HERITAGE OTTAWA, By Leslie Maitland

The current struggle to protect the Central Experimental Farm (CEF) from inappropriate development is certainly not a new one.

In 2008, the government rejected a proposal to relocate The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus to CEF lands, comparing the proposed use for a National Historic Site to "opening a hotel on Parliament Hill".

The Hospital, for its part, indicated that the Farm's lands were one of "many" options for the location of a new hospital campus.

So what has changed?

Certainly not the value of the Central Expermental Farm. Alternative hospital locations still exist. And the international value of scientific research relating to climate change and food supply - such as the ongoing research conducted on CEF lands - has only increased, along with Canada's pro-active role in protecting the health of our planet.

Heritage Ottawa continues to advocate for a win-win situation that preserves the Central Experimental Farm National Historic Site and its ongoing research, while seeing that the Ottawa Civic Hospital get the new campus that it requires.

Click the PDF link below to read the OTTAWA CITIZEN article from January 29, 2008 entitled "Not on Our Experimental Farm, Dr Kitts".

Leslie Maitland is Past-President and current Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Heritage Ottawa.