Poilievre backs site of victims of communism memorial

The minister for the national capital region endorsed the chosen location for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism Wednesday, saying downtown Ottawa doesn’t need another government building.

Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre said he saw no need to move the memorial away from its planned site on Wellington Street near the Supreme Court of Canada, despite objections from architectural groups, Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa-area MPs, who have asked the government to find another home for the project.

The memorial will occupy about half the 5,000-square-metre site on Confederation Boulevard between the Supreme Court and Library and Archives Canada.

“I think we’ve established a site and at this point I don’t see any need to change that,” Poilievre said.

The spot for the memorial is the same location government planning documents cite as the location of a new Federal Court building named for former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The previous Liberal government put the project on hold in 2005, and nothing has happened since.

“All that I’m hearing as an alternative is that we have yet another government building in downtown Ottawa and I haven’t had anybody call my office saying Ottawa needs more government buildings,” Poilievre said in an interview with the Citizen. “We want to have this tribute in a place where people will actually see it and that is the case with the planned site.”

The size and scope of the memorial have raised concerns from some architects and critics that it would overshadow the 75-year-old Supreme Court building, while an expert panel six years ago warned the National Capital Commission that the memorial didn’t meet NCC criteria for commemorations. The NCC’s External Committee of Experts on Commemorations said the theme for the memorial was “not sufficiently a Canadian story,” according to the minutes of its Feb. 19, 2009 meeting obtained by the Citizen.

“There are eight million Canadians who trace their roots back to countries that were, or are, oppressed by communism. Our soldiers fought in the Korean War to push back communism. As a result of their effort and the effort of our allies, South Korea is free today,” Poilievre told reporters at an event in Sandy Hill.

“This is one of the most murderous and odious ideologies in the history of humanity. It’s appropriate that we remember it and Canada’s contribution to defeating it.”

The government promised in the 2013 throne speech to complete the memorial, which now is set to cost $5.5 million with the federal government providing about $3 million.

Tribute to Liberty, the group behind the memorial, must raise the remainder.

Poilievre said he hasn’t received any requests for extra cash, but wouldn’t say what the government’s plan is should fundraising efforts fall short.

“I don’t want to speculate on hypotheticals,” Poilievre said.

I think we’ve established a site and ... I don’t see any need to change that.