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In truth, the meeting publicly exposed a story whispered about privately for months — that Melnyk and Ruddy have a strained working relationship, a potentially fatal flaw for a partnership expected to roll out a massive amount of building, including an NHL arena, 4,000 housing units and a whack of retail and associated uses.

Mayor Jim Watson, who sits on the NCC board, was asked about his view of the relationship, which he has viewed first-hand in private meetings.

“Well, ah, let’s put it this way,” the normally unflappable mayor began, tapping his fingers on the side of the podium, as though morse-coding the message to his mind.

“It has been a challenging relationship that I have witnessed and my hope is that they come together, get their act together,” in such a way that they don’t need “constant mediating.”

(Neither man was present: Ruddy in Edmonton for the Grey Cup, Melnyk represented by a media-relations official feverishly working his phone.)

We were left to guess at “unresolved issues” between the pair. We shall only say that our personal suspicion does not immediately fall on Ruddy, a widely liked developer and philanthropist who has produced $7 billion in new construction in the last 30 years. He’s a builder. It’s what he does. There are no billboards urging him to get out of town.

“As a lifelong resident of Ottawa, I remain committed to the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats, the cleanup of the site in the shadow of the Peace Tower, the revitalized downtown core of the nation’s capital, and a new smart-growth community where people can live, work and play,” he said in a prepared statement.