Ottawa's living museum.

A July 20, 1946 article from the Ottawa Journal.

The land has been impacted by Light Rail Transit, zoning changes, the widening of Prince of Wales Drive and the possibility of a mega-hospital using the landscape for parking, 

The Arboretum, Ornamental Gardens, Fletcher Wildlife Garden, Historic Hedge Collection, the buildings including the Dominion Observatory, barns, museums, greenhouses and roads are already protected by the following Federal Government designations:

 National Historic Site of Canada

 National Interest Land Mass - includes the Experimental Farms on 960 Carling and 1740 Woodroffe.

"The Arboretum near Dow's Lake covers an area of approximately 14.3 hectares (35.33 acres). The area is part of the Greenway System Corridor and includes several woodland area, two watercourses referred to as Rideau Canal Tributaries, a wetland near the Canal, and several gardens including the Fletcher Wildlife Garden." (City of Ottawa Department of Urban Planning and Public Works, June 14, 1999.)

_

 A United Nations agency called UNESCO will remove the designation "UNESCO World Heritage Site" from the Rideau Canal if a hospital is built near Dow's Lake.

 The Arboretum, DARA Tennis Club, Queen Juliana Park, Dow's Lake parking lot, trees that border Prince of Wales Drive, and Maple Drive have been destroyed or damaged by the hospital construction.

Glebe has been robbed of green space.

 "Initially, we were told that Queen Elizabeth Drive would be closed to cars this summer from Somerset to Pretoria Bridge for 'active transport', i.e. cycling and walking. However, I see what the NCC has installed in the middle of the road: picnic tables, park benches, red-chair swings, static games and a cool mist station."

"In other words, they are trying to turn the road into a park. Is this because the beautiful Queen Juliana Park was destroyed in favour of a mammoth and ugly parking garage? Is it because a huge section of the Arboretum was rezoned, without public input or consent, for the new Civic Hospital, cutting down 700 trees in the process?"

"Is it because we were denied the creation of a world-class park at Lansdowne so that it could become a developers' paradise? Is it because the proposed new arena will destroy the green tobogganing hill and the precious little green space remaining at Lansdowne? "

"Take a look at the maps of Centretown and the Glebe---you will see that we only have miniscule parks, none of them large enough for sports, strolling, cycling or community gatherings. We have been robbed of green space in this part of the city. Now the public is expected to be grateful for a stretch of asphalt, with no grass, no trees, no shade, no nature, no beauty whatsoever, and asked to see this as a park. I find this absurd and insulting." Dorothy Speak (The Glebe Report, page 5, September 13 2024.)  

The Prince of Wales, Arboretum and CEF Woods are unprotected.

However, the Montfort Woods are indispensable: "Under the ownership of the NCC these lands will never be built upon and will be designated a 'National Heritage Area', the most protective designation in the Plan for Canada's Capital."  

City of Ottawa Planning and Environment Committee, 29 June 2004. Subject: Official Plan and Zoning - 701-711 Montreal Road..."The property is presently designated General Urban Area and will be amended to Natural Urban Features. Lands designated Natural Urban Features are natural landscapes that include woodlands, wetlands, watercourses and ravines. The existing natural environment on site consists of a core, mature woodland that is exceptional within the former City of Ottawa due to the large average tree size, area of cover, abundance of wildlife nesting sites and diversity within sub-canopy trees." 

"Aerial photographs from 1928 indicate that the core sugar maple portion of the Woods has never been cleared. The Woods are also interesting from a landform perspective. A portion of the elevated plateau within the site, where the limestone bedrock is exposed, shows a well-developed karst topography...This natural landscape provides a valuable contribution to biodiversity and wildlife habitation in the urban area to be enjoyed by Ottawa residents and others. The NCC has acquired these lands and wishes to use the Woods for conservation, educational, interpretation, scientific and passive leisure uses." 

3.2 The affected parcel of land consists of a core of marginal woodland area that includes Sugar Maple, Beech, Ash, Basswood, and Norway Maple over limestone bedrock. The applicant, the National Capital Commission wishes to protect this woodlot for future generations.

Street signs on the Experimental Farm

The unprotected Arboretum Woods.A Kenneth Leong photo from September of 2015.
 

Agriculture Canada refused to transfer Farm land to a botanical society.

