Parliament Hill is being taken away from Canadians.

"Commons board recommending 733M plan to build Parliament Hill visitors centre." CBC News, June 18, 2020. Land is also being removed for a Light Rail Transit project.

 House of Commons Debates Ottawa April 22, 1985. Freedom of Assembly on Parliament Hill; removal of the Peace Camp.

MP Mike Cassidy (Ottawa Centre)New Democatic Party: "Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Public Works. It is with regard to the forcible eviction of four of my constituents from the lawns of Parliament Hill this morning."

MP Ian Gardiner Waddell, New Democratic Party: "Can you believe it? They are happy."

MP Mike Cassidy: "I represent those people and I am proud of the protest that they have been making in favour of peace on behalf of the people of Canada...Is the Minister aware that the eviction of the Peace Camp has received widespread publicity across Canada, and now across the world, and that the message that is being conveyed around the world is that the Government of Canada opposes the views of those Canadians who stand for peace. Why did the Government allow that kind of message to be spread across the world when the alternative would have been to allow those demonstrators to continue their efforts to bring peace into the world and to bring the issue to all Canadians?"

House of Commons Debates Ottawa May 2, 1985. "If a peace officer who may be acting under the direction of the Minister of Public Works says that the person is "occupying" and therefore violating the new revised nuisance regulation, that individual can be asked to move. If that person refuses to move, he or she can in fact be arrested and removed from Parliament Hill."

"Their personal property can be removed from Parliament Hill and they can be subject to a fine of $400 dollars...I believe that constitutes very arbitrary police power to interfere with the time honoured right of persons to in fact demonstrate on Parliament Hill. Joseph Maingot in Parliamentary Privilege in Canada refers to the fact that it is not the precinct of Parliament that is sacred but the function."

"I suggest that because there have not been restrictions on public access to Parliament Hill, apart from Criminal Code restrictions and reasonable arrangements made with the RCMP, something new has been injected which is potentially of grave concern. It could be used to stop all demonstrations on Parliament Hill."

Parliamentary Privilege in Canada by Joseph Maingot. 

Her Majesty the Queen and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed the Constitution Act of 1982 on Parliament Hill.

Constitution Act of 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms.

Fundamental Freedoms. Section 2.) Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: a.) freedom of conscience and religion; b.) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression including freedom of the press and other media of communication;  c.) freedom of peaceful assembly; and d.) freedom of association.

I believe that the public will eventually be banned from the House of Commons and Parliament Hill, our seat of democracy. savecfbrockcliffe. House of Commons Debates are going to be virtual from now on and televised after they have been heavily censored. 

More Crown assets that Canadians are losing, in my opinion: More Dominion Buildings. The northern half of the Sparks Street Mall. Commissioners Park--- The only people who can attend the Tulip Festival in 2021 are local residents---the rest of us can "enjoy" the event on our computer screens.

Parliament Hill changes.

 

Excavation on one of the most sacred properties in Canada. 

 NCC board: "Tram preference on Wellington, new pathways at LeBreton Flats, Master Plan for Gatineau Park" Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, January 21, 2021.

 The tram project will require the expropriation of land from Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court of Canada. This is what a local politician said about the endeavour:

"Kitchissippi Counc. Jeff Leiper worried some of the issues with the Wellington route would be 'deal breakers' with the 'stickiest' point being talks with the federal government to use the fringes of the parliamentary precinct. It would also affect the current eight entrances to the precinct." (From: "Sparks Street tunnel preferred route for Gatineau tram." CBC News, September 2, 2020.)

The Paliamentary Precinct encompasses the Parliament Buildings; Parliament Hill; the Supreme Court of Canada; Library and Archives Canada; Wellington Street and properties across from the Hill; the Senate of Canada (the former Union Station, where I was employed during the early 1980's) and the northern half of the Sparks Street Mall. The precinct is untouchable. You do not build pyramids, underground parking lots and condos on sacred ground.

Parliament Hill is unceded Algonquin First Nation territory.

