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The National Capital Commission’s grand vision of a spectacular waterfront park along the Ottawa River in Gatineau could be launched sooner than anticipated after the capital region’s two most powerful cabinet ministers gave it a major boost this week.
Treasury Board President John Baird declared his support for the NCC’s long-term plan to develop the river’s shoreline for the benefit of all Canadians, and Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Lawrence Cannon’s vow to use his political muscle to move the Museum of Science and Technology to Jacques Cartier Park could provide the spark for the waterfront development, experts say.
Mr. Baird and Mr. Cannon make a powerful tag-team in cabinet and their support for the waterfront beautification could tilt the scales in favour of the NCC’s plans, even at a time when the very existence of the agency is being questioned.
Caroline Andrew, the director of the University of Ottawa’s Centre on Governance, says even though Mr. Cannon and Mr. Baird are coming at the issue from different directions, they appear to share the same vision. In particular, Ms. Andrew sees the relocation of the science museum in Gatineau as something of a masterstroke. The science museum at Jacques Cartier would not only enhance the waterfront, but provide the eastern anchor of a development that could stretch to Bate Island.
“One of Stephen Harper’s big political lines is to build up his political support in Quebec and if Mr. Cannon is pushing hard on the museum, he’ll get it. But it is not as if the plan is stupid,” said Ms. Andrew, an expert in Ottawa-Gatineau politics.
“The relocation of the museum fits in with the vision of developing the waterfront. This is obviously good politics, but it fits well with the vision of developing and reusing the waterfront for people. Politics and planning are in harmony here.”
Ms. Andrew said cities like Montreal, Vancouver and Chicago are enhancing their cities with waterfront projects and Ottawa will be wise to learn from them. She said the only thing that could cause problems for Mr. Cannon’s plan is if someone as equally powerful, like Mr. Baird, opposes the museum’s relocation. But that seems unlikely, she says, given that the War Museum has just been completed in Ottawa. Besides, Mr. Baird will likely see the benefits of the science museum’s relocation to Gatineau and support it.
Since the days of Ottawa’s planner Jacques Greber, the NCC has eyed the industrial lands along the Ottawa River for redevelopment and beautification, with Victoria and Chaudiere islands considered the jewels and prime building blocs in the grand vision.
Numerous plans and projects, ranging from gardens, wilderness park, cafes, hotels, houses, museums and a boardwalk over the historic dam at the falls, have been proposed at one time or another to transform the waterfront. A plan unveiled in 1998 outlined the NCC vision with construction of a 137,000-square-foot aboriginal centre on the east side of Victoria Island, near the Portage Bridge, as a tribute to the First Nations.
That project, and a major waterfront park on industrial land along the north shore of the river, have always been the dream of NCC chairman Marcel Beaudry. The aboriginal centre would include office space, a small museum and recreation centre. On the west side, between Portage and Chaudiere Bridge, the proposals included condominium apartments, restaurants, and office buildings.
A consultant’s report for the seven-hectare Chaudiere Island listed two development scenarios, the first of which included homes and office space. The second option had no homes, but a large office space, stores and a restaurant. For Bate Island, a picturesque four-hectare riverfront land, the plan included a 60-room luxury inn, including restaurant, banquet hall and conference/convention centre.
The NCC vision has long been thwarted for the most part because the owners of Chaudiere and, until recently, the Scott Paper lands, have refused to sell. In 2003, however, the NCC purchased the Scott Paper site, next to the Museum of Civilization, for $36 million, but under the terms of the sale, the company has 25 years to move out.
Chaudiere however, remains out of reach. In 1972, E.B. Eddy agreed to sell its entire holdings at the falls to the federal government for about $62 million and move out over the following 10 to 15 years. But the company backed out of the deal in 1977. In the meantime, the Eddy property was acquired by Domtar and efforts by the NCC to buy the land have not been successful. Last year, Domtar closed its paper-making operations on the island and at the time, a spokesman said the company would listen if the NCC showed interest in the site. An NCC spokeswoman said at the time that the agency didn’t have money but Mario Tremblay, another NCC spokesman, said this week the agency remains very much interested in acquiring the property.
Mr. Baird told the Citizen editorial board this week that the river’s shoreline is a national treasure that should be preserved and developed for the benefit of all Canadians.
“You have a few acres in the centre of our nation’s capital, and it will be a terrible loss if we see condominiums like was done on Daly,” he said.
“I’d hate to see us lose that land. It should be a national treasure.”
Mr. Baird considers the waterfront a magnificent opportunity for the transformation of the capital, but he doesn’t want it developed the way the Daly site turned out.
“I thought the Daly site (development) was just terribly unimaginative and we really lost a jewel of a piece of land. It is not even a nice-looking condominium. It’s an eyesore,” he said.
“I would rather have sod there. Grass would have been better than the condominium there.”
While Mr. Baird slams one of the legacy projects of the outgoing chairman, the NCC may well benefit from his strong support of the waterfront vision.
Mr. Cannon may have called the very existence of the NCC into question, but he and Mr. Baird remain the agency’s best allies, certainly on the waterfront vision. If the NCC needs money to purchase Chaudiere, it couldn’t ask for better frontmen than powerful ministers.
Indeed, NCC watchers like researcher Ken Rubin have little doubt it will survive and continue with its work. Mr. Rubin says the government has already spelled out the kind of NCC it wants in the accountability legislation and the Tories are unlikely to go in an opposite direction and kill the agency.
Ms. Andrew agrees. Having been elected on accountability and transparency, the Conservative government cannot just reform the NCC under some backroom arrangement, she says. Ms. Andrew believes Mr. Cannon wants to show that the government is serious about making the NCC accountable and it wants to go about it publicly.
“His comments are framed to show they are serious about changing the NCC. It seems to me that they are building the public argument for the changes that may come,” she said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006