The Ottawa Citizen

When they sit down Wednesday to consider what to do with the prime city-owned land near Elgin and Gloucester streets, city councillors will face two choices for Ottawa's downtown: add a big institution or a whole lot of commerce. The city's planning staff prefer the commerce, judging by their selection of a business-oriented proposal from Morguard Investments to buy and develop property at 150 Elgin St. and 31 Gloucester St. But even before it is presented to council Wednesday, the staff's recommendation is being attacked for the secrecy of the process by which it was reached. The reasons why the committee of city planners picked Morguard over the four other proponents aren't known, beyond the fact Morguard scored best on a point system. In fact, the four other proposals remain officially secret, meaning councillors can't publicly consider alternatives to Morguard's proposal.