The Trudeau government has done the right thing by arranging for a controversial memorial to victims of communism to be downsized and moved away from the heart of official Ottawa. It should follow up quickly by withdrawing support for an even more questionable monument proposed for Cape Breton.

The Ottawa memorial was a favourite of the Harper government, which paved the way for a private group to erect a jarringly intrusive structure right next door to the Supreme Court of Canada building, just west of Parliament on Wellington St.

It wasn’t the right design and it certainly wasn’t the right place. It smacked of political opportunism as the Conservatives curried favour among the Polish and Ukrainian communities, in particular, which understandably hold bitter memories of their nations’ suffering under communism.

A chorus of critics – including the likes of Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin – pushed back. And now the new Liberal government has sensibly arranged for the memorial to be relocated to a more suitable spot in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, further west along Wellington St.

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly says the government is also cutting its financial support for the project in half, to a maximum of $1.5 million, ensuring the memorial will have a more human scale.

This is a deft move. The memorial now stands a good chance of adding to the national capital instead of becoming a needlessly divisive symbol.

There’s another similar controversy that needs to be addressed. Under the Harper government, Parks Canada opened the door to construction of the massive “Mother Canada” monument to Canada’s war dead on a prime coastal site in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

“Mother Canada,” proposed by a private foundation, would be a towering eight-storey figure modeled on the famous Canada Bereft statue at Vimy Ridge. The design manages to be both kitschy and reminiscent of the over-sized monuments beloved of tyrants the world over. It would be particularly inappropriate for a noted beauty spot in a national park.

The monument would be privately funded, but under the former Conservative government Parks Canada donated $100,000 for a study of the project and said it would support building it in the park.

The Trudeau government now says it is “reviewing” the whole idea. It should quickly conclude that such an outsized and tasteless monument has no place in a national park.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: