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Hess’s intervention came as a spokesman for the Department of Canadian Heritage made it clear that the government is unwilling to reconsider the current site between the Supreme Court of Canada and Library and Archives Canada.

In an email response to Citizen questions about alternative sites, Tim Warmington, a media relations adviser with Canadian Heritage, said the memorial “will be prominently located on Confederation Boulevard beside the Supreme Court of Canada with views of the Peace Tower and other key federal institutions.

“A variety of sites were looked at, but this one was considered the most appropriate, given the proponent’s requirements, the theme and the proposed scope of the project,” Warmington said.

The choice of the Wellington Street site for the memorial has generated widespread opposition. Much of the criticism has focused on the fact that the property had been reserved for a new federal justice building to complete a long-planned “judicial triad” centred on the Supreme Court.

In his open letter, Hess – who made an unsuccessful bid for the Progressive Conservative nomination in the provincial riding of Kitchener-Conestoga in 2007 – called that a “contrived argument.

“Although you publicly profess to support the purpose of this memorial to the victims of communism,” he said, “by campaigning for the erection of an office building for civil servants in its stead, we can only conclude that you have a faint conviction in the principles and ideals upon which this memorial is being raised.”