Category: Central Experimental Farm

January 30, 2016 Documents obtained through Access to Information lift the veil off the much-repeated assertion that, absolutely, 60 acres across the road from the Civic Hospital is the best and only option for a new campus. In March 2014 a senior official of The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) responded to the National Capital Commission answering the question “Why this piece of land?” Attached was a… 2007 Memo!  Also attached was

January 28, 2016 – Minister Catherine McKenna expresses concern about the lack of paperwork leading to the November 2014 “gift” of 60 acres of the Experimental Farm.  She agrees that Ottawa needs a new hospital but will look at all the options — CBC News story & video. An overwhelming number of the large number of comments consider this very good news.  More on the Heritage Ottawa web site. January

‘+ Shortly after the federal announcement, on November 26, 2014, a scientist at the Farm provided an Agriculture official involved in the negotiations with a summary of experiments taking place at Field No. 1.  In response, the official asked the scientist: “When would these experiments naturally end or would we ever stop the experiments/data collection?” The answer: “The plan is to keep the experiments running as long as possible for

‘+ On March 11, 2015 Heritage Ottawa sent a letter to the Hon. Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Historic Sites.  Here is Min. Leona Aglukkaq‘s reply.  On April 21, Heritage Ottawa sent similar letters to the Ontario Ministers for Health and Long Term Care; Tourism, Culture and Sport (Min. Michael Coteau replied); and Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Min. Jeff Leal replied).  Min. Yasir Naqvi (local MPP

‘+ David Reevely’s report in the Ottawa Citizen, with video, November 3, 2014 + Ottawa Citizen editorial, November 4, 2014 + David Reevely’s follow-up piece, about the dubious value of a heritage designation, November 4, 2014 + Randall Denley in the Ottawa Citizen opining that the C.E.F. should be turned into Ottawa’s Central Park, November 5, 2014   Go back to lead article and list of pages

‘+ Leslie Maitland, then-President of Heritage Ottawa, published “60 Acres to be Carved from the Central Experimental Farm, a National Historic Site of Canada,” November 4, 2014 See also letters from Heritage Ottawa to Messrs. Baird and Kitts,  December 18, 2014 + Julie Harris wrote, also on the Heritage Ottawa web site, “Central Experimental Farm’s Management Plan Should be Respected,” November 5, 2014 + A statement by Heritage Canada The