Wellington Street is part of the Confederation Square National Historic Site of Canada:

Senate Bill S-203:

The Constitution Act, 1982

"In 1976 the Parliament Buildings and the grounds of Parliament Hill were designated as National Historic Sites of Canada given their importance as the physical embodiment of the Canadian government and as a focal point for national celebrations." The National Historic Sites are bounded by Wellington Street, the Rideau Canal, the Ottawa River and Kent Street.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon visit Parliament Hill. CBC Archives, audio.

House of Commons Debates  Ottawa  December 21, 1963. 

Legal Title-"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 for 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 thereto."

"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 Land Grants Act, R.S. 1952 Can.,ch. 224 and Ordnance and Admiralty Lands Act, R.S. 1927 Can.,ch. 115."

A photograph that I took of Princess Diana on Parliament Hill, June 20, 1983.

 CBC News image, June 18, 2020.

Historic events that took place on the Hill.

Her Majesty the Queen signed the Constitution Act of 1982. I was there.

The vigil for John Lennon. People gathered near the Centennial Flame and sang "Give Peace a Chance."

The Changing of the Guard ceremony.

The RCMP Musical Ride.

Canada Day celebrations.

Northern Lights.

HRH Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark, 1967. The photo was taken by my Dad.

Princess Margrethe near the Centennial Flame.

More family photos.

My maternal great-grandfather.

 

The National Capital Commission is not renovating Place du Portage for office workers.

Place du Portage 111 targeted for major renovations. Link2Build. Aprl 29, 2020. "The NCC is considering plans to significantly renovate a major federal government office complex in Gatineau. The Place du Portage 111 office complex houses approximately 4,800 civil servants from Ottawa and Gatineau-most working with Public Services and Procurement Canada...Phase 1 includes replacing the building envelope and rehabilitating the base building. The proposal also calls for redesigning the public realm along the south face of the building. Phase 2 involves a complete redesign of the public realm on the north side of the building and the improvement of the east-west connections through demolition of the Place d'Accueil Complex."

1.) Thousands of Place du Portage 111 employees have already vacated the complex because it is being privatized, in my opinion: "Nearly 2,500 public servants to be moved for Portage 111 renovations." CBC News, September 5, 2018. "Approximately 2,460 of 4,500 employees who work at Portage 111 will be moved between October and June 2019, according to an email from a Public Services and Procurement Canada spokesperson. The department said they will be in temporary offices until 2025."

2.)  A statement from PWGSC in October of 2020: "Much of the government-owned Ottawa-Gatineau portfolio is obsolete....There is room for the private sector to create new space."

3.)   Government properties have been converted into apartments:  Constitution Building, 305 Rideau Street, Ottawa.   Former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Headquarters, Jarvis and Mutual Streets, Toronto.   A former CBC warehouse, 90 Sumach Street, Toronto.

4.)  Employment "hubs" are being created throughout the region. "Federal government opens alternative work hubs for public servants." Ottawa Citizen, June 3, 2019."The federal government announced Monday that it will be providing federal public servants with 385 work spaces across five sites in the National Capital Region. The pilot project, called GCcoworking, is being spearheaded by Public Services and Procurement Canada and seeks to provide federal government employees with flexible workplaces separate from their regular offices or homes." The locations are:  480 boulevard de la Cite, Gatineau;   L'Esplanade Laurier;  335 River Road;  Place d"Orleans;   555 Legget Drive, Kanata.   

5.)  Within a few years PWGSC will no longer exist. Phase 111 will then become vacant. 

Surplus Government of Canada properties.

 The Constitution Building on 305 Rideau was converted into apartments. Library and Archives Canada is being relocated to the Lebreton Flats. The Lorne Building on 90 Elgin is gone. The National Capital Commission and City of Ottawa have big plans for Place du Portage Phase 111 in Gatineau and eventually all of the Four Phases.  The Sir John Carling Building is gone. Skyline Towers and the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building were sold to Larco. Temporary Building No. 8 was located on Queen Juliana Park and the park is included in a land deal between a hospital, the National Capital Commission and Public Works. The Minister of Public Works Howard Charles Green said that Queen Juliana Park on 870 Carling Avenue would always be an open space:

House of Commons Ottawa June 16, 1958. Hon. George James McIlraith (Ottawa Centre) Liberal: "Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the minister is now prepared to make the statement he said he would make concerning the policy of the government with respect to buildings on the central experimental farm."

