How to preserve Canada's sovereignty.

1.)  Preserve the symbols that define Canada---our Maple Leaf Flag, Coat of Arms and Official Anthem "O Canada."

2.)  Do not let Parks Canada sell infrastructure in the National Parks.

3.)  Do not privatize any more Crown corporations; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada Post and Via Rail should always be owned by the citizens of this country.

4.)  If the Alberta government wants to sell or lease provincial parks, let the federal government buy the properties. Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

5)  Try to convince the UN to designate Portsmouth Village in Kingston, Ontario a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Kingston Pen, Prison for Women, Church of the Good Thief, St. Helen's, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, Portsmouth Olympic Park and Rockwood should not be sold.

6.) Give the Historic Sites and Monuments Board the power to protect historic buildings and landscapes.

7.) Do not let the City of Ottawa use federal property as a land bank. The Greenbelt should be off-limits.

8.)  Do not denationalize the National Parks or Rideau Canal:

House of Commons Ottawa March 19, 1998. Bill C-29, an Act to Amend the National Parks Act. Mr. Nelson Riis (Kamloops, B.C.) New Democratic Party: "...Members can probably tell that I do not support Bill C-29 at his point....This bill involves a great deal of Canada: 31 national parks, 786 historical sites, a number of historical canal systems (Rideau Canal), 661 sites that are managed by third parties that are ecologically or environmentally significant..."

Mr. 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 systems?"

Mr. 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."

Big changes may be on the horizon for Major's Hill Park.

 Canada Day and Tulip Festival celebrations may be banned in the park: "The design and contractual sale condominium agreements must fully resolve noise generated by continued events in Major's Hill Park." (From: Proposed addition to Chateau Laurier, February 2018.)

In the year 1957, the Chateau Laurier lobbied the Federal District Commission for 3 acres of Major's Hill land for parking. The Commission turned down the proposal. The FDC is now known as the National Capital Commmission.

Trees and shrubs are being removed including the row of trees that separate the Chateau from the park. If the NCC is on board with the loss of 680 trees on the Farm, why would they care about the gardens and trees in the park.

The NCC is deciding if any new access points to the park should be created. A private company and a publicly-funded Crown corporation should not have the power to decide if any entrances to Major's Hill Park should be created or removed. Tall fences (barriers) can easily be installed as well as checkpoints. I would not be surprised if benches are removed to prevent members of the public from sitting down and enjoying views of Parliament Hill, the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal. Will park "ambassadors" be hired to monitor how long people can enjoy the venue? Will they encourage visitors to "stay on the pathways" and not check out the statues, or take photographs? 

The new Civic Hospital will not protect views of the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Parks Canada's Rideau Canal Management Plan serves as a key land use planning document for lands situated in the immediate vicinity of the Rideau Canal National Historic Site i.e. CEF lands abutting Dow's Lake and the Rideau Canal. In particular, back shore land use and development is expected to protect open space and ensure compatible activities with the historic character of the Canal...Views to the Canal from the Arboretum and from other lands east of Prince of Wales Drive are also to be protected." (From: The CEF National Historic Site Management Plan (7 of 20) Government of Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.) 

CEF National Historic Site Management Plan (20 of 20.) 4.3 Objectives for the Designated Place. "The designated place will be unimpaired and not under threat when: the present boundaries and spacial balance of the Farm are safeguarded and preserved; the surviving 19th century landscape plan, including the core administration, scientific and farm buildings, plus the arboretum, lawn, ornamental gardens and display beds, experimental fields, plots and shelterbelts, and circulation patterns set in a Picturesque composition, is safeguarded and maintained in accordance with recognized heritage conservation principles; a sufficiently large area to carry out the scientific research function is maintained; the character of a "farm" as defined by fields, utilitarian buildings and circulation patterns is recognized; and "the farm within a city" remains sufficiently large to provide a contrast to the scale of urban development."

The Greber Report of 1950, page 199/395. "Extensive parks and playgrounds were recommended, including the acquirement of the Laurentian Hills for a National Park, and the development of Dow's Lake and its adjacent lands as a recreational centre was strongly urged."

National Capital Commission Plan for Canada's Capital-2017-2067. Pertaining to the CEF: Lands east of Prince of Wales Drive are Capital Urban Green Space; the Rideau Canal and nearby CEF shore lands are Waterway and Shore Lands; the Canada Agriculture Museum lands are National Cultural Institution; the research fields are Rural Lands; Lands near Carling Avenue are Federal Node.

Report of the Federal District Commission, 1949-page 14/75. "Wherever possible, the parks and driveways are and will be located along the banks of the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers, the Rideau Canal and Dow's Lake."

House of Commons Ottawa March 10, 1986. The NCC has a long-standing policy "to retain federal riverfront land in Canadian ownership for public use." The Hon. John B. Stewart (Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works.) Liberal: "This policy acts to ensure direct access by the public to the river shore."

Why was the Dominion Observatory decommissioned in 1970.

 House of Commons Ottawa April 13, 1965. Ability to Receive Radio Emissions from Outer Space? MP John Angus MacLean (Queens.) "I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys and ask him if the Dominion Observatory has the ability to listen to and evaluate radio transmissions from outer space, which a Russian astronomer claims are transmitted by intelligent beings."

Hon. W.M. Benidickson, (Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys.) Liberal Labour: "I want to assure my hon. friend that up to now the Observatory has not indicated to me it has such capabilities."

