Chelsea, August 3, 2016 – The Gatineau Park Protection Committee (GPPC) is condemning the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Liberal government for failing to stop construction of a new house at 787 Meech Lake Road.
“The NCC has the mandate and authority to acquire all private lands in the park; yet it persists in allowing construction of new houses that violate its master plan and will grossly inflate their cost to taxpayers,” today said GPPC deputy secretary Michael Lait, who is currently completing his PhD thesis entitled The Rotting Heart of Gatineau Park.
All master plans written for the park since 1952 emphasize that private lands pose serious problems to park management and must be eventually removed. As well, the most recent park plan and two NCC task forces have given highest priority to acquiring waterfront properties.
“Although the NCC’s acquisition mandate is clear, its weak-kneed and myopic leadership is allowing the continued rape of the Meech Lake shoreline. No wonder the chairman of the NCC Mandate Review Panel has called the agency’s management “timid” to the point of being “irrelevant,”[1] said GPPC secretary Jean-Paul Murray.
Moreover, a 1988 Treasury Board decision integrated all Gatineau Park private lands into the National Interest Land Mass (NILM), earmarking them for eventual acquisition. “On the basis of the 1988 Treasury Board NILM approval […],” says an NCC document, “the NCC was directed to acquire and consolidate non-federal lands identified as part of the NILM”[2] (italics ours).
“The cost of acquiring these properties is estimated to be about $100 million,[3] but what will it be ten years from now, after NCC CEO Mark Kristmanson has allowed countless more mansions to go up in Gatineau Park and around Meech Lake?” said Mr. Murray.
“This is the 132nd new house in Gatineau Park since 1992 – the 117th under a Liberal government – and the NCC board has a moral and fiduciary obligation to halt this construction and continued plunder of the public purse,” Mr. Lait said.
“Clearly, the NCC has lost control of the issue, and time has come for the Liberal government to step up to the plate, fulfill its commitments to protect Gatineau Park and expropriate the property at 787 Meech Lake Road,” said Mr. Murray. “We are calling on MPs Greg Fergus and Will Amos to stop hiding from the press and tell us what they intend to do to clean up this mess and protect Gatineau Park,” he added.
Mr. Amos and Mr. Fergus refused to speak to the press about Gatineau Park on two occasions: to the West Quebec Post on May 13, and to Radio-Canada on July 9.
“During the last election campaign, Mr. Fergus distributed a flyer where he promised to make Gatineau Park protection one of his ‘top priorities,’ and the time has come for him to act on his promise,” Mr. Lait said.
A recent study by the Municipality of Chelsea confirmed that 119 structures[4] have been built without permit at Meech Lake, 79 of them on the lakebed, which belongs to the federal government by virtue of a 1973 land exchange with the Province of Quebec.
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Information: Michael Lait, 613-291-2543; Jean-Paul Murray, 819-827-1803; Web site: www.gatineauparc.ca.
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[1] ‘Timid’ NCC could become irrelevant, scholar warns, by Mohammed Adam, Ottawa Citizen, January 3, 2012; La CCN « trop timide » pour bien jouer son rôle : Selon un expert en gouvernance, Le Droit, le 4 janvier 2012.
[2] About National Capital Commission Lands, National Capital Commission, http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/sites/default/files/pubs/NCC-About-National-Capital-Commission-Lands-Sept-2006.pdf
[3] Debates, House of Commons, March 7, 2014, p. 3690: http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/House/412/Debates/059/HAN059-E.PDF
[4] “The grass still not greener at Meech,” by Anastasia Philopoulos, The Low Down to Hull and Back News, September 9, 2015, pp. 1-13. http://www.lowdownonline.com/the-grass-still-not-greener-at-meech/
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