A number of conditions had not been met in their application. The conditions were as follows:

• It must not include any use of land on the west side of Prince of Wales Drive.
• The use of any land or facilities on the east side of Prince of Wales must meet the Canadian Heritage (Parks Canada) criteria (e.g.) it must not have a negative impact on the heritage values of the Canal nor impede the operations of the Canal, specifically at Hartwell's lock station, but also navigation in general.
• The Arboretum, if included, must remain free and open to the public.
• The Fletcher Wildlife Garden must remain as it is.
• The Commemorative Integrity Statement must be observed.
• The land use must be compatible with other jurisdictions (e.g) NCC, Parks, City of Ottawa, etc. and designations---the National Interest Land Mass (NILM) of the Central Experimental Farm.
• It must clearly demonstrate financial viability/self sufficiency. (All information is from the Greenbelt Alliance of Canada's Capital General Meeting, June 12 2002.The Hon. Lyle Vanclief was the Agriculture Minister.)

Commemorative Integrity Statement The boundaries of the designated place are:

• bounded on the north by Carling Avenue
• on the west by Fisher Avenue as far as Kingston Avenue, excluding the complex of Fisher Heights
• by Merivale Road as far as Baseline Road
• on the south by Baseline Road north to Prince of Wales Drive (Highway 16) and on the east by Prince of Wales Drive as far as the bend in the road
• by the western edge of the Rideau Canal property as far as Queen Elizabeth Drive.

An August 3, 2001 Ottawa Citizen article by Carolynne Wheeler.

Our trees.

 "In a 145-acre plot of land that includes the current Arboretum and has Prince of Wales Drive and the Rideau Canal as boundaries, the Ottawa Botanical Garden Society plans a perennial garden, a children's garden, a heritage garden and a herb and medicinal garden." (From: Hattie Klotz, Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2003.)

A June 26, 2019 letter to the Ottawa Citizen. "Canadensis has attempted on multiple occasions to carve away at the southeast corner of the Central Experimental Farm---effectively privatizing public land---ignoring that in Ottawa our garden was always focused on the trees."

"There's a chunk of that that is part of the arboretum, a lot of rare old trees. Its a national treasure. Will there be some kind of reassurance given that when they go in there, are they just going to clear-cut or will there be some kind of protection for these beautiful old trees? Old exotic trees, hedges by the tennis courts." (Comments to Kate Eggins, Director of Communications, the Ottawa Hospital, February 6, 2017.)

"Prince of Wales adjacent to the Farm is being widened from 2 lanes to 4 lanes." (Dow's Lake-Glebe Report June 11, 2010.) "Every spring blossoming crabapple trees transform Prince of Wales Drive as it winds through the CEF. On either side of the road standing north and south of the roundabout, stand roughly 100 mature trees. Planted in 1952, they represent the better part of the CEF's Collection of the Lake Series of Rosybloom crabapples originated by Isabella Preston. This is part of the Arboretum."

 "AAFC is moving the Historic Hedge Collection but the row of fruit trees along Prince of Wales appears to have no future." (From: The Sir John Carling Site, Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital, March 17, 2017.) In the year 2021 Canada Post honoured Isabella Preston, David Foster Cameron and Dexter Reid Sampson for their contributions to horticulture.

The O-Train corridor near Dow's Lake before April of 2022.

After April of 2022.

"It is understood that a portion of the Arboretum next to the O-Train line will be dug up to double-track that portion of the transit route, although this area will be replanted." (Part of a January 5, 2018 letter from Judy Dodds, President of the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm, to Federal Minister Catherine McKenna.)

National Capital parkland that has already disappeared.

• Most of the Lazy Bay Commons in Mechanicsville
• Eventually Mile Circle near Rockcliffe
• Sylvia Holden on Lansdowne Park
• Eventually Commissioners Park near Dow's Lake
• Lebreton Flats
• Moffat Farm 
• Rochester Field on 529 Richmond Road
• Queen Juliana
• The City promised that the Humane Society land on 101 Champagne, Little Italy would be an extension of Ev Tremblay Park. Never happened.
• The Main Lawn on the Experimental Farm, north of the William Saunders Building 

• 

   Sylvia Holden Park, where 165 trees were chopped down. YouTube videos that document the scene: "Lansdowne Park tree cutting", "Tree cutting protest at Lansdowne, Sylvia Holden Park." and "Lansdowne protest can't save trees."(Ottawa Sun).
  

National Capital properties that should be protected.

The Farm - "The Natural Open Space Study (NOSS) report prepared by the City of Ottawa identifies a number of significant natural resources on or adjacent to the Central Experimental Farm site. The Arboretum ranks in the highest category for social value, reflecting the importance Ottawa residents attach to this area for its visual and natural relief, and for its contribution to the quality of life in an urban context."

"The NOSS study recommends protection of the Arboretum, an adjacent open water wetland habitat, two nearby watercourse reaches, and the CEF Woods near Fisher Avenue. It also provides management guidelines." (From: Central Experimental Farm Historic Site Management Plan, part 8/20. Date modified on 2019-09-17.) 

