Ottawa Sun, May 12, 2010
Historian dreams of renaming Wellington St.
By SCOTT TAYLOR, Ottawa Sun
Author Bob Plamondon’s movement to rename a portion of Wellington St. to Sir John A. MacDonald Blvd. appears to be gaining support.
Plamondon wants the country’s first prime minister’s name to grace the street that runs in front of Parliament and the Supreme Court, arguing that it’s much more suitable than that of an English duke who never set foot in Canada.
Plamondon said city objections include cost and logistics, such as changing maps and installing new signs. It costs about $2,300 to request a street name change with the city.
He claims to have already raised more than $1,000 through a website he built and said that he’ll raise enough to pay for the actual signs themselves, if he has to.
“Sir John A. is our founder, he’s our greatest prime minister, this is Canada’s most important street and it makes sense to have them forever linked,” Plamondon said. “I’d be happy to take the responsibility for a fundraising drive to pay for the cost of the signs.”
As for the objections that maps will have to be reprinted, Plamondon scoffed.
“Google and MapQuest probably serve 99.9% of our mapping needs.”
Plamondon cited the Montreal example of when Dorchester Blvd. became Rene-Levesque Blvd.
“What’s interesting is city council thought that if it became a long, drawn-out process it would never get done. So it went through in record time. I think from beginning to end it was a month or so before it got its approval,” Plamondon said.
It takes a minimum of six months to change the name of a street in Ottawa.
No one from the city was immediately available to comment.
scott.taylor@sunmedia.ca