OTTAWA - The tortuous process of finding a home for 20,000 artworks and four million photographs that chronicle the faces of Canada's past ground to a halt on Nov. 7, 2008, when the Conservative government killed its own project to create a permanent venue for the Portrait Gallery of Canada.
Seven years earlier, the Liberal government of Jean Chretien thought it had found the perfect locale, the abandoned U.S. embassy building directly across from Parliament Hill.
But Stephen Harper's Conservatives tore up those plans, after $11.4 million had been spent upgrading the building. Projected costs for the gallery were $44.6 million in 2005, twice earlier estimates, and some Tory ministers said the final bill could eventually hit $100 million.
The new government chose instead to hold a competition in which private developers in nine cities would bid to house the collection, which currently languishes in a Gatineau, Que., storage facility.
The list was announced on Nov. 9, 2007: Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
"The government is launching an open and transparent process to encourage proposals from developers," said then-Public Works Minister Michael Fortier.
"We want to ensure that we obtain maximum impact from every tax dollar spent by taking advantage of private sector support and expertise."
Supporters lauded the project as efficient use of tax dollars and a way to place more federal cultural institutions outside Ottawa. Critics questioned inviting the private-sector to become a caretaker of the national heritage, and argued the City of Ottawa was best placed to attract visitors already in the city for other national museums and galleries.
A five-member panel of experts was to vet proposals and make a recommendation: Phil Boname, president of Urbanics Consultants; Kevin Garland, executive-director of the National Ballet of Canada; Penelope Rowe, CEO of Community Services Council of Newfoundland and Labrador; Pierre Theberge, director of the National Gallery of Canada; and Ian Wilson, librarian and archivist of Canada, and chair.
Jim Lynes, a former senior civil servant and partner in BIM Consultants Inc., was hired to monitor the process to ensure it was fair and transparent.
A total of 132 firms asked for the tender documents, 46 per cent of them in Ontario, 15 per cent in Alberta and 18 per cent in Quebec.
The original deadline for bids, each of which required a $1-million security, was changed twice because of delays by federal officials responding to questions.
In the end, five bids arrived by the final May 16, 2008, deadline from: the City of Calgary; Claridge Homes in Ottawa; an undisclosed bidder in Edmonton; an undisclosed bidder from Winnipeg; and Qualico, a developer in Edmonton. The Alberta government promised $40 million if either Edmonton or Calgary won. The City of Calgary said it was prepared to ante up $500,000.
The evaluation committee met July 17-18, 2008, to pick a winner. Members were miffed they could not take into account the extra costs of shipping art to and from a non-Ottawa facility. They also chafed at not being able to consider the tourism potential of each bid. Other gaffes plagued the process, including misinformation and late documents.
A winner was picked, but conditional on whether the top bidder could be persuaded to drop some undisclosed amendments. The winner's identity is removed from the released material, but is widely believed to have been Calgary -- which also happens to be the location of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's riding.
But the whole enterprise came crashing down on Nov. 4, 2008, when lawyers for Public Works said two bids -- including the recommended one -- were "non-compliant."
The official announcement that the competition was dead came in a news release issued late on a Friday, Nov. 7, 2008.