City of Ottawa Department of Urban Planning and Public Works, June 4, 1999. Natural and Open Spaces, Environmentally Sensitive Area and Protection Areas:

• Portion of Mud Lake/ Britannia Woods
• Pinecrest Woods
• Dechenes Rapids
• Hampton Woods
• Chaudiere Rapids
• Portion of Lemieux Island
• Arboretum
• Central Experimental Farm Woods
• Prince of Wales Woods
• Victoria Island Woods
• Brown's Inlet
• Patterson's Creek
• Rockcliffe Park Woods
• Leopold Woodlot
• Riverside Woods
• CNR Line
• Portions of Sawmill Creek
• RA Centre Woods
• Rideau River Park Woods
• Jim Durrell Arena Woods
• Coronation Park woods
• Ramsey Creek Woods

The Arboretum in October of 1963. A National Archives photo.

Blue gates are blocking an entrance in 2022. The sign reads "New Project."

The Greenbelt is untouchable.

The Greenbelt Research Farm in Nepean in 1992.

"As of March 1, 1998, the Greenbelt Research Farm, which covers 2, 965.265 acres of land bordered by Hunt Club, Woodroffe Avenue, Fallowfield Road and Greenbank Road, ceased to function as an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre." (From: National Capital Greenbelt.)

 

The Farm cannot be a parking lot for the Ottawa Hospital.

 The Arboretum Woods are protected by federal, provincial and City of Ottawa laws:

 Federal:

• The Experimental Farm is a National Historic Site of Canada (1998)
•  National Interest Land Mass (1988);
•  the Farm is part of a 900 square mile memorial dedicated to fallen Canadian soldiers. The Greber Report of 1950, page 15 of 395 pages.
• A 1954 Privy Council Order-in-Council signed by Prime Minister of Canada Louis St-Laurent confirmed that 1.) This land will be owned by the citizens of Canada in perpetuity 2.) Much of it will remain an open space.

Senate Bill S-203, An Act to Amend the National Capital Act, plans to create buffer zones around national historic sites including the Parliamentary Precinct in Ottawa; scenic parkways; the Greenbelt; Gatineau Park, etc. A buffer zone would prevent the City of Ottawa from clearcutting hundreds of trees to widen Prince of Wales Drive.

The City of Ottawa wanted to preserve the Woods in 2006: (Google: "urban natural features strategy City of Ottawa, April 11, 2006." Or you can see my blog "Protected land and waterways in the National Capital.")  

Central Experimental Farm National Historic Site Management Plan, Part 7 of 20. September 17 2019,

• properties east of Prince of Wales are Capital Urban Green Space.
• The Agricultural Museum is a National Cultural Institution.
• Research fields are Rural Lands.
• Rideau Canal and nearby CEF shore lands are Waterway and Shore land.
• Prince of Wales north of the traffic circle and NCC Driveway are Capital Parkway.
• Prince of Wales south of the traffic circle is Scenic Entry.
• lands near Carling are Federal Node.
• recreational pathways are part of the Capital Pathway Network.
• experimental fields and most of the property west of Prince of Wales are Agricultural Research.
• remaining land west of Prince of Wales are General Urban Area and Urban Natural Features.
• 
  

• 

  Until recently the Arboretum covered 64 acres. Not 7.
  .

  "The Dominion Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm" by Gardens Ottawa in the year 2022.
  "Located on 64-acres of rolling land between Prince of Wales Drive and the historical Rideau Canal system, the Arboretum was developed to test the hardiness of woody plants in the Canadian climate. With a variety of micro-climates and showcasing a range of woody plants, the collection contains around 4,000 specimens. The  Dominion Arboretum displays a wide range of well-established trees and shrubs, some dating back to 1889. Trees and Shrub specimens: 
• A few different Crab Apple Tree areas, mostly along Prince of Wales Drive.
• A Magnolia Grove
• Lots of Weeping Willows
• One of the most beautiful specimens of Bebb's Oak, a significant tree of over 100 years old."

 The photo is from Gardens Ottawa.

 Agriculture Canada holdings encompassed 1,045 acres in 1992.

More Experimental Farm land is needed by the Ottawa Hospital for parking.

"New Civic Hospital won't have enough parking says community group." by Charlie Senack, Kitchissippi Times, December 3, 2024.

Parking Shortage "There is a high probability that car arrivals at the campus in 2028 will far exceed the parking capacity. The impact of this parking shortage on staff, outpatients and visitors, as well as on nearby neighbourhoods will be severe...My best guess is that mitigation will eventually include TOH asking the NCC for more acreage on the Experimental Farm-probably in the Arboretum and along Maple Drive and even in Commissioners Park-for another parking garage and more surface parking lots." (From: The Glebe Report, 'Risk Management and the new Civic Hospital campus' by Barbara Popel, March 18, 2022.)