The Hon. Howard Charles Green (Vancouver Centre). Minister of Public Works; Leader of the Government in the House of Commons; Progressive Conservative Party House Leader. Progressive Conservative. "The policy is that no buildings will be built on the central experimental farm except buildings for the Department of Agriculture."

Mr. McIlraith:"If I may pursue the question a bit further, has the minister come to any conclusion as to what will be done with the land on the experimental farm when they are removed?"

Mr. Green: "I take it that the hon. member for Ottawa West refers to temporary buildings Nos. 5 and 8. For some years the policy has been when the temporary buildings are torn down nothing will be constructed on the site."

Mr. Mcilraith: "I want to commend the minister for continuing the policy set out a few years ago by the Liberal administration in that regard. I believe he will agree that it is a very satisfactory policy."

"The largest chunk of money in the federal government is in it's real estate holdings."

"My guess, based on preliminary research that I had gathered, was that it was pushing $60 billion." A quote from the Hon. Erik Nielsen, Minister of Public Works (1979-80); Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (1984-86) and Minister of National Defence.From page 269 of the book "On the Take" by Stevie Cameron.

The Nielsen Report, 1980.

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

House of Commons Ottawa  November 22, 1991. MP Dennis Mills (Broadview-Greenwood): "Madam Speaker, when I got up this morning and headed to the House I actually had no intention of speaking...Then in my office I read part of Bill C-3, an act respecting the acquisition, administration and disposition of real property by the Government of Canada. I know that all of us were in support of this bill, but as I started to reflect on what is really going on in this bill I became concerned. I do agree that anything we can do to make the operations of the Government of Canada more efficient should be supported."

"There is another aspect of this bill which disturbs me immensely. It concerns me that in one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible that there will be no Crown land assets left...I think of my own city of Toronto and the way the government has disposed of Harbourfront lands...the CBC lands. This is a bill that will make developers of every region and every city of Canada ecstatic."

"As a result of this bill if a line department has a Crown asset, a land asset, which does not meet that particular department's needs, the department will have the ability to put that land basically out to tender...That is not what the government is all about. We do not run this country by line departments. It may be that the railway lands of this country are no longer of any use to the railways. As a result of the way this country has dismantled our national railway system the lands do not have the same value any more. That does not mean the Crown land could not have a value and a purpose in some other strategic plan or overall objective to serve the people of Canada."

A statement by MP Dennis Mills in the House of Commons, May 15, 1992.

The plan to dismantle the Rideau Canal, Ottawa to Kingston, Ontario. House of Commons Ottawa May 26, 1970: MP Edmund Boyd Osler (Winnipeg South Centre, Manitoba) Liberal: "...I have had the pleasure of boating on the Rideau Canal. All one has to do is spend an afternoon reading the historical backround on the life of Colonel John By, look at some of the stones on the banks of the Canal and at some of the wooden gates to understand the wonderful craftsmanship, engineering skill and workmanship which went into this project." "What a crime it would have been had all this been allowed to go...I gather it was only a few years ago that the federal government decided that it was worth preserving. Things of that sort are not built today and they must be preserved."  ( The TV Ontario documentary "Tripping the Rideau Canal" is on YouTube.)

The Daly Building was part of Confederation Square.

Daly Building in Grave Danger - Heritage Ottawa-Summer of 1984. "Earlier reports indicated that CN Hotels were interested in restoring the Daly Building as an adjunct to the Chateau Laurier's own conference and meeting facilities, and were negotiating with the Department of Public Works to trade a piece of CN property for the Daly Building...CN might insist that the federal government give them the right to demolish the building."  "Another sure thing dictated by economics is that CN will not replace the Daly with a mere 5-storey building. Instead, they will likely put up a high rise which will dwarf the Chateau and the Conference Centre (Union Station) across the street. The Daly is an important building. Help save it by calling or writing the manager of the Chateau Laurier Hotel, Mayor Marion Dewar and the president of CN Real Estate.

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  The hotel is on the left, while the Daly Building is on the right. Photo is from William James Topley, Archives of Canada.