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Now Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury wants to reopen the issue and ask council to vote July 10 on Larco’s design and heritage permit. The mayor seeks a legal opinion on whether this can happen, given all the official approvals Larco has racked up. If council did overturn the original permissions, the move could cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Should everyone throw up their hands, then, and go home? Let this wart fester on the side of a favourite venue?

No. There’s a strong moral case to be made to the owners not to deface the Château, but political leaders must make it. As a start, council could issue a sharply worded statement saying it detests the design to-date, and so does the populace. The mayor could do what he didn’t hesitate to do over LRT rail cars: invite the private-sector poobahs in for a blunt chat.

MP Mona Fortier should speak up loudly, too. And the senior federal minister for Ottawa, Catherine McKenna, is the boss of Parks Canada, which has a direct interest in the Château’s fate. McKenna, as a good constituency MP, should have her finger on the pulse of voters and should use her standing to ask Larco to walk back this architectural insanity.

Then there’s NCC chair Tobi Nussbaum. Speak out, man. For goodness sake.

Ottawans despise this building blemish-to-be because they adore the look and spirit of the hotel itself. It’s Canada’s capital. It’s almost Canada Day. Our voices should matter.

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