Federal budget includes money for police patrolling Parliament Hill, funding for National Arts Centre and more

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The 2024 federal budget released Tuesday was largely focused on housing and affordability but outlined several initiatives in the National Capital Region, including more money for policing on Parliament Hill, funding for the National Arts Centre and affordable housing plans.

Police presence to be ‘bolstered’ on Parliament Hill; More money for broader security measures

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The Ottawa Police Service is set to get $10 million annually for the next five years from the federal government to increase police presence around Parliament Hill. The money will come through Public Safety Canada.

Government support for public safety is a topic that Mayor Mark Sutcliffe recently said “would rejuvenate Centretown.”

Separate from the funding for the police, a government official said there are plans for the physical security of 80 Wellington St., which houses the offices of the prime minister and Privy Council, noting that the building was “a bit of a target,” as well as ministers’ regional offices

Separately, the budget also proposed a total of $40 million over the next five years for the Privy Council Office to enhance “physical and cyber security” and “expand access to secure communication technologies for senior leaders in the government.”

National Arts Centre

The 416-page document proposed to provide the National Arts Centre with $45 million over three years, beginning in 2025-26, to “ensure continued support for artists and productions across the country.” The centre supports more than 1,400 arts events across Canada annually.

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A government official said there was no information immediately available on how exactly those funds would be allocated.

The funding is in addition to last year’s budget promise of $28 million by 2025.

Funding for lab upgrades, restoring the Parliamentary Precinct and the Supreme Court

The budget includes $6.7 billion in funding over 20 years for Public Services and Procurement Canada to manage its “portfolio of assets.” PSPC is responsible for about one-quarter of the government’s real-property assets, with about half of its portfolio in the National Capital Region.

The budget said that $6.7 billion includes funding for Laboratories Canada facility upgrades, ongoing restorations within the Parliamentary Precinct, modernizing certain information technology systems and advancing “the necessary rehabilitation” of the Supreme Court of Canada building.

A government official said the labs would be replaced with new, multi-disciplinary facilities, while researchers using the same tools will be placed together.

There was $44 million allocated for upgrades and other improvements in 2024-25, followed by $114 million for 2025-26, $23 million for 2026-27, $120 million for 2027-28 and $66 million for 2028-29.

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The national Holocaust monument

In a time when the government says it is witnessing “a worrying increase in antisemitism,” the budget included a commitment to launch a project to “review and renew” Canada’s National Holocaust Monument.

The initiative, according to the budget, will be led by the Department of Canadian Heritage, which will use existing resources.

“Preserving the memory of the Holocaust is important to ensuring it never happens again,” Budget 2024 indicated. “By educating current and future generations of Canadians about the Holocaust, the government will advance its fight against denial and Holocaust-related disinformation, and raise awareness of Antisemitism.”

Building more homes at Wateridge Village

As part of a larger plan to use public lands to create more homes for Canadians, the federal budget reported it would be “urgently” unlocking almost 500 homes at Wateridge Village in Ottawa.

As part of a larger plan to use public lands to create more homes through Canada, federal property will be leased to housing providers at Wateridge Village in Ottawa with space to build nearly 500 homes.

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The new homes would be in addition to 307 units announced by the government in November.

Intending to “unlock” federal land for 250,000 new homes by 2031, the government said it would use “all tools available to convert public lands to housing, including leasing, acquiring other public lands for housing, and retaining ownership, whenever possible.”

The document also outlined an additional $400 million over four years, beginning in 2024-25, to top up the Housing Accelerator Fund launched in March 2023. The City of Ottawa has approved a spending plan for $176.3 million promised through the fund.

Several area politicians have flagged freeing up federal land and buildings for housing as a budget priority.

In an interview, Ottawa Centre Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi said the public lands leasing announcement was an “exciting opportunity” to build affordable housing “as quickly as possible.”

Government looking to turn defence medical centre into housing

The government said the Department of National Defence would work with the Canada Lands Company and other partners to divest 14 surplus properties, including the National Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa.

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“Right now, there’s discussions going on between Canada Lands and Defence essentially looking at if these properties are viable,” a government official said.

The budget said the property had potential for housing and was not needed for National Defence operations.

The document also proposed $6.9 million over four years, starting in 2025-26, and $1.4 billion in future years for the department to build and renovate housing for Canadian Armed Forces members across Canada. The budget indicated that investments would support the construction of up to 1,400 new homes and the renovation of an additional 2,500 existing units in areas like Ottawa, Kingston and Edmonton.

A government official said the breakdown of where the housing units would be constructed and renovated was not yet known.

Funding for the redevelopment of a national space for Indigenous Peoples

Four million dollars over two years has been allocated to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada for the “long-term redevelopment” of 100 Wellington St. and 119 Sparks St. into “a national space for Indigenous Peoples, including a dedicated space for Algonquin Peoples.”

The transformation of the former U.S. embassy on Wellington Street was announced on National Indigenous Day on June 21, 2017.

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