A group representing Canada’s horticultural industry is hoping to bring the International Horticultural Exhibition to Ottawa in 2017. Marketed as the “Olympics of Horticulture,” the proposed exhibition would bring the city its own botanical garden and more colour all around.
“It’s quite impressive to look at the other countries that have hosted such events and see how it transforms a city in a splash of colours,” says Michel-Antoine Renaud, managing director of the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance.
The proposal for the exhibition, dubbed Flora 2017, is being lead by the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association. It is currently seeking funding for the exhibition, which is estimated to cost $160 million.
Michel Gauthier, former executive director of the Canadian Tulip Festival who is spearheading the bid, says the association will be meeting with potential sponsors over the coming months.
According to economic planning group Deloitte & Touche LLP, the event has the potential to create $88.1 million in infrastructure legacies, up to 10-per-cent sustainable growth for the horticulture and tourism industries and around 4,800 new jobs.
Gauthier says many of these jobs will come with the exhibition itself which will require event planning and draw in tourists. He says it will also create many jobs in the horticulture industry that will remain long after the exhibition is finished.
“I always say those are jobs that are grounded in the soil. They’re not jobs that you can move to another country. They belong in all of our communities across the country,” Gauthier says.
The main locations for the exhibits would be at Lansdowne Park, Queen Juliana Park and the Marion Dewar Plaza at city hall and Confederation Park. The proposed Canadensis Botanical Garden would be built at Central Experimental Farm. Gauthier says Ottawa is the only capital city of all the G20 countries that does not have a botanical garden.
The International Association of Horticultural Producers will make its decision in September.