 The 22-acre Commissioners Park is part of the Ottawa Greenbelt: House of Commons Ottawa September 16, 2009: MP Steven Blaney "Other properties found in the Greenbelt are Commissioners Park, where there is a display of over 100,000 tulips."

"The need for extra land as proposed in the zoning was also a point of concern,,,The current Civic Hospital is 23 acres of land---hospital officials are looking for a parcel more than twice that size." (Glebe Annex Community Association.)

"Every new hospital will look at ways they can actually make money from a site they are developing. Parking is a major component of making money at a hospital. If you ask the people why they are parking on your front lawn its because of $90 plus dollars every month to pay."

The Parking Garage "In the northeast section of the site, the Ottawa Hospital is currently planning to build a four storey parking garage. This is not an appropriate use of land across from Dow's Lake. The parking garage will be built upon what is currently a small parking lot as well as Queen Juliana Park. It will also remove an important section of the Trillium Line multi-use path."

Organizations that want to preserve the Farm

• Friends of the Central Experimental Farm
• Friends of the Farm
• Save Our Greenspace!
• Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Association
• Glebe Community Association
• Glebe Annex Community Association
• Dalhousie Community Association
• Dow's Lake Residents' Association
• Saving the Central Experimental Farm-Heritage Ottawa
• Reimagine Ottawa
• Protect the Farm-Home-Facebook
• Save the Farm (1975)
• Save the Central Experimental Farm-Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital
• SAVE THE FARM - Protest to save our trees and greenspace-Ecology Ottawa 
• Canadian Council on Food Sovereignty and Health
• The National Trust for Canada
• COALITION TO SAVE THE CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM

Petitions

• Stop the rezoning of Parks to Condos - Queen Juliana in Little Italy
• Petition 388 - Protection of the Central Experimental Farm as a research facility and a national historic site of Canada
• Save Ottawa's Precious Urban Greenspace. Change.org.

A building where I was employed during the early 1980's. The Conference Centre.

 Directory of Federal Real Property

• Structure Number 054533 Senate of Canada Building
• Organization: Public Services and Procurement Canada
• Use (s): Legislative, Judicial and Diplomatic
• Interest: Crown Owned
• Condition: Fair
• Address: 2 Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8X5
• Municipality: Ottawa, Ontario
• Floor Area: (sq. m.): 8,977
• Construction Year: 1912
• Tenants: 3

The uncertain future of 529 Richmond Road.

 529 Richmond Road includes Rochester Field, Maplelawn Manor and the walled garden. "NCC looks to revive 'controversial' Rochester Field development through land bank. The federal government has added the site at 529 Richmond Road to the Canada Public Land Bank" by Catherine Morrison, Ottawa Citizen, November 19, 2024.

   The Maplelawn Manor is a Classified Federal Heritage Building. That means nothing. Plans were underway to demolish the former train station on 2 Rideau Street before Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau intervened. Prime Minister Trudeau and astronomer Arthur Covington prevented the demolition of the Dominion Observatory in 1970. Now the Dominion Observatory is again threatened with destruction, by a medical centre---private vehicles will be banned from Maple Drive on the Experimental Farm. And City of Ottawa councillor Riley Brockington is hoping that the Observatory will be saved. 

1989 - Maplelawn was designated a national historic site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada because of: "The quality of the house, but more particularly because its gardens are the best preserved of the few known surviving examples of early 19th century walled gardens in Canada."

1994 - The City of Ottawa protected the house and gardens through the Ontario Heritage Act.

Directory of Federal Real Property

Structure Number: 145030

Custodian: National Capital Commission

Property Number: 01524---Rochester House and Gardens

Interest: Crown Owned

Condition: Fair

Construction Year: 1831

Floor Area: 406.51 sq. m.

Occupancy: Fully Occupied

Address: 529 Richmond Road

Municipality: Ottawa

Province/Territory: Ontario

Federal Electoral District: Ottawa Centre

Census Classification: Rural

Rochester Field, 529 Richmond Road, Ottawa

The park is being redeveloped.

On November 19, 2024, 529 Richmond Road was added to the Canada Public Land Bank. "Canada is facing a housing crisis that is impacting lives and communities across the country. We need to build more homes, faster, to get Canadians into homes that meet their needs at prices they can afford." (Government of Canada lists federal lands for housing and new tools for builders.)

