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Not that Baird had stayed out of city affairs — you’ll recall his involvement in holding up funding for light rail during the 2006 mayoral campaign, helping Larry O’Brien to victory — but since 2011, he’s had overt responsibility for the NCC’s direction and influence over other decisions the federal government makes about the capital.

It’s hard to argue that Baird doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.

He refused to sign off on the corporate plan for Phase 2 of LeBreton Flats.

“It was not inspiring,” he said. “It was not going to leave a legacy for future generations, it was not going to be exciting, it was not going to be a people place. It looked to me like more of the same,” referring to the unpopular condo development on Phase 1.

Baird directed the NCC to come up with a new plan for requests for the second phase of the development, and preliminary proposals — one of which will include a plan to move the Senators’ arena there — are due in early January.

In the past few weeks, Baird helped to press his government into injecting $110 million into a remake of the National Arts Centre. Earlier this year, the minister set aside a hunk of the Experimental Farm on Carling Avenue for a future Ottawa Hospital rebuild.

And Baird was there when the heritage minister announced an $80-million makeover of the shuttered Science and Technology Museum.

Not everyone agrees with these decisions, of course. But the fact that Baird has so much influence on what happens in Ottawa-the-capital makes it all the more vital that he work well with Jim Watson, the mayor of Ottawa-the-city. And, until very recently, that hasn’t been the case.