NCC’s muzzling LeBreton bidders is overkill
It’s Ottawa’s most important redevelopment project in decades. But for much of the next year — and longer if schedules slip — the two teams competing to transform bleak, barren LeBreton Flats into a glistening, national-capital-worthy destination won’t be able to breathe a word in public about what they propose.
That’s because of a gag order that came into effect Tuesday and prevents the redevelopment proponents — the Devcore Canderel DLS Group; and the RendezVous LeBreton Group — from continuing to pitch their plans in the clear light of day. The National Capital Commission gave them two weeks to put their respective cases to the public; now they have shut down their websites, muzzled their media people and slunk into the shadows while an expert group pores over the proposals and makes some form of recommendation to the NCC board.
Why stifle discussion? The NCC argues this will safeguard the fairness and integrity of the highly charged competition, giving no one proponent an edge over the other. “This is a competitive commercial solicitation process and it is the NCC’s responsibility to ensure it is fair and impartial,” the commission said in a statement Tuesday. “The financial information includes commercial proprietary information of the private sector groups involved and the NCC has a duty to protect this commercially sensitive information, something that all participants in the process requested.” The NCC notes it is making information about the two competitors’ available on its website.
Yet muffling the voices of the business groups seems like overkill. It suggests a belief that the
It belies the public’s right to know. And there’s no reason to think we’ll have a better LeBreton because of it.
competitors, whose visions for the Flats are both alluring and diverse, will somehow use their wiles, money and connections to bend public opinion to their will and thus place unbearable pressure on the skittish officials making the recommendation to government.
The five-person evaluation committee will measure the proposals against 11 criteria, then take their conclusion to the NCC board, probably in April. While the board will then unmuzzle itself long enough to advise taxpayers which bid is proceeding to negotiations, the proponents still won’t be able to speak publicly. And as of Tuesday, your opportunity to do so was also a bit more limited: The public can’t fill in the NCC’s online feedback survey anymore. The commission counters that more than 8,000 people have already done so, and that a summary of their opinions will be released in April.
Meanwhile, secret talks with the recommended group will proceed into the fall, with the NCC hoping to name the winner in early 2017. Only then will the triumphant development group be permitted to again converse with the public.
Here’s the downside to conducting this process amid so many information constraints. Prior to the brief public consultation period that just ended, LeBreton was like every other large-scale project involving government and money: Rumours flew, information was leaked, a flawed and partial picture trickled out.
During the two weeks when they could speak publicly, both DCDLS and RendezVous LeBreton scrambled to put their visions out before that sliver of daylight faded. With the process under wraps again, we may expect more halftruths, behind-the-scenes lobbying, leaks to journalists and rumour-mongering. It belies the public’s right to know. And there’s no reason to think we’ll have a better LeBreton because of it.
(Incidentally, we at the Citizen aren’t muzzled. You can find our LeBreton coverage here: ottc.it/newlebreton)