Early in 2006, Minister Lawrence Cannon, the federal minister responsible for the National Capital Commission, let it be known that the mandate of the NCC would be reviewed. Members of the Alliance immediately went to work on forming a coalition of environmental groups to hammer out a position on this matter. The “Coalition for NCC Renewal” began meeting in May and developed four papers: on Gatineau Park, on the Greenbelt, on NCC Land Holdings other than the Park and the Greenbelt, and on Governance.

Official announcement of the Review was on April 13. Composition and Terms of Reference were announced on August 2. (The Panel’s web site was closed down six months after delivery of its report. To obtain a copy of all submissions, contact the Office of Crown Corporation Governance at Transport Canada at (613) 991-2998.)

The Coalition’s submission, on behalf of ten organizations, is available here (303 KB). Its Annex D, the Coalition’s paper analyzing the NCC’s land holdings outside the Gatineau Park and the Greenbelt, was also published, in slightly modified form, in the July-September 2007 issue of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Trail & Landscape.

The Alliance’s Poets’ Pathway Committee also made a submission to the Review Panel. More on this here.

The Panel held two public consultation sessions, on November 9 and 15. It is expected to present its report to Minister Cannon in December.