- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,235
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly announced Thursday that the controversial Memorial to the Victims of Communism will be moved to the Garden of the Provinces from its previously proposed location next to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The $5.5-million memorial was first proposed in 2008, when a sponsoring group called Tribute to Liberty was created with the help of Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney.
The memorial received approval in principle from all parties a couple of years later and in 2011, the National Capital Commission offered a site at the Garden of the Provinces, on Wellington Street just east of LeBreton Flats.
The chosen site was initially met with enthusiasm by Kenney and Tribute to Liberty. But in 2013, the government announced a new 5,000-square-metre site near the Supreme Court had been selected.
That site had long been reserved for a future Federal Court of Canada building in the government’s Long Term Vision and Plan for the parliamentary and judicial precincts.
The new site attracted little notice until September 2014, when Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, protesting that the site had been “stolen” by the government for the memorial.
Others soon registered their protests, including Shirley Blumberg, a prominent Toronto architect who served on the jury that selected the winning design following a national competition.
Meanwhile, with Tribute to Liberty struggling to raise money from donors, the government quietly increased the taxpayer contribution to the memorial to more than $4 million.
Public concern about the project ramped up after images of the chosen design were released a year ago. As more voices spoke out against the memorial, public attitudes hardened and the project – designed to be a vote-getter for the Conservative government – gradually became a political liability.
Though work was supposed to begin on the memorial this year, it was delayed by NCC concerns about the designs scope and appearance and the need to remove contaminated soil on the chosen site.
Ultimately, with polls showing the memorial was hugely unpopular with Ottawa residents, the whole project was put on hold until after the election.
During the election campaign, the Liberal party came out against the chosen site.
Related
dbutler@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
The $5.5-million memorial was first proposed in 2008, when a sponsoring group called Tribute to Liberty was created with the help of Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney.
The memorial received approval in principle from all parties a couple of years later and in 2011, the National Capital Commission offered a site at the Garden of the Provinces, on Wellington Street just east of LeBreton Flats.
The chosen site was initially met with enthusiasm by Kenney and Tribute to Liberty. But in 2013, the government announced a new 5,000-square-metre site near the Supreme Court had been selected.
That site had long been reserved for a future Federal Court of Canada building in the government’s Long Term Vision and Plan for the parliamentary and judicial precincts.
The new site attracted little notice until September 2014, when Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, protesting that the site had been “stolen” by the government for the memorial.
Others soon registered their protests, including Shirley Blumberg, a prominent Toronto architect who served on the jury that selected the winning design following a national competition.
Meanwhile, with Tribute to Liberty struggling to raise money from donors, the government quietly increased the taxpayer contribution to the memorial to more than $4 million.
Public concern about the project ramped up after images of the chosen design were released a year ago. As more voices spoke out against the memorial, public attitudes hardened and the project – designed to be a vote-getter for the Conservative government – gradually became a political liability.
Though work was supposed to begin on the memorial this year, it was delayed by NCC concerns about the designs scope and appearance and the need to remove contaminated soil on the chosen site.
Ultimately, with polls showing the memorial was hugely unpopular with Ottawa residents, the whole project was put on hold until after the election.
During the election campaign, the Liberal party came out against the chosen site.
Related
- Timeline: Tribute to the Victims of Communism Memorial
- History of the Memorial to Victims of Communism
dbutler@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
