The Ottawa Citizen - May 1, 1973.


By Elwin Moore

     Yesterday, and for the past 25 years, it ran the place.
     Ten years from now, it may not even be there.
     The Central Canada Exhibition Association could be excused if it's beginning to feel like a stranger in Lansdowne Park, it's home since 1888.
     It's grip on the operation of the park has been broken by the city council, which has decided to take charge itself rather than renew the lease which expired Monday.
     And now people with power, notably Pierre Benoit and National Capital Commission Chairman Douglas Fullerton are suggesting the annual exhibition, the CCEA's original reason for being, should find a new setting.
     The mayor predicts the fair will be out in the Greenbelt within six or seven years.
     Mr. Fullerton says he'd be glad to provide the land.
     "I think the Ex is long past its prime and ought to be sent off someplace else."
     The way Mayor Benoit tells it, the move wouldn't be a result of a forcible eviction, but of the CCEA's taking a serious look at the options and seeing the light. "It will become obvious to them that they will be better off."
     It isn't obvious now.
     Lon Campbell, immediate past president of the CCEA, says he and most other directors think the fair should stay put.
     The Lansdowne site is convenient for fairgoers served by buses and within haling distance for many.
     A new site would require buildings, roads, sewer, and water services, a grandstand -- all the facilities already available at Lansdowne.
     "Sure it causes a little bit of congestion for about 10 days," Mr. Campbell says, adding that it's good for the community to have the experience of putting on the fair.
    "The general feeling is the Ex should move out," says Randal Marlin, past president of the Glebe Community Association. Some Glebe residents make money parking cars on their lawns at fair time: others take vacations and get out of town.
     "We're here to stay," says Ald. Joe Quinn, in his capacity as CCEA vice-president. "It's like a tradition. Who's going to move the CNE out of Toronto?"
     The CCEA's new agreement with the city assures it of the Lansdowne grounds for the next three years. After that, either party could pull out on one year's notice.
     Mayor Benoit refers to the fact that the lease wasn't for longer as: "The handwriting on the wall."
     The crunch will come if city council decides on a development plan for the park that can't be reconciled with the demands for the fair.
     Ald. Quinn put the problem squarely in discussing development proposals: "I think we'd be foolish to spend a lot of money on pools and little lakes and gardens . . . then you couldn't use it for the Ex."
     Con. Gary Guzzo, himself a CCEA director, sees the exhibition's future in a different light.
     "Fairs as we know them today will die," he predicts.
     He says television and year-round access to entertainment are destroying the lure of carnivals, midways and sideshows.
     The Exhibition may be helped, however, by a renewed interest in country life.