Councillor Maria Augimeri railed against the federal government Monday for its handling of Downsview Park at a news conference where she launched an initiative to demand the handover of the park to Toronto.

“Downsview Park does not deserve the misdirection, indecision and secret schemes which it has gotten from the federal government. It’s time to give Downsview Park to the City of Toronto,” said Augimeri, whose ward includes the area. She called the news conference in part in response to the Star’s report of a secret memo from December 2012 that expressed unease at the commercial focus of Canada Lands Co., the Crown land company given control of the park.

More at thestar.com: Ottawa needs to step up on Downsview Park: Hume

Augimeri also said she received information that Canada Lands was taking steps toward reopening the so-called secondary plan — a multiparty document that governs the use of the land going forward. But Canada Lands has flatly denied that it is doing anything to change the plan.

The park has been the source of much contention over impending developments in the area. A 2011 Ontario Municipal Board decision approved a plan for the 232-hectare former military base that includes 10,000 units of development as a way of funding the transformation of the rest of the area into an urban park.

The secret 2012 memo came from Michelle d’Auray, deputy minister of public works, who expressed concern to then-minister Rona Ambrose over the move to transfer ownership of the park to the Canada Lands Co.

In the memo, obtained under a freedom of information request filed by the Star, d’Auray commented on the “fundamental difference” between the mandate of Canada Lands and the Crown, who formerly controlled the land.

“In the absence of direction from you, (Canada Lands Co.) may be inclined to propose disposal of some or all of the property at the two urban parks, consistent with its mandate, or propose a commercially oriented use of the property,” d’Auray wrote to the minister.

“I’m saying to the federal government today: Stop selling our parkland,” Augimeri said Monday. “The fate of Downsview should not be decided in a back room in Ottawa — it should be given to the people of Toronto.”

Augimeri has launched SetDownsviewFree.com, a website that contains updates on the park and petitions. The site also calls for the removal of Toronto from OMB control and urges the transfer of Downsview Park from the federal government to the city.

Augimeri said Monday that Canada Lands was taking measures to reopen the park development plan to increase the density allowance. She refused to say where she had received the information.

“A person on the inside said that they instructed their consultants . . . they tasked them with finding out if the city is interested in reopening the secondary plan,” she said.

However, Marcel Poulin, spokesperson for Public Works Minister Diane Finley, stated late Monday that there's still no intent to sell Downsview and “there is no secrecy. CLC is in the midst of its community consultation” on how to implement the city-approved plan.

Mayoral candidate and former Downsview Park chairman David Soknacki echoed Augimeri’s fears, but voiced his support for the plan, which he helped draft.

“My concern, and I share Councillor Augimeri’s concern, is that that document might be opened up again. Frankly, I say no; it’s a document of which we are all proud,” Soknacki said. “It sets out a very high standard, yet a standard at which the park is financially self-sufficient. The document we have put forward is a document that we should be very proud of and that we should move forward together on.”

The Crown company, which took control of the park in November 2012, repeated that it has no aspirations to change the plan.

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

“CLC is not seeking to reopen the Secondary Plan; it is a city-approved plan; our goal right now is assessing how best to implement it,” spokesperson Manon Lapensée said in an email Monday. A public meeting on the future of Downsview Park is scheduled to be held by Canada Lands Co. at the Warehouse Event Venue, near Keele St. and Sheppard Ave. W., Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Augimeri was unfazed by the discrepancy between her information and Canada Lands’ public position.

“They’ve always kept the community in the dark — this is nothing new,” she said. “The fact that they’ve instructed their consultant company to go out and see if the city is willing and able to reopen — it shocked me. Now they’re saying they didn’t. Well, you know, I think that’s a falsehood.”