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Canada has one half to one tenth the population of other G7 countries so its capital has much fewer resources at its disposal. And those resources have been available for a much shorter time. Canada is a younger, smaller player in the G7 and Ottawa simply hasn’t had the history that has shaped other capitals.

Cities are shaped by history, much as the Grand Canyon was etched by the Colorado River. Other G7 capitals have evolved over centuries, covering multiple dynasties and eras, including when enormous public expenditures on vanity projects of kings and queens were commonplace.

Some people seem to think that another Paris could be created here if we simply had the will and the imagination. But that’s like expecting another Canadian to become Terry Fox simply by setting out to do so.

Sure, there are plenty of planning decisions that affect the look and feel of a city. And we’ve had our share of both good and bad. But so have all the other G7 capitals. A building completed two years ago in London, for example, has been compared to a giant walkie-talkie; it was the subject of a public inquiry and won an award for being the worst new building in the U.K.

We should do everything we can to make our city more appealing, but based on our own criteria and not municipal envy. You don’t put trains through a downtown tunnel because other cities have done so, but because the population is large enough that the benefits are clear and the cost justified.