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A day after rejecting Tunney’s Pasture as a new hospital site, The Ottawa Hospital is setting its sights on the Sir John Carling location on the eastern edge of the Experimental Farm, with CEO Jack Kitts calling it a potential “win-win” for the hospital and the city.

Kitts said he is confident a new $2 billion hospital can be built there within 10 years, and moving there would protect farm research fields. But if that is the case, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute will not be moving with the Civic hospital.

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In the latest surprise twist in the hospital drama, the Heart Institute released a statement Wednesday saying it has no plans to move for at least 20-25 years. The Heart Institute, located adjacent to the current Civic hospital, is in the midst of a $200 million expansion program slated to be complete in 2018, with further renovations continuing until 2020.

Its intention to stay put for 20-25 years seems to contradict a statement a spokesperson from The Ottawa Hospital made last week that described the Heart Institute as “the cardiac program of The Ottawa Hospital” and said that, according to a regional master plan signed in 2008, “when the Civic relocates, the Heart Institute will follow.”