The federal government has — at least for now — scrapped plans to create the Portrait Gallery of Canada, which was once planned for Centretown but last year became the focus of a national bidding battle.
Heritage Minister James Moore made the surprise announcement on Friday, stating in a press release that the decision was made because none of the plans proposed in a nine-city competition for the gallery met “the government’s requirements” and that the process “failed to meet the best interests of the Portrait Gallery and taxpayers.
“In this time of global economic instability, it is important that the federal government continue to manage its own affairs prudently and pragmatically,” said Moore. “We have therefore decided not to pursue this project further at this time.”
The idea to transform the former U.S. Embassy on Wellington Street into a national portrait gallery was initially put forward by the Liberal government. The gallery, under the auspices of Library and Archives Canada, was slated to open in 2005 and was expected to cost $22 million.
However, the opening date got pushed back to 2007 and the approximate cost almost doubled to $40 million and when the Conservatives reviewed the original plans in 2006.
The government then abruptly stopped the construction of the gallery.
Although millions of dollars had already gone into renovations and planning at the former U.S. embassy, the Conservative government proposed a new idea last November: a competition among major cities across Canada to win the right to become home of the gallery.
Critics of the new proposal had argued that a national portrait gallery belonged in the nation’s capital and that it would find no better home than 100 Wellington St.
Now, with no plans for a gallery at all, both Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar and Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes have expressed their disappointment and frustration over the government’s handling of the issue.
Neither Dewar nor Holmes could be reached directly. But most Ottawa politicians, cultural leaders and business officials denounced the federal government’s willingness to move the proposed gallery out of the national capital region.
The Conservatives further enraged local officials when the bidding process excluded federally-owned buildings – including the former U.S. embassy – from consideration as a potential site for the new gallery.
An alternative site in Ottawa for the portrait gallery — also in Centretown, as part of a development with two, 27-storey towers on what is now a parking lot between Lisgar, Nepean and Metcalfe streets — was controversial.
The Department of Canadian Heritage noted in Friday’s announcement that the collection of paintings and photographs of prominent Canadian figures — currently held in the national portrait collection of Library and Archives Canada — would remain accessible through travelling exhibitions and other public programs.
The artworks are currently housed at the archives’ state-of-the-art storage facility in Gatineau, Que.