OTTAWA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE EGGS N'ICONS SPEAKERS SERIES

Speaking Notes for Dr. Mark Kristmanson,
CEO of the National Capital Commission
on the occasion of:

    OTTAWA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
      EGGS N’ICONS SPEAKERS SERIES

                        Final

            Thursday September 11, 2014
         Sheraton Ottawa Hotel, Rideau Room
             8:10 am (arrive at 7:50 am)

               CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

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Thank you Mr. Faris.

Good morning and my thanks to the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce for this
opportunity to speak today about our work at the National Capital Commission.

I was appointed CEO in February of this year, and it is a truly great honor to lead this
organization that for many decades has worked to make our Capital a wonderful
place to live and, at the same time, to provide its unique signature.

The Minister responsible for the Capital region, the Honourable John Baird, recently
joined me in a meeting with our counterparts in Washington at the National Capital
Planning Commission.

We discussed the common challenges capital cities face such as achieving design
excellence, fostering a long-term planning vision, working successfully with all
levels of government, the private sector, diplomatic missions, and making our
capitals relevant to citizens living in other regions.

We also talked about how to do all this while adding value as a local partner to
create economically competitive and sustainable capital regions.

Of course, as Canadians, we spoke of this as the ‘Town and Crown’ relationship.

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Our Washington hosts, always unfailingly courteous, were too polite to mention that
200 years ago, in 1814, the Crown invaded to burn down the White House. (pause)

What they did say, though, is that following a period of great difficulty for the
District of Columbia in the 1990s, there was a concerted effort on all parts to make
the town and crown, by whatever name, work together effectively.

And today they have one of the most competitive city regions in the world.

I want to delve deeper into what I call the ‘Grey Zone’ between the Town and the
Crown, because it is here in this zone that we face many of our most interesting
challenges.

But first, let me sketch out what I believe you, as the business leaders of our
community, might wish to know about our organization, whose predecessors extend
all the way back to 1898 when Sir Wifried Laurier created the Ottawa Improvement
Commission.

This great tradition is captured in the elegant phrasing of the NCC’s founding
Legislation.

It tasks us with the planning, development, conservation and improvement of the
National Capital Region such that the nature and character of the seat of the Federal
Government reflects its national significance.

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To put it another way, it dedicates us to exceeding municipal norms in order to
create a Capital region worthy of this great country of Canada.

When I say exceed municipal norms, I mean that ideally we should neither duplicate
nor interfere in municipal activities; rather, we should complement the great work
of our cities.

So, let’s take planning as an example: the City of Ottawa has the authority to project
forward a planning horizon of twenty years.

The NCC’s Plan for Canada’s Capital currently in development extends from 2017 all
the way to the bicentennial in 2067.

That more distant horizon is important.

The NCC’s long-term perspective has preserved the Greenbelt, protected the views
to Parliament, and created assets such as the 93 kilometers of parkways, all of which
help to distinguish our nation’s capital.

Another long-term benefit is the NCC’s design review and approval function that has
demonstrably raised the level of design excellence on federal lands in the capital.

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The NCC is the federal steward of about 11% of the National Capital region—that’s
more than 473 square kilometers—making us the largest single landholder in the
region.

I wonder, how many of you have used an NCC pathway in the past year? How many
have travelled on an NCC parkway or driveway?

Among our 1,600 properties are the six official residences, symbolic assets for our
country, as well as key heritage buildings and wide array of green assets: 13 urban
parks, 200 kilometers of pathways, agricultural facilities, wetlands, ecological
corridors, marinas, golf courses, commemorations, statuary and public art.

Our responsibility is to manage, conserve and protect these assets on behalf of all
Canadians, but also to harness their value to foster an economically successful
capital region.

Recently, I asked a veteran diplomat representing one of our long time allied nations
what defines the signature of the national capital of his country.

He thought it was his capital city’s role in hosting the headquarters of many
international institutions. This gave it a distinctive character.

What similarly defines our Capital, I asked?

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I found it interesting that his first reaction was that we should not underestimate
the importance of having such an excellent and easily accessible international
airport.

This is a tremendous advantage that others would like to have, he said.

Regarding our capital’s most distinctive quality? He thought, surely, it must be our
remarkable, direct proximity to a northern wilderness, highly unique, certainly for a
G8 capital.

And I believe he is right about that.

Just 15 minutes from Parliament Hill, and not much more than 30 minutes from the
airport, is Gatineau Park.

With over 2.7 million visits each year, it is second only to Banff in terms of Canadian
Wilderness Parks.

This high visitation rate presents us with a steep conservation challenge, but it also
serves as a major regional economic driver, one that aligns directly with this idea of
adjacency of the northern wilderness as a main element of our promise of value.

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In meetings with the mayors, councilors and citizens from municipalities
surrounding Gatineau Park we have been exploring how to foster economic
development AND conservation as a win-win for their communities and for the NCC.

Everyone agrees that ecological sustainability is directly proportional to the park’s
value as an economic driver.

The evolution of a city’s unique identity often takes a very long time, as the
knowledge of long-standing features accrues in people’s memories.

Think of Times Square in New York, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, or the canals of
Amsterdam.

I suggest to you that the NCC has played a major part in forging the brand-promise
of our Capital, and we know from surveys and feedback that it most often exceeds
visitors’ expectations.

