Lansdowne letter circulates at city hall

A censored copy of a written agreement between the Canadian Football League and the businessmen behind the proposed redevelopment of Lansdowne Park made the rounds at city hall Wednesday.

The copy of the six-page letter of intent was redacted words and entire paragraphs blacked out and was obtained from the city by Ottawa lawyer Will Murray, who opposes the redevelopment plans put forward by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.

Those plans would see the park's Frank Clair football stadium renovated, greenspace expanded, and condo towers, townhouses, a movie theatre, shops and restaurants built through a public-private partnership between the City of Ottawa and the OSEG.

'Vital information'

Clive Doucet, the councillor for the ward that includes Lansdowne Park whohas been clamouring to see a copy of the agreement for months, found the letter revealing.

"One of the things that's very clear in the letter is, it doesn't matter where the stadium is to the CFL. It could quite easily be in another place.

"But we were [told] that it could only be at Lansdowne Park," he said."That is the sort of vital information that we never had."

Penny Collenette, a University of Ottawa governance expert, said the letter leaves the impression there was a rush to reach a deal on Lansdowne Park and wondered why it took a 18 months for councillors to see the document.

"Somebody has to be protecting the public interest and a lot of questions have to be asked and blanked out portions of letters are not OK."

Financial details blacked out

But the developers behind the proposal said there's nothing shady about the letter.

Kevin McCrann, president of Shenkman Corp., said the blacked-out sections deal with mundane but confidential financial details.

McCrann said Lansdowne Park isn't mentioned specifically in the letter because it was the only option on the table for both his group and the CFL.

"If Councillor Doucet's concerned that the [CFL] commissioner doesn't understand that we're talking about Frank Clair Stadium maybe he should ask the question directly," he said.

"It's beyond our comprehension how this is an issue."