How the federal government hurts our city and its future
It stifles vision by disrupting plans and ignoring innovation,
The federal government is failing Ottawa.
As demonstrated by a recent election debate hosted at city hall, the federal government has a disproportionate impact on Ottawa. It has power over the life of our city and diminishes our urban landscape.
We need only look at two places — the Parliamentary Precinct and the canal — to experience this failure.
We’ve all heard about the meddling of the federal government. They’re robbing us of important acreage at the Experimental Farm. They close public pathways as a revenue-generating ploy.
They’re trashing the Long Term Vision and Plan of the Parliamentary Precinct by plunking the out-of-place Memorial to the Victims of Communism in what is scheduled to become a new justice building (but should probably remain a public park).
And on Friday, Ottawa Centre Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna reminded us of another failure by the government: the old U.S. embassy building sits unused on one of the city’s, and the country’s, most prominent streets.
The building, on the south side of Wellington Street, has been vacant for a decade. There were plans to open a National Portrait Gallery there, but those plans were scuttled by the Conservative government. Now this building sits empty, begging to be used.
It’s important that we do something with this building that is beneficial to the city. Another office or embassy will do little to attract and engage people. Wellington is a bit of a wasteland — all government buildings and one church. Bureaucracy and worship aside, what is there to draw residents?
We have no waterfront because the federal government thinks it’s more important for people to be able to flee the core at 80 km/h.
A gallery, a museum, a library, a restaurant. These would bring a new vibe to the street. But whatever the plan, the government must do something that will engage the city and residents, not merely house another phalanx of politicians and bureaucrats.
McKenna’s media conference came on the heels of the announcement that Parks Canada has signed a 42-year contract with Ottawa Boat Cruise to provide services on the waters of the canal (this after bungling the situation for 2015, in which we saw no tours and the shuttering of 8 Locks Flat). I will be an octogenarian before any radical innovation can occur.
Granted, there is talk of making some changes — such as having multiple stops along the canal and integrating the canal and river tours — and there is hope for more innovation to come, though no details are being specified.
There’s no sign of a visionary transformation. It sounds like tinkering and modest, incremental improvements. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s far less than we deserve.
We don’t need cruises for tourists. We need a waterfront that engages our urban landscape. We need transportation and recreation. We need complete integration between the land and the water, not a strip of grass with a feeble path.
This is the biggest issue. The National Capital Commission, another federal agency, is holding our canal hostage. We can’t develop our waterfronts because the NCC won’t let us. We’re little children who just want to go and play by the water, but we’re scolded by our parents.
None of our central waterfronts are particularly accessible. We run thoroughfares along the Ottawa River and the canal. We have no waterfront because the federal government thinks it’s more important for people to be able to flee the core at 80 km/h.
It seems selfish to worry about local matters during the election, and, certainly, there a number of important issues to consider before marking your X, but the government constricts our ability to build a vibrant, dynamic city. Residents should raise these issues during the campaign and beyond.