Amy's Corner by Amy Kempster Champlain Speaker, March 2004, Volume 23, Number 6:

"The land closest to our community is west and north of Maplelawn on Richmond Road. If the NCC wins the appeal (with the Ontario Municipal Board) they could then ask for a zoning amendment. Their appeal states that this parcel is not deemed to form part of the 'National Interest Land Mass'".

In his campaign literature our councillor suggested he would ask the city to obtain the Maplelawn field (Rochester Field) for a park. So perhaps he knew it was in danger of disposal."

Friends of Rochester Field

Westboro Community Association "Say goodbye to Rochester Field"

Official Plan and Zoning Amendment, Rochester Field, January 12, 2018:

1.) The City of Ottawa zoned the land as Parks and Open Space.

2.) The land encompassed 3.8 hectares or 9 acres.

3.) The field connects Richmond Road with the Parkway along the Ottawa River and is one of the remaining pieces of undeveloped land along Richmond Road. The land has been used by the community informally as a park and as a short-cut to the Dominion Transitway station for many years. (The Official Plan document is much longer,)

Commentary by the Ward Councillor Councillor Leiper provided the following comments: "For over a century, Rochester Field has been a jewel in Westboro. If a plan being rushed forward through City zoning by the National Capital Commission (NCC) proceeds, we'll lose the best parts of it forever. It's time to take a second look.

Rochester Field is a large NCC parcel that straddles the land from the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to Richmond Road. It is a barely maintained space. Through the years cow paths have been worn along natural desire lines as dog-walkers and people walking to the Dominion transit station have used the field, while the rest of it has lain largely fallow as habitat for various flora and fauna. It is a network connection in our City's greenspace between Byron Linear Park (soon to be revitalized), and the Sir John A. Macdonald Park.

"It is a large, natural park space in Kitchissippi Ward where greenspace is at a premium. Intensification in this part of the city has been rapid. Small homes on large lots are now being replaced with large homes on small lots as infill continues. We are losing permeable, green surface and trees to both infill and the proliferation of towers. Targets for intensification are being met in our ward as nowhere else in the city, and the effect on greenspace is increasingly obvious.

"The opportunity we have is to preserve a large piece of greenspace for the enjoyment of future generations of residents. When the City previously proposed not to allow development on the site, it was working in residents' interest over NCC objections. The development now being proposed is part of an agreement forged during a dispute over whether and what conditions the City could run the Confederation Line through the NCC's land in this corridor.

"In a memorandum of understanding that allows LRT to proceed the parties agreed to: settle the outstanding Ontario Municipal Board appeal by the NCC as it relates to Rochester Field by designating two-thirds of the northeast section of Rochester Field as 'General Urban' land use designation. The NCC acknowledges in this settlement that the remaining one third of the land area of the site on the western side will be retained as parkland with a 'Major Open Space' land use designation.

"Council was told specifically that the deal would retain a green corridor from Richmond Road to the SJAM.

"In 2015, the City and the NCC began to implement that agreement, but that process was put on hold while the NCC consulted about its larger park plan for the corridor. In the intervening months, that has become a plan that would cluster development along Richmond Road---six-to-eight story buildings that would hide the park behind mixed-use developments that will cut off forever the green corridor that we were promised. In the plan moving forward quickly through the approvals process, the greenspace won't be in the northeast at all. Residents are wondering whether and how the City could allow this to happen.

"It's time to press pause on the process. There is some legitimacy to the NCC's arguments that it needs certainty with respect to where it can build its proposed park. The LRT agreement includes $30 million in contribution to that, and the works that will be bundled in with the rail network to the benefit of taxpayers. It is in everyone's interest that the NCC receive the certainty it needs.

"But the long-term impacts of approving this plan, which clusters development in diametrically opposite the space where it was to have gone in the original deal, are too consequential to bludgeon through the City's processes.

"There are alternatives that would mitigate the impact of development in this parcel, if development is to occur at all. Residents, the NCC and the City are all owed the time to explore those. Council is bound to honour its commitments in return for the city-building benefits of moving ahead with light rail. But its commitments were clearly spelled out in black and white: We are under neither legal or moral obligation to approve zoning which meets neither the spirit nor letter of our pledge." (From: Official Plan and Zoning Amendments-Rochester Field, January 12, 2018. Pages 12 and 13 of 28 pages.)

City of Ottawa---Richmond Road/Westboro Secondary Plan, Amendment-June 24, 2009.

