Does Canada need a Capital Territory for Ottawa?

[Long Island Mike]

Everyone: After reading about the Australian Capitol Territory-a independent entity from Australia's States containing Canberra-Australia's Capitol-I wonder if any consideration or plan was ever devised to give the Ottawa-Carleton area its own National Capitol Government independent of Ontario.

Could a Territory or District of this type be politically feasible in Canada?
Would any part of Hull,Quebec become part-provided that Quebec does not secede from Canada? Would Canadians support such a move?

Any thoughts or opinions anyone? -Long Island Mike-

 

[waterloowarrior]

I'm from Ottawa and I would support that kind of move. It would be nice to have some more regional planning and treat Ottawa and Gatineau as one city region (especially for the transit systems). Although there have been attempts to reduce interjurisdicational red tape, and there are federal organizations like the NCC overseeing things, it's a still a big problem.

 

[JasonParis]

It's a non-starter, and would be incredibly destructive to the federation if it included Gatineau. Also, the NCC (which in some ways is like a precursor to a capitol territory) isn't exactly looked upon fondly.

What Ottawa needs is what all Canadian cities need and that has little to do with changing political boundaries.

 

[kEiThZ]

Darkstar is right. It's a great idea but not one that can be easily implemented. The National Capital Region today is a fairly wide piece of land that includes more than just the city of ottawa. However, the NCC which largely governs many official activities in the region is a fairly toothless entity.

I don't see how that can be changed though. Quebec would never agree to ceeding a fairly productive economic region to an official NCR territorial entity. And it would be a blow to Ontario to loose the productivity and tax income of Ottawa.

If it can't get official territory status, what's needed is a bolstered NCC that actually defends Ottawa's interests as the capital city (ie pushing for more federal infrastructure funding, etc.).

 

[DavidJamesTO]

It's a good idea, but again, hard to implement. I wonder if some of the more vocal objections would be minimized if other cities got greater control of their affairs (Province of Toronto anyone?)

 

[ShonTron]

I'm not familiar with the cause for creating the ACT, but DC was formed because of intense rivalry and compromise. The South (which at the time included all slave states, Maryland and Delaware as well) was guaranteed the capital in a compromise that saw the federal government assume debts borne by the individual colonies/states from the Revolutionary War, and helped assure the South that the North was going to let the slave states do their thing.

Ottawa was an interesting compromise for a capital as well, and still is one of the best places to put a capital, and still symbolic and neat - slightly isolated, but not fully detached from the urban core of the nation, a real bilingual city, where three rivers meet on old fur trading routes, where there are both old pulp and paper mills and government functions and high-tech industry converge. And the lonely expanse of the Laurentien Hills in the distance. It's a great site.

 

[adma]

I reckon that Northern Ontario is more likely to secede first, than the National Capital Region....

 

[Hydrogen]

I'm from Ottawa and I would support that kind of move. It would be nice to have some more regional planning and treat Ottawa and Gatineau as one city region (especially for the transit systems). Although there have been attempts to reduce interjurisdicational red tape, and there are federal organizations like the NCC overseeing things, it's a still a big problem.

But you just know that Quebec would never cede territory to a federal entity.

 

[afransen]

Ottawa leaving would probably destabilize Ontario to some degree, with the GTA having more or less a majority of the population of the province. Ottawa would probably be better governed as a separate territory rather than spanning two provinces but being the focus of neither.

 

[ShonTron]

If the National Capital does form, though, it does mean that there will no longer be an Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty! Though perhaps lump neighbouring Lanark County into it and they can take Randy Hillier with 'em. They'd also get John Baird. Woo-hoo!

 

[DavidJamesTO]

I wonder, if Quebec somehow succeeded in leaving Confederation, would Hull/Gatineau petition to leave Quebec? You have to know that as soon as Quebec leaves Canada, Canada's leaving Quebec.

 

[kEiThZ]

I wonder, if Quebec somehow succeeded in leaving Confederation, would Hull/Gatineau petition to leave Quebec? You have to know that as soon as Quebec leaves Canada, Canada's leaving Quebec.

True enough. Gatineau would be a ghost town without all the federal government jobs.

 

[golodhendil]

If Quebec succeeds in separating, it will fracture left right and centre, as the Inuits and First Nations in the north, Outaouais and English Montreal secede back into Canada (unless, of course, the newly independent Quebec turns hypocritic and prevents her own subregions from self-determination).

 

[DavidJamesTO]

Either that or they seize the opportunity to do their own thing and leave both Canada and Quebec in the dust.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Gatineau/Hull is seriously incapable of leaving even Vaughan in its dust.


I take this back if it's a radically different place from when I used to frequent it back in 2003-04 as an 18-year old student.