conservative: "Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to Motion No. 423, regarding the acquisition of the Quebec Bridge from the CNR. Motion No. 423 "That, in the opinion of the House, the Government should purchase the Pont de Quebec for one dollar and commit to quickly finishing the repair work so as to respect its importance as a historical monument and a vital transportation link for the Quebec City region."

The Quebec Bridge National Historic Site of Canada connects the cities of Levis, Quebec and Quebec City, over the St. Lawrence River.

"The Railrodder" is a 1965 National Film Board of Canada movie starring Buster Keaton.

"The state's estate: Devaluing and revaluing "surplus" public land in Canada" by Heather Whiteside.

The Federal Real Property Act Bill C-3

House of Commons Ottawa November 22, 1991 MP Dennis Mills (Broadview-Greenwood) "...In one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible there will be no Crown land assets left...."

House of Commons Ottawa October 7, 1991 (work in progress)

Gone: Fisheries and Oceans Canada privatized 1,000 federal lighthouses a few years ago including Peggy's Cove.

I am in front of the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. I was visiting a relative in Halifax.

The Rideau Canal Promenade

The Rideau Canal Promenade includes the Ottawa Locks, the Shaw Centre, Pretoria Bridge, Lansdowne Park, Dow's Lake, the Experimental Farm and Hartwells Lockstation. Promenade-verb-to take a leisurely public walk, ride or drive.

The UNESCO logo is on the Rideau Canal Promenade sign. Land, buildings and waterways that are protected by the United Nations have buffer zones.