• Retain all usable public greenspace; (page 1/7)
• Increase recreational facilities. (page 2/7)
• Confirming all of the Rochester Field Maplelawn parcel and the Atlantis-Selby lands as major components of the greenspace network strategy. (page 4/7)
• Confirm the entire Rochester Field parcel as open space.(page 5/7)
• Heritage Buildings---City Council shall encourage the preservation and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings within the planning area, in keeping with the City of Ottawa's heritage policies. (page 7/7)  (I have included information from the Secondary Plan, that only pertains to Maplelawn and Rochester Field.)

 

"These are our buildings." Sold in 2007.

• Vancouver - 401 Burrard Street and the Sinclair Centre.
• Edmonton - Canada Place
• Toronto - Joseph Shepard
• Montreal - 4225 Dorchester West and 305 Rene Levesque West
• Ottawa - Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building on Sparks Street and Skyline Complex 

A YouTube video - "PSAC National President John Gordon, delivers speech." Comments by NDP MP Peggy Nash: "Our job representing Canadians on the Government Operations and Estimates Committee is to ensure that spending from the federal government is in the best interests of Canadians. We are the democratic custodians and stewards of the tax dollars paid by Canadians.

 So you would think, that with a sale like this, hundreds of millions of dollars of Crown assets, that we would be informed as to the details of such a huge sale that is going to affect the well-being of Canadians... Our parents and grandparents have worked very hard over the years and our tax dollars have paid for these buildings, for the assets of the people of Canada. These are our buildings."

Family members protest sale of Sinclair Centre, Globe and Mail, August 21, 2007. 

Janet Sinclair, daughter of the Hon. James Sinclair after whom the building is named. (Photo is from pressreader.com and Vancouver Sun.)

Government buildings that were recently sold or given away.

 House of Commons Ottawa February 9, 2001 MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): "The federal government owns 68,000 buildings."

A 2023 comment from the Department of Public Works (reposting) "Much of the government-owned Ottawa-Gatineau portfolio is obsolete. There is room for the private development sector to create new space." 

RCMP Headquarters.

Parks Canada cannot protect the Rideau Canal from inappropriate development.

Now Parks Canada wants to turn the Ottawa Greenbelt into a National Urban Park. A 2019-11-04 Parks Canada letter to UNESCO--- about projects that negatively impact the Rideau Canal:

• Given the number of planning and development applications and limited staff and resources, Parks Canada has limited capability to participate in the review and comment on municipal plans and selected waterfront land development activities. As well, resource constraints do not allow for full follow-up or monitoring of development to ensure that comments and agreements have been addressed and applied.
• Some municipal official plans do not yet fully recognize and protect the Canal's heritage values as there are no common waterfront land management objectives among Canal corridor municipalities. (Parks Canada does not have the staff or money to monitor a World Heritage Site and adjacent land.)

UNESCO had concerns about the following projects. Reposting

• Rideau Marina redevelopment (Kingston)
• Third Bridge Crossing (Kingston)
• Former Davis Tannery Brownfield Site Redevelopment (Kingston)
• Rideau Canal Crossing Pedestrian Bridge (Ottawa)
• Highway 417 bridge rehabilitation (Ottawa)
• Chateau Laurier proposed extension (Ottawa)
• The new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (For information Google: State of Conservation Report, Rideau Canal, May 2018.)

The Portsmouth Olympic Harbour greenspace.

 Before the 1976 Montreal Olympics, taxpayers of Ontario paid for this land. But there were conditions--- "The City of Kingston agreed to take over responsibility for maintenance at the end of the Olympics, and said it would be open to the public." Now the property has been sold to condo developers.

The Greenbelt will never be a national urban park.

 An Ottawa Citizen article by Ken Rubin, December 9, 2024: "The National Capital Commission has been in active discussions with Parks Canada for months about creating a national urban park in Ottawa." This deal between the NCC and Parks Canada should be rejected for many reasons:

1.) "Parks Canada to look at divesting highways, bridges, dams---cash strapped agency examining whether to divest non-heritage assets worth $8.3 Billion." CBC News, August 26, 2017. Rideau Canal infrastructure is on the sell-off list--- 52 dams, 47 locks and many bridges.

2.) National Parks in British Columbia may be transferred to the province:

3.) The Greenbelt is protected by federal legislation: MP Pierre Lemieux: "...Bill C-37 introduces the definition of 'National Interest Land Mass'."

4.) National Interest Land Mass properties cannot be sold to foreign entities. However, Canada's urban and national recreation centres are fair game: 

House of Commons Ottawa March 19, 1998 MP Rick Laliberte (Churchill River) NDP: "Our parks are a sacred sanctuary, they are part of our national identity. The Canadian Parks Agency is a capitalist form of commercialization of our national parks and eventual privatization...Where the hon. members take their children, enter the Walt Disney national park and come out and negotiate the fee."

