"The National Capital Commission’s (NCC) Board of Directors, during their board meeting held this afternoon in Ottawa, demonstrated its continued commitment to the long-term protection and integrity of Gatineau Park by confirming that Gatineau Park, the jewel in the NCC's crown, does in fact have boundaries. The Board also discussed a strategy for not losing track of the boundaries again in the future, another example of how the NCC is working to maintain Gatineau Park as an important greenspace in Canada’s Capital Region."

"Whatever they are conserving, it certainly isn't taxpayers' money as they travel the capital in a fleet of shiny trucks doing their dogged doggie duty in pairs, decked out in enough expensive gear for the Afghanistan war, save the artillery.

"The NCC bowser brigade should not be confused with the large numbers of provincial conservation officers on the public payroll, nor with the many hound hounders working for municipal canine control departments.

"These are federal mutt-minders wandering the nation's capital on the payroll of taxpayers from Comox to Come By Chance.

"God forbid a local dog-catcher might deal with pet problems on federal land - nosirree, clearly we need a separate bureaucracy.

"If all this sounds like a waste of public money, it is at least in the grand tradition of what may well be Canada's most redundant government agency.

"Once considered somewhat useful, the National Capital Commission now sucks almost $100 million a year out of Canadian taxpayers' pockets for federal pooch patrols and other essentials of life as we know it."

"Stroget is one of the world's great streets. Lined with historic buildings, it winds for 1.8 kilometres through the heart of the city and connects two squares. The attractively decorated stores run the gamut from top Danish companies such as Georg Jensen, for jewelry and works in silver, to fast food and jeans.

"In contrast, Ottawa's pedestrian street - the Sparks Street Mall - has seen better days. On many winter mornings, smokers shiver in doorways. A few office workers hurry past vacant storefronts, blank walls, and undistinguished window displays. Busiest at lunch, the five-block mall offers little reason to linger past quitting time."

"The National Capital Commission spent nearly $10,000 last year sending Christmas poinsettias to MPs, senators, bureaucrats and other officials, newly released records show.

"[...]Records tabled last week in the House of Commons in response to a question from Mr. Reid show that the cost of the program totalled more than $46,000 for the past 10 years.

"But the price of sending out of the flowers doubled last year because it included the cost of shipping and delivery that had previously been done by NCC staff.

"The records show that poinsettias sent to MPs cost $881, with another $326 spent to send them to senators and $8,193 to send them to unspecified unelected officials.

"The NCC says that sending poinsettias is a holiday tradition that dates back more than 25 years, when the commission used to grow the flowers in its own greenhouse. The commission switched to a private supplier in 1995.

"'It really is a gesture of thanks for those that have collaborated in building a capital for all Canadians, from the chair to people that he or she has worked with,' said spokeswoman Kathryn Keyes."

"Ms. Lemay, a 45-year-old engineer who has lived mostly in the Ottawa-Gatineau region since childhood, won the CEO job after 15 years of work with municipal governments, followed by a stint as chief executive of Engineers Canada, the national association of engineers. She says that in her work for that group, she travelled the country extensively and she wants to have the capital reflect the diversity she saw and found so interesting.

"'We've got to find a way to be the real reflection of Canada. I think that part's missing,' the University of Ottawa graduate said.

"Ms. Lemay was hired by the federal government, but reports to the NCC board. She started the job in January."

"But when an engineer from Public Works and Government Services Canada investigated the state of the building, which is owned by the National Capital Commission, he found toxigenic mould.

"'There is a high risk to the Crown to proceed with this project,' engineer Joseph Wong reported.

"'This facility presents a risk for developing significant mould-related problems that can induce allergies and other health and comfort problems,' he wrote.

He reported that replacement of walls to solve the mould issue in the office areas had not fixed the problem.

"'The issue of mould will not go away,' wrote Mr. Wong. 'It will be a great challenge to mitigate the potential dispersion of mould spores within the building due to the traffic and openness of the space.'

[...]The source of the water appears to have been a leaking water intake at the Rideau Falls power plant next door, owned by Fortis Power. Repairs were done last summer and fall and now the NCC is waiting to see if there is more water infiltration when the spring runoff begins.

In one of his e-mails last spring, Mr. Wong said the high water table in the area could pose a long-term threat. "This problem will never go away," he said."

