Printed from the Review
City wants to host national gallery
Posted By COREY LAROCQUE
Niagara Falls should be in the running to host a new national portrait gallery originally to be built in Ottawa, but which is now open to bids from nine of Canada’s biggest cities, says Coun. Wayne Thomson.
“Where else can you get 14 or 15 million visitors a year coming to the municipality?” Thomson said during Monday’s council meeting.
For six years, the federal government had plans to convert the former American embassy, across the street from the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, into an art gallery to exhibit portraits of prominent Canadians and historical figures.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government changed that plan, giving nine Canadian cities the chance to compete for the right to host it.
Niagara Falls is not one of them. But it should be, said city councillors who voted for Thomson’s suggestion to pressure Ottawa to consider the Honeymoon Capital.
City hall will send a resolution to Niagara Falls MP Rob Nicholson, asking the government to give Niagara Falls the chance to host the gallery.
“Anything like this makes sense for Niagara Falls,” Nicholson said Tuesday.
Nicholson added the decision where to put the gallery will be made by the federal heritage department.
Traditionally, national museums are located in or around Ottawa, the national capital. But the Conservatives have asked for other major cities to submit proposals to host it.
“If Niagara Falls wants to be included, I would be glad to bring that resolution to the minister (of heritage).”
The cities that have the chance to bid on it are Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
The criteria for hosting the gallery are based partly on the host city’s ability to draw tourists.
The Canadian Press quoted federal heritage minister Josee Verner saying the cutoff size for cities in the running was 350,000. The cities have to be a big enough tourism draw to support a gallery, Verner said.
The population of Niagara Falls is 82,000, but it’s part of the Regional Municipality of Niagara, which has about 430,000 people. In Canada, Niagara Falls is second only to Toronto in the number of tourists it attracts each year.
Thomson said Queen Street, near the intersection of River Road, would be an ideal location for the national gallery to be located. It’s an area already frequented by tourists from around the world and putting a gallery there would help revitalize the historic downtown core, he said.
Former prime minister Jean Chretien unveiled plans for the gallery in 2001.
The old embassy building became available when the United States built a new embassy on Sussex Drive, east of the Parliament Buildings. The project has been on hold since Harper’s Conservatives were elected early in 2006.
The government’s criteria means four entire provinces - Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island - are out of the running because they don’t have a city large enough to sustain such a gallery.
clarocque@nfreview.com
Article ID# 775191
© 2007 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review.
Related posts:
- Armoury to honour Falls’ rich military heritage
- Niagara Falls Downtown project still alive
- Niagara Falls Downtown property owners like idea of negotiation, not expropriation for revitalization
- Niagara Falls Main and Ferry revitalization could include expropriation
- Niagara Falls council wants to sell to Lichtman