House of Commons Ottawa March 19, 1998 MP Nelson Riis (Kamloops, BC.) NDP: "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 historical sites, a number of historical canal systems (for example the Rideau Canal), 661 sites that are managed by third parties that are ecologically and environmentally significant, 165 heritage railway stations and 32 river systems."

MP Howard Hilstrom (Selkirk-Interlake, Manitoba) 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. We lack a national parks policy, just as we lack a national waterways policy or a national highway policy."

Canada's Capital Greenbelt Master Plan, National Capital Commission, November 2013,page 38/196 "The 20,600 hectare Greenbelt belongs to the People of Canada. Compared to other Greenbelts that tend to have more privately owned than public land, the opportunities are vast to build upon the progress of the last 60 years that led to Canada's Greenbelt of today."

5.)An urban or metropolitan park is a municipal park. The City of Ottawa Corporation wants one quarter of the Greenbelt for residential and commercial purposes: "It is estimated that of the 20,800 ha in the Greenbelt, at least one quarter, 5,560 ha, might be eligible for development if the Greenbelt designation is removed. This estimate assumes that lands currently designated for agriculture and other rural activities that are currently wedged between two adjacent urban areas would be redesignated for urban uses." (City of Ottawa White Paper on Development in the Greenbelt, May 27, 2008.)

House of Commons Ottawa October 26, 2009 Evidence Al Speyers, Alliance to Save Our Greenbelt: "Jacques Greber had no confidence in lower levels of government. He felt that the only way to have a greenbelt and to keep it was that the most senior level of government in Canada would have to establish it, keep it, maintain it and preserve it. Cities are essentially vehicles for development."

6.) The Rouge National Urban Park Act raises many red flags---

• Several different organizations own the Rouge. The citizens of Canada are sole owners of the Greenbelt.
• The Rouge has many wind turbines and highways.
• Promoters want the Ottawa Greenbelt modeled after the Rouge. All the measures that protect the Ottawa land may be removed---the Privy Council Orders-in-Council; National Interest Land Mass designation; Part 1V and Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act. The property cannot be sold, subdivided or given away to settle a land claim. "The Greenbelt is like an Emerald Necklace and exists as a memorial to the Canadians who gave their lives in the Second World War". From: The National Capital Commission--- Have your say about the Greenbelt's Future, June 10, 2009.

7.)  "Land forming part of the National Interest Land Mass will be retained by the National Capital Commission on behalf of the government in perpetuity." (Google: 1988-09-re-NCC Land Holdings.)

Government property cannot be used as a land bank.

 Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Deputy Prime Minister Erik Nielsen created the National Interest Land Mass designation in 1988: 

• to prevent government entities (especially the City of Ottawa) from using federal property as a land bank
• to stop the privatization of Crown assets that belong to all Canadians.

National Interest Land Mass holdings in Quebec in 1988

• Gatineau Park-32,000 ha or 79,073 acres. Gatineau Park is part of a 900 square mile memorial to Canadian soldiers who were killed fighting in foreign wars. 
• 3 parcels- Ottawa River shoreline at Portage Bridge and beside Eddy Street.
• Parts of Laurier St. in front of Place du Portage.
• Ottawa River shoreline at Alexandra Bridge approach
• Hull wharf Ottawa River lot only.
• Museum site Laurier Ave.
• Ottawa River shoreline S of Brewery Creek.
• 8 parcels on E side of Brewery Creek.
• Ottawa River shoreline proposed Voyageur Parkway.
• Leamy Lake Park and part of the Philemon Wright Corridor.

National Interest Land Mass holdings in Ontario in 1988

• The Greenbelt-14,000 ha or 34,594.753 acres. In 1998 the land mass encompassed 45,000 acres.
• Part of LeBreton Flats N of Transitway-65.37 ha or 161.53279 acres.
• Agriculture Canada experimental farms on Carling Avenue and 1740 Woodroffe, the Greenbelt.
• Victoria Island-6.35 ha.
• Shoreline behind Parliament Hill-2.91 ha.
• Chambers Bldg. Elgin and Queen.
• Confederation Square-0.15 ha.
• Pts of Wellington in front of the Chateau Laurier and Conference Centre. Also lands N of Wellington between the Rideau Canal Lock & the Chateau Laurier & Major Hill Park. Also, the approach to Alexandra Bridge & the new Art Gallery site.
• Lady Grey Drive and the Ottawa River W of Sussex Drive.
• Daly Building, corner of Rideau & Sussex.
• 8 parcels of land E of Sussex (Mile of History) from Rideau Street to MacDonald Cartier Bridge.
• Pt of the Mint property W of Sussex Drive.
• Small park on W side of Sussex Drive S of MacDonald Cartier Bridge. Parking lot at Earnscliffe and water lot.  
• 4 Parcels on the Rideau River around City Hall. (City Hall is now the John George Diefenbaker Building.)
• 4 Parcels E of Sussex Dr. between Stanley Avenue & Rideau Gate.
• PM's Residence.
• 7 Rideau Gate (Guest House).
• G.G.'s Residence, Rideau Hall.  
• Ottawa River Parkway, Wellington Street to Carling Ave.
• Champlain Bridge, Island Park Drive
• Rideau Canal land from downtown to Hog's Back Road-90 ha or 222 acres.
• Rideau River lands Green Island to Revelstoke Dr.
• Airport Parkway
• Eastern Parkway Hemlock Rd to Hwy 417.
• Eastern Driveway and Rockcliffe Park from Sussex Drive to Greenbelt.
• Lower Duck Island Ottawa River. (For all information Google: 1988-09-15-TB-re-NCC Land Holdings.)