"A couple of weeks before the trial, I was sent a package of information by the National Capital Commission. It contained the officer's notes. There were a few omissions and discrepancies. He never describes George, for example, and I am quite certain that I gave him my name before we entered the garage; nor did he mention my reason for refusing to show ID. He did note that he had written the incorrect offence number on the ticket (which had led to my conviction for "Possess Liquor"). But what was most interesting was his description of what had happened after we entered the NAC garage:

"'I called the RCMP for assistance. I followed him to his vehicle (and he) put his dog in it. I recorded the plate number and told him he would be charged for the off leash offence. I left as he got in the car and started the engine. I met four RCMP officers outside the lot and we waited for him to come out. Two bike officers went in to look for him. ... The RCMP constable and myself went back to the car. Mr. Milner was not in it, but the dog was. We then drove around the area for 15 minutes, looking for him without success. I informed my supervisor who came on scene ...'

"Four RCMP and two NCC officers, all for George and me! It doesn't seem quite so funny now - after Robert Dziekanski. Good thing I managed to elude them.

"Ask the National Capital Commission, Parks Canada and the Quebec government who owns a 61.5-square-kilometre section of Gatineau Park near Lac Lapêche and it's impossible to get a straight answer.

"In fact, no one really seems to know who owns the property, which is nearly half the size of Kanata.

"Jean-Paul Murray, a Gatineau Park activist and Senate speech writer says the confusion is due to bureaucratic mismanagement and a lack of political will to make Gatineau Park into a national park protected from new housing development and roads that split it up."

"Once one of Ottawa’s prime industrial areas, LeBreton Flats saw some 2800 residents moved in 1962, when the federal government expropriated the land and bulldozed the homes and businesses that had existed there. The purpose was to improve the view of the Parliament buildings when approaching from the west.

"Plans for redevelopment have come and gone, but in 2004, the National Capital Commission announced its plans to begin in earnest and put the first Phase of the development out for proposals, and Phase One is underway.

"The NCC is set to embark on Phase Two, and will use the same process as it did for Phase One."

Alert readers will recall that the NCC's famously bungled "process" for Phase One resulted in all of one bid, from Claridge, known more for their deep pockets than the quality of their building.

The Dialogue will take place Saturday, January 19, 2008, from 10-2 pm, at the Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Avenue. Visit Dewar's website for details.

"The NCC's urban-design experts have done a detailed analysis of how the new building on Colonel By Drive will affect postcard views of the capital. This includes a three-dimensional video showing what the views of downtown will be like once the new building is in place when people are driving along Colonel By Drive toward Rideau Street."

"With one of the Greenbelt's two chief purposes in ruins, it's reasonable to discuss whether parts of it can be put to better use, as Mr. Mills (a former publisher of the Citizen) proposes.

"Finding urban uses for parts of the Greenbelt must not be done hurriedly or arbitrarily. The jury will be staying out on the NCC's development of LeBreton Flats for a long time, but in principle, it's a bad example to follow: the commission kept the land for 40 years before devising a competition to develop it that was so problematic that, in the end, only one builder bid for the rights to the most sought-after parcel in Ottawa-Gatineau. That's no way to run the NCC lands."

"With one of the Greenbelt's two chief purposes in ruins, it's reasonable to discuss whether parts of it can be put to better use, as Mr. Mills (a former publisher of the Citizen) proposes.

"Finding urban uses for parts of the Greenbelt must not be done hurriedly or arbitrarily. The jury will be staying out on the NCC's development of LeBreton Flats for a long time, but in principle, it's a bad example to follow: the commission kept the land for 40 years before devising a competition to develop it that was so problematic that, in the end, only one builder bid for the rights to the most sought-after parcel in Ottawa-Gatineau. That's no way to run the NCC lands."

Also recently announced were two new board members - a Kory Bobrow from Montreal, who has served on various boards of some sort or another, and, somewhat more interestingly, former Ottawa mayor Jacquelin Holzman.

According to the Citizen, "Mr. Mills had a long newspaper career that began as a reporter with the London Free Press and included several executive positions with the Southam Newspaper Group. He is dean of the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design at Algonquin College." He is perhaps most notorious for being sacked from the Citizen by the Aspers back in 2002. Contrasted with Marcel Beaudry, he should at the very least bring a fresh outsider's perspective to the job, being neither a former developer or politician, and, as a former ink-stained wretch at the Citizen, a little less mistrust of the press and a more relaxed attitude to open board meetings. NCC Watch wishes Mr. Mills full enjoyment of his new sinecure.