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A running spat over two proposed condo towers in Gatineau has crossed the provincial border, with the head of Brigil Construction saying Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is in his corner.

Brigil wants to build two towers in a heritage district near the Museum of History. One would be 55 storeys, the other 35.

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No way, says Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, who argues the towers would be fine somewhere else, but not among these narrow streets and historic homes.

The city has proposed protected heritage status for the entire Museum District, a neighbourhood of narrow streets and old houses just north of Place du Portage and Gatineau City Hall.

The district has about 50 buildings, including the Collège Saint-Joseph and the former presbytery of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church. Many date from soon after the Great Fire of 1900.

Last week, a business group called Essor centre-ville (Downtown progress) released an “economic analysis” that contended extending heritage status to the whole district would be “harmful” to the city.