The year is 2024.
The Ottawa Senators are once again heading to LeBreton Flats.
No but for real this time.
Earlier today, the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission held a joint press conference to announce they have reached an agreement in principle regarding the sale of land to bring a major events centre and arena district to LeBreton Flats.
In a process that has had more than its fair share of dizzying highs and punishing lows, this was a long-awaited piece of good news for the team’s dreams of finally playing a hockey game in downtown Ottawa.
One thing that is abundantly clear in today’s announcement is that even if we all head down to LeBreton with a shovel and a can-do attitude tomorrow morning, there is still a whole lot of work to do to make this a reality. In the words of the NCC…
“While today’s announcement marks an important milestone, the NCC and CSDI acknowledge that there is still significant work ahead. With the start of the due diligence period, the NCC and CSDI will now work together to outline next steps and project timelines.”
And in the words of Cyril Leeder, “years not months before a shovel is in the ground”.
So still plenty of time to lock down a functioning transit system then.
In all seriousness or at least some seriousness, this is a meaningful step forward in a process that has been mostly pain to this point. This confirms that we have two parties that want to make this happen and that we have a hockey team that is committed to building a rink on the eternally vacant toxic wasteland that is LeBreton Flats.
Lots of the obvious questions were ducked today.
No designs in place yet. No sense of cost. No timeline. No plans for the land where the Canadian Tire Centre currently sits. And while there was a strong suggestion that this wouldn’t be a tax-payer funded endevour, we definitely don’t know how this thing is going to be paid for.
But what we do know, is there is an agreement. In principle. And on the LeBreton file, that’s progress.
