More options, consultation needed on new hospital site, groups tell officials

More consultationsand more optionsfor a hospital site. That was the message government and hospital officials heard Monday during a meeting considering the future site of The Ottawa Hospital's new Civic campus.

The AgriculturalInstitute of Canada (AIC) organized the closed-door meeting at a downtown hotel Monday, bringing together government, hospital and community representatives at one table.

The original choice for the new hospital, on the CentralExperimental Farm right across the street from the existingcampus,wasput on ice earlier this year after CatherineMcKenna, the federal minister of theenvironment and climate change,questioned the lack of consultationby the previous government.

We heard there was a need for openness and transparency,and that was unanimous around the table ...- Serge Buy, CEO of theAgriculturalInstitute of Canada

"We heard there was a need for openness and transparency," said Serge Buy, CEO of the AIC,"and that was unanimous around the table, with everyone, from the representative of YasirNaqvi'soffice and MP Catherine McKenna, to the representative from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada."

The goal of Monday's meeting, according to Buy, was to define the kind of consultations that could improve the decision aboutwhere the new hospital should go. Several people advocated for more evidence-based study of demographics as well as impacts on the farm if it ends up as the preferred site, Buy said.

He hopes the government will take the ideas heard Monday and move on those consultations.

"We certainly hope that someone [with the government]is going to tell us,'Yes we've heard you, and yes it is not too late to have such a consultation, and yes we will take the ball and roll with it,'" said Buy. "If not, our board will probably look at this issue again, and see whether or not we should try to spearhead the consultation before it is too late."

Groups want more than 4 sites considered

It's still not clear, however, whether the number of sites being considered is already set in stone. Representatives from The Ottawa Hospital have told CBC News the hospital has been tasked by the federal government to assess a narrowed list of four sites,three of which are on the experimental farm

The hospital is expected to hand in its assessmentlater this month.

Paul Johanisis withthe Coalition to Protect the CentralExperimentalFarm,a group of about 50 people including climate change scientists, environmentalists and heritage advocates.

Outside the meeting Monday, Johanissaidthe coalition would like to see thelist of potential sites expanded, and that members of the coalition continue to oppose the use of farm land for a new hospital.

"We think that's too constraining a choice for the federal government to consider," said Johanis, who alsositson the board of the non-profit group Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital. He saidthe federal government managesa vast inventory of lands in the Ottawa area, and that"there needs to be more done on the federal side to look at this process."

Retired agriculture scientist Clarke Topp worked on the farm for more than three decades. Hesaid he felt there was a lot of good will at the table, and hopes it leads to the kind of consultations he said should have happened before the 2014 announcement of the original site.

"Let's open it up, and let's talk about it," he said.

About a dozen peopleshowed up for Monday's meeting, includingrepresentatives from the Central Experimental Farm Advisory Council,staff from the offices of Ottawa city Coun.RileyBrockington and others.