A group of people who are lobbying to make the Capital the permanent home of the National Portrait Gallery rallied in downtown Ottawa, Friday.
An original plan to house the gallery in the old American embassy, located across from Parliament Hill, was scratched by the Conservative government because of projected cost overruns.
To come up with a new location, the government opened a competition to find out who could rack up the largest amount of private sector cash to build the gallery's new home.
Cities competing to house the gallery include Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.
While Calgary is emerging as the favourite because of its strong financial backing from the oil and gas industry, people in the Capital continue to push to keep the gallery in Ottawa.
"(Calgary) is obviously a major hub in Canada but it is not the central place that is supposed to represent the entire country," said John Cartwright, who used to live in Calgary but now makes his home in the Capital.
NDP Ottawa-Centre MP Paul Dewar says he is yet to give up on Ottawa's chances to win the bid and says he thinks drawing attention to the issue will help Ottawa's cause.
"I am an optimistic person. I believe that when citizens speak up and when they take on an issue, politicians should take heed and should listen," Dewar told CTV Ottawa.
Ottawa city council has agreed to let a developer build two condo towers in the city's downtown core as part of the city's bid to house the National Portrait Gallery.
If the bid fails, city council says the space intended for the gallery must be used to benefit the community.
The new home for the portrait gallery is expected to be announced within the next three months.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
