It's been at times a heated debate, but now what may be a signal that the Central Experimental Farm remains the preferred site for the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus expansion.
CTV News has obtained a draft 160-page Environmental Assessment commissioned by the federal government. The assessment directly focuses on the 60-acres of land proposed as the potential new site of the Civic Campus.
The report finds a small portion of the land, less than one-acre, referred to as AEC-3 in the report, is contaminated.
The report finds, “In the risk assessment screening COPCs (contaminants of potential concern) identified in soil include metals (i.e. total chromium, lead, nickel, and selenium), PAHs, and OC pesticides (dieldrin, DDE (o,p’+p,p’), DDT (o,p’+p,p’), DDT + metabolites). Aluminum and chloride were identified as COPCs in groundwater, based on a comparison of measured concentrations to the Federal agricultural guideline. In AEC 3 it is recommended that the soil not be disturbed in order to deter the highly impacted soil at deeper depths from moving to the surface, whereby increased ecological exposure could occur.”
As for the remainder of the 60-acres under review, Patrick Girard with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says "pesticides have been detected on areas that are actively farmed; however, the assessment concludes that there are no unacceptable human health risks."
“They found a carcass of a horse buried here. They found containers of insecticides,” says Harvey Voldeng, a long-time scientist and researcher at the Central Experimental Farm.
Voldeng doesn’t want to see a hospital on the land, “I guess we kind of like our farm here in the city.” He says the farm has known about the contamination for nearly 40-years, this report is not enough to convince him the hospital should go here, “it’s also a precedent. If 60-acres can go here (to the Ottawa Hospital), 60-acres can go somewhere else.”
Between the contamination, and other parts of the property with poor soil conditions, Voldeng estimates about 20-percent of the 60-acres is not always used by the Farm for research.
In a statement, The Ottawa Hospital spokesperson Kate Eggins says “The Ottawa Hospital, in collaboration with leading experts in hospital design and the relevant federal departments, conducted a thorough review of the four sites as requested by the federal government. The resulting report provides the strengths and challenges for each site, but does not make any recommendations as to a preferred site. It will be up to the federal government to review this report and determine a solution that is best for the people of Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, western Quebec and eastern Nunavut. We understand that the government is aware of and sensitive to the need to make a decision quickly, given the importance of replacing the current aging facility.“
In 2014, then Conservative MP John Baird announced the move was a done-deal saying the government would lease the hospital the land for one-dollar. The Liberal Government, shut-down the deal in January saying more information was needed before giving away the land.
The Ottawa Hospital has since identified four potential sites, including the 60-acres on the Central Experimental Farm.
The hospital will hold public consultation on the 'design vision and guidelines'.