A case in point is the world-renowned Rideau Canal Skateway.

Last year, we counted 1.2 million visits over the course of 58 skating days.

In a recent study, 42% of respondents indicated that their primary motivation for
attending the Winterlude festival was to skate on the Canal.

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The Skateway is free for everyone, but during its season visitors and residents
skating the canal will typically spend $68 million dollars, generating as much as
$160 million in economic activity.

We are proud to have built this capital asset over almost four decades into an
anchor winter attraction for the capital.

I could go on to speak about the thousands of event permits we issue for everything
from Bluesfest to weddings.

We provide the majority of capital stages, and we are experiencing a growing roster
of cultural and sporting events in the Capital.

I am delighted with our association with the Canadian Tulip Festival, whereby we
plant up to a million tulips, and provide the land for the festival’s activities.

This has resulted in an announcement today of a top 100 designation as a North
American Tourist destination.

With all of our land holdings and operations, the NCC generated just under 4,000
contracts last year, which represented over 53 million dollars in contracted good
and services awarded to over 1,100 companies.

These contracts range in nature from real estate management, property
maintenance to a variety of construction and specialized services.

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The NCC’s leasing portfolio consists of over 600 leases in the commercial, residential
and agricultural sectors.

Taken together, these activities weave us deeply into the fabric of the city and its
well-being.

This brings me back to the town and crown, and the ways we are reaching out to
reinforce the ongoing success of our region.

For example, we have worked closely with the OSEG to ensure the successful launch
of Landsdowne Park this summer, in particular by improving pedestrian safety, and
by temporarily allowing all the shuttle buses to travel on the Queen Elizabeth
Driveway.

Over the past several years our staff has worked hard to facilitate the City of
Ottawa’s light rail project, processing hundreds of land transactions, easements,
occupancy permits, and generally finding creative solutions to expedite progress on
this important infrastructure initiative.

Our staff is working closely with the Windmill Group developing the Domtar Lands
and Chaudières Island in order to create a wonderful new capital district.

This summer our Board approved a policy for community gardens so that we can
help the municipalities address fresh food provision in cases where they simply do
not have suitable land available.

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I could mention numerous initiatives, from safe cycling to wetlands management.
But the point I want to emphasize is that the NCC’s activities in that grey zone
between the crown and the town, so often passing unremarked, directly contribute
to the social and economic well-being of the region.

Many of you will be familiar with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Picture a pyramid where the very basic need for security forms the bottom and the
need for symbols and for esteem are at the top.

Where municipalities are vested with absolutely critical needs for policing, water,
and other services; the NCC provides for key needs at the apex of the pyramid,
particularly the expression of values and identity that are associated with a capital
city.

In this sense, we are additive, supplying that layer that is beyond municipal norms.

It means that we should perform municipal-like activities in a supportive role, and
only where the municipalities themselves are unable to do so, and where it is not
otherwise detrimental to our mandate. In these cases, we can and should help.

I believe these principles will help clarify how the NCC can add value to the
important work of our municipalities.

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It is essential that we work well together. We are in a competitive world of rising
city regions. Our resilience depends on consistent and strong cooperation.

To this end, our bilateral and trilateral meetings with the two Mayors and their
senior staff are off to a promising start.

I commend the leadership of the mayors in fostering a strong Capital region.

In fact, we at the NCC are feeling a great deal of forward motion. I would like to close
with some snapshots of some of the initiatives you will see in the coming months.

One such opportunity is the creation of a new signature development on the
LeBreton Flats, which is a top priority for our Minister and for the NCC’s Board of
Directors.

We are now preparing to go forward with a proposal call for a large tract of these
historic urban lands, located just to the west of the Parliamentary precinct, which
are now available for redevelopment.

Notably, we will be seeking proposals based on a major anchor public institution or
an attraction of regional or national significance, supported by a complementary
development scheme.

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The approach we will take is non-prescriptive and we will look to the private sector
to bring to bear all of its creativity and innovation to make this a new landmark in
the capital.

In the near future we will be implementing interim improvements to the Booth-
Parkway node based on a public design charrette we held in our new Capital
Urbanism Lab in May of this year.

We have now held sixteen of these events since I started in February and I have to
say that the level of public engagement has been very exciting and encouraging.

At the same location, on the other side of the street, we have begun constructing the
National Holocaust Monument.

We are working closely with the renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to realize this
project, which is attracting international interest.

For Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017, I believe we need to work together as a
region, governments, private sector and citizens, to make the capital memorable and
captivating for a great influx of visitors.

It should be beautiful by day and beautiful by night.

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By day, I hope we will see a general improvement in all expressions of urbanism in
the capital

By night, we hope to launch the first phase of a capital illumination plan: “green” –
reducing the overall electricity required, eliminating light pollution – and at the
same time enhancing the nighttime experience of our capital’s urban landscape.

I have touched on some of the challenges faced by Capital cities—long-term
planning, design excellence and partnerships—and how these are also great
opportunities.

I have traced the outline of how the National Capital Commission can add value in a
complementary way to strengthen the competitiveness of our region.

I very much appreciate having the opportunity to share this outlook with you today.

It is a great pleasure to be here and I look forward to working with the Ottawa
Chamber of Commerce to advance the national capital region.

Thank you.

END

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