All Astrophysical Observatories in Canada had buffer zones- they were located in Ottawa; Victoria, British Columbia; Penticton, B.C.; Gatineau Park and Kingston, Ontario. 

House of Commons Ottawa 1961/06/01. MP William Peters (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation). "Do we carry out regular tracking of satellites and other phenomena? Do we do all this from the dominion observatory and correlate reports from other observatories on the continent and from across the world? Do we now have facilities for communication between these observatories in order to maintain our share of a world-wide observatory system?"

The Hon. Paul Comtois (Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys) Progressive Conservative: "Yes, we do track satellites...we collect and compute all information which is obtained from other observatories in the world."

Mr. Douglas Mason Fisher (CCF): "...I am interested in the whole question of defence from missiles of various kinds. I know this may sound fantastic, but there is speculation that space platforms may be built."

House of Commons Ottawa July 5, 1956. Hon. George Prudham (Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys) Liberal: "...The dominion observatories in Ottawa and Victoria. B.C. are maintained by this department. Observations of stars are essential to the maintenance of a time service. This is given with a precision that is essential for longitude determination as well as public use."

"The investigations carried out by two field stations in Meanook and Newbrook in Northern Alberta are in relation to the rate of meteor travel in the high atmosphere. This is a subject that is of interest to national defence in connection with the use of high velocity projectiles. We maintain a terrestrial magnetism section at Ottawa."

Save the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Greenspace.

 Before the 1976 Montreal Olympics the taxpayers of Ontario bought a greenspace at the Portsmouth harbour. The  province gave the land to the people of Kingston but there were conditions: "The City of Kingston agreed to take over responsibility for maintainance at the end of the Olympics, and said it would be open to the public as a park." (From: Kingston Penitentiary and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour-Opportunities and Constraints, page 18/140.) Now the City is planning to sell the land to condo developers. savecfbrockcliffe.

Games of the XX1 Olympiad, Montreal 1976. Official Report, Volume 2, Page 215/238.

"The site of the Olympic Yachting Centre was Portsmouth Harbour, originally a nineteenth-century commercial port for sailing ships which had fallen into a state of some disrepair. Reconstruction of the site began in March, 1974. 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 undertook to share the cost of installations. The work itself, carried out by the federal Ministry of Public Works, through the Marina Policy Assistance Program of Environment Canada, included the repair and extension of of the existing breakwater and the dredging of the harbor. The City of Kingston also requested the same ministry to design and build the facewall and walkways, as well as all services to be located on the site."

Federal properties that were annexes to the Parliamentary Precinct.

The Dominion Observatory. "The popularity of the Observatory occurred when it opened in 1905, due to the support of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Laurier's advocation reinforced the idea that this Observatory was to be considered an arm of the parliamentary precinct; a building that would have remained on that central city site as part of the building (site) if it were not for light pollution. At the time it was recognized as a national achievement, where the nation's time would be kept, and would be a symbol of Canada's progress in astronomical science. (From: Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, page 10/67 and page 14/67.)

The Lebreton Flats. House of Commons Ottawa November 23, 1967. The Hon. George McIlraith (Minister of Public Works.) "The Lebreton Flats were envisioned as a western extension to the Parliamentary Precinct. Buildings on or near the Parliamentary Precinct cannot be any taller than the Peace Tower."

Major's Hill Park land cannot be sold.

House of Commons Ottawa July 6, 1908. Mr. Robert Laird Borden (Leader of the Official Opposition.) Grand Trunk Railway Hotel Site. "...The park is a portion of the national domain, and a portion of the grounds of parliament."

Major's Hill Park in Ottawa, behind the Chateau Laurier, was Ordnance property that was used for the defence of Canada.

Legal Title of Parliament Hill. House of Commons, Ottawa, December 21, 1963. "Notes on civil law respecting their ownership, management and control and the rights and interests therein of Federal and provincial Crown Parliamentary and Judicial authorities. With the exception of the years 1802-1823, Parliament Hill has been owned by the Crown-successively the Crown Imperial, the Crown Provincial and the Crown Federal. Since 1823, the Crown has always held these lands for public purposes-either of defence or generally."

"In 1802, the British Crown granted the area to Jacob Carman who deeded it in 1812 to Thomas Fraser by whose son Hugh it was inherited. In 1823 the Earl of Dalhousie, the Governor, purchased the Hill from Hugh Fraser on behalf of the British Crown and, by letter, entrusted its control and management to Colonel John By with instructions that the Hill, together with Major Hill and Nepean Point, be reserved for military purposes. About 1857 the British Crown transferred the Ordnance (or military) lands-these including the Hill together with the Rideau Canal lands-to the Government of Upper Canada. With Confederation the Hill and the buildings then thereon were included in those public lands and works transferred from Upper Canada to Canada by section 108 of the B.N.A. Act and clause 9 of the 3rd Schedule therefore. Thereafter the Hill has continued in the ownership of Canada." 

"The statutory phrase is that the Parliament Hill lands are absolutely vested in Her Majesty in right of Canada for the purposes of Canada. See: Public Lands Grants Act, R.S. ch. 224, the Governor in Council holds the power of disposition of title and the power of appointment over the control and management. By virtue of the Public Land Grants Act, R.S. ch. 224, the Governor in Council may classify public lands as those necessary for the defence of Canada and those not so necessary." (more)

Major's Hill Park was Ordnance or Admiralty land. 1959 photo.

The photo is from "Dreams of Major's Hill Park---1969-1970."