The National Capital Commission’s board of has chosen Tunney’s Pasture — a sprawling federal property about four kilometres west of Parliament Hill — as the best possible site for the Ottawa Hospital’s new Civic Campus.
The controversial decision — nine votes in favor, two against, and two abstained — was announced Thursday after months of deliberations and protests among some local residents about initial plans by the former Conservative government to build the new hospital across from the present one on an urban farm field used for crop and climate research by Agriculture Canada.
NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson said Tunney’s Pasture, the site of Health Canada’s current headquarters, is “the most suitable campus for a rapidly growing city.” The NCC board cited numerous reasons for the decision, including proximity to a new LRT line now under construction and existing parking structures.
A hospital on Tunney’s Pasture also preserves historic and research land on the Experimental Farm, where three of the 12 proposed sites were located.
Pierre Poilievre, the Ottawa area’s only Conservative MP, has said the 92-year-old building is desperate for replacement.
He has long advocated the location across the street from the current Civic Hospital on CEF farmland, saying the value of building a hospital on the adjacent field far outweighs the historical environmental research that would be lost.
He swiftly denounced the proposed Tunney’s Pasture site, saying the NCC’s decision is “forcing the hospital” to go to a “flawed location.”
When the Conservative government first announced a hospital replacement site in 2014, it pointed to the 60-acre farmland property across Carling Avenue from the Civic as the best location. But that decision was made without public input and caused an uproar.
Environmental activists and lobby groups immediately pushed back, expressing a desire to protect the farm for its scientific importance, greenspace and historical value.
Among the other proposed sites was the Natural Resources Canada complex of buildings north of the intersection of Carling and Booth streets. That location garnered considerable public support, according to a consultation summary report released by the NCC.
During the evaluation process, the NCC considered the opinions of nearly 8,000 citizens who gave their views on the options. Eighty-five per cent said emergency access to transportation routes was the most important factor and 84 per cent cited preparedness for major emergencies as the top criteria.
The NCC board will submit its recommendation to federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joly. If the federal government supports the Tunney’s Pasture site, the final decision would rest with the Ottawa Hospital.