Tourism looking for silver lining in Canada Day move

Tourism boosters in Ottawa are trying to see the glass as half full now with news that Parliament Hill will be empty for Canada Day festivities starting in 2020.

CBC reported this weekend that due to the planned renovations to Centre Block on Parliament Hill, which are set to begin next year, there won't be space to host the main Canada Day event.

Ottawa Tourism's senior director of destination development Catherine Callary said losing the space is going to be an issue, but not an insurmountable one. 

"It's clear that when visitors come they want to have some kind of interaction with Parliament Hill," she said.

The government does not currently have a back-up site selected for the celebrations, with the other two official sites — Major's Hill Park and the grounds of the Canadian Museum of History — considered to be too small for the event.

Callary said even though this was the first time the issue was raised publicly, they have been working with the government on plans for a while.

"There is a lot going on behind the scenes and we have started talks already with Canadian Heritage," she said.  "You might have just got this information, but it is not as though there is no work happening behind the scenes."

New spaces

There could be a real silver lining in the change, allowing the other official sites to gain more prominence, Callary said.

"Parliament Hill almost overshadows the other two sites, because it is such a goliath of a site," she said.

City Coun. Mathieu Fleury sees a similar potential with the change.

"Obviously when there is work going on you have to adjust and that gives you a chance to look at opportunities," he said.

He said if some of the festivities get moved to Gatineau he is confident the region will still benefit. He said he has faith the government understands what the event means for Ottawa.

"I don't view it as a competition. We have a lot of friends at Heritage Canada and they know the importance of Canada Day to our city."