Lady Grey Drive behind the Royal Canadian Mint and other notable buildings. The 1920's photo is from the National Archives.

The disposal of federal property for housing and migrant shelters.

 NCC looks to revive controversial Rochester Field development through land bank by Catherine Morrison, Ottawa Citizen, November 22, 2024. "The federal government has added the site at 529 Richmond Rd. to the Canada Public Land Bank." The site is next to Maplelawn.

Threats to the Greenbelt: One of the stated purposes of the land, "to meet government facility needs", is a questionable concept. It implies that the Greenbelt is a land bank for the feds...A barn on agricultural lands is compatible, but a high tech park is not. Facilities that are currently there should not be torn down, but don't put any more up. (From: Greenbelt Master Plan, December 2009, page 52/107.) Note: Unattractive temporary shelters will be constructed on the Greenbelt--- on the Eagleson Park and Ride; the Nepean Sportsplex; behind the Confederation Education Centre and possibly 3311 Woodroffe.

More land bank properties in Canada's Capital: The Rideau Falls Lab on 1 John Street:

Directory of Federal Real Property The Rideau Falls Dam & Central Heating NRC Plant Site.

Property Number 54824

Custodian: Public Services and Procurement Canada

Interest: Crown Owned

Restriction: No Restriction

Primary Use: Parks and Recreation

Address: 50 (1 John Street), 90 and 98 Sussex Drive

Municipality: Ottawa

Province/Territory: Ontario

Federal electoral District: Ottawa-Vanier

Census: Rural

Land Area: 3.8216 ha

Building Count: 3

Floor Area: 4.769 sq. m.

Exterior Parking: 11 spaces

Record Created On: July 4th, 1995

Record Last Modified On: April 18th, 2019

The former Edward Drake CBC Building on 1500 Bronson.

The Graham Spry CBC Building on 250 Lanark.

Property Number: 57722

Organization: Public Services and Procurement Canada

Use: Office

Interest: Crown Owned

Address: 250 Lanark Avenue

Municipality: Ottawa, Ont.

Land Area: 3.1865 ha.

Buildings: 1

Floor Area: (sq. m.) 5,816

The Sir Charles Tupper Site---Years ago, Public Works wanted to donate Heron Road and Riverside Drive within Confederation Heights to the City of Ottawa. The Tupper buildings are facing demolition.

L'Esplanade Laurier 

Property Number: 08910; Custodian: Public Services and Procurement Canada; Interest: Crown Owned; Restriction: No Restriction; Primary Use: Office; Address: 140 O'Connor Street, 171 Bank Street and 300 Laurier Avenue. Municipality: Ottawa; Province/Territory: Ontario; Federal Electoral District: Ottawa Centre; Census: Rural; Land Area: 0.9863 ha; Building Count: 3; Floor Area: 91,160 sq. m. Exterior Parking: 0; Interior Parking: 382 spaces; Record Created On: August 12th, 1990; Record Last Modified On: January 8th, 2024.

National Defence Medical Centre, 1745 Alta Vista Drive:

Property 08635: Organization: National Defence: Use: Military: Interest: Crown Owned; Address: Ottawa; Municipality: Ottawa, ON; Land Area: 18.406 ha.; Buildings: 1; Floor Area: (sq. m.): 35,202.

Taxation Data Centre, 875 Heron Road. At one time the land mass was 150 acres, now it is 23. Facing demolition.

Property Number: 08651

Organization: Public Services and Procurement Canada

Use : Office

Interest: Crown Owned

Address: 875 Heron Road

Municipality: Ottawa, ON

Land Area: 9.5000 ha

Buildings: 2

Floor Area: (sq. m.): 55,713