Part of this article somewhat explains why the Glenbow backed out of the Bow.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...rtainment/home
excerpts:
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Even as federal politicians are scheming and dreaming of ways to fund national museums in Winnipeg and Calgary, and bring national heritage treasures to the regions, the federal bureaucracy is quietly killing a program that supports the transportation of such treasures.
Exhibition Transport Services (15-metre-long, climate-controlled trucks, and drivers trained to handle art) is to be phased out by April, 2008. Alarmed gallery and museum directors calculate that switching to private-sector carriers will up their costs by as much as 30 per cent.
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While the death of the service hobbles arts and museum curators across Canada, it actively trips up the Stephen Harper government's hopes of decentralizing national museums and moving the Portrait Gallery of Canada to Calgary's soon-to-be-built EnCana office tower. The feds planned to truck the paintings and photos chosen from the gallery's vast collection, stored in Gatineau, Que., to Alberta when needed, and then truck them back for safe storage.
By increasing transport costs, the ETS cancellation bolsters the arguments of those who would keep the Portrait Gallery in Ottawa. So do rocketing construction costs in boomtown Calgary.
When it was announced that EnCana might contribute $30-million toward the Portrait Gallery's $44-million cost, it initially looked like the energy company was offering to assume three-quarters of the gallery's cost, a model of the Tories' dream of public-private partnerships for the cultural sector.
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But it seems that the 'contribution' was more in the form of space in the mall ground floor of EnCana's new Bow Tower," says Liberal Senator Serge Joyal. He says the deal would in fact have required the Portrait Gallery to pay for interior construction, installation of lights, walls and museum-standard conservation conditions. Indeed, the gallery space EnCana was offering was so expensive it was rejected when originally offered to Calgary's own Glenbow Museum.
Complicating matters, the office tower has changed hands: In February, EnCana sold the property to the Toronto-based H&R Real Estate Investment Trust and will lease office space from them. New management at EnCana and new ownership realities may squash the offer of space in the Bow building.
Even if they do not, "Would the Portrait Gallery have to pay rent or other costs that would reflect the conditions of the Calgary market?" demands Joyal. "That too would increase the operation costs of the gallery." He adds, "Strange: For a government committed to accountability and transparency, this is the most secretive file -- yet it has nothing to do with security or defence. It's heritage!"