Madam Chair and honourable members, adding Wellington Street to the parliamentary precinct is not a new idea. It is not a complex idea. It is a nation-building idea. We simply replace five lanes of trucks, buses and cars that bisect the parliamentary precinct with a space that welcomes Canadians and international visitors alike. It's a place to gather, to admire what are among the most magnificent Parliament buildings found anywhere in the world, a place to celebrate and learn about Canada, and a place for peaceful protest.
The current governance, ownership and security apparatus in and around the parliamentary precinct is awkward, if not dysfunctional. It's odd that the federal government has ownership and the RCMP full jurisdiction of Island Park Drive in a residential Ottawa neighbourhood but not Wellington Street or Sparks Street.
While serving on the board of directors of the National Capital Commission, and in the years thereafter, I proposed that Wellington Street become Canada’s national pedestrian mall. I wrote numerous op‑eds and made representations to all manner of government officials to that effect.
On the security question, I was thinking not of a convoy of trucks but of a single vehicle in an Oklahoma City terrorist incident in 1995, in which a rental truck was detonated in front of a federal building killing 168 people and causing 325 buildings to be demolished or damaged within a 16-block radius. While the security of the parliamentary precinct is an essential consideration in the use of Wellington Street, it was the idea of transforming it into a national pedestrian mall that captured the imagination and efforts of many citizens. Supporters of the vision organized as a group of citizens with a voice, a pen, a website, a petition and social media accounts, all with a goal of making our parliamentary precinct the best it could be.
The idea of marrying a national pedestrian mall with a tram to integrate the Ottawa and Gatineau transit systems in a loop project came naturally from our collaborative discussions. The transit loop would carry tremendous benefits for those who live, work and visit our national capital region. Imagine your constituents visiting the capital, touring Parliament Hill, then casually crossing Wellington Street to visit the Senate and the National War Memorial, and then hopping on a tram to the National Gallery and Nepean Point, to the Canadian Museum of History, to the Chaudière Falls, the War Museum, the Holocaust Monument, the Supreme Court and the Bank of Canada Museum. Imagine the federal public servants travelling seamlessly across provincial boundaries for work.
With a pedestrian mall and tram system in place, the opportunities to creatively showcase Canada’s national capital are endless. Simply put, Parliament Hill inspires me and others to build a better Canada. I even ran for Parliament as a Progressive Conservative, 33 years ago, in the 1988 election, in the very riding where Parliament Hill is located. I urge all parliamentarians to think 25, 50 and 100 years ahead about what is in the best interests of our capital region and of Canada. It is a place for people and a tram, not trucks, buses and cars.
We—and by that, I mean the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, the National Capital Commission and the federal government—have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realign our parliamentary precinct for the safety and benefit of all Canadians. The timing to implement an inspiring vision for Canada’s capital will never be better than it is today. All we need is vision and courage.
Thank you.