The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 1

BREAKING NEWS ATOTTAWACITIZEN.COM SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2009 RAIN, HIGH 9 17 at V4 Ottawa author makes the case for Larry Walker 'SidJJW 4 -A uaun uj pupuiai utuiuiiu uunj highlights in tabloid form inside SPORTS, 01 iL.jiA i tea ITIZEN A DIVISION OF CANWEST PUBLISHING INC A CITYTHAT CARES: Story strikes a chord with readers, who open their hearts and wallets to help a woman in need Military trade show draws -i At 7 fire Critics of event i V- atLansdownewant city to enforce ban 5 BY ANDREW DUFFY Peace and church groups are de manding that the city respect its longstanding policy and ban a defence trade show to be held at Lans-downe Park. CANSEC 2009, a national defence and security technology showcase, opens May 27. X. The two-day event will be the first 1 -1 of its kind to take place on city property in 20 years ever since Ottawa city council banned military trade shows. City officials, however, say that ban no longer applies to Lansdowne Park due to a legal technicality.

That position that has angered WAYNE CUDDINGTON, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Holly Ritchie and her daughter, Melanie Dale, were thrilled to learn their prayers of getting a wheelchair ramp built have been answered. area church and peace groups and set the stage for a heated debate about the place of the defence industry in Ottawa. A coalition opposed to the arms trade has launched an online petition that calls on the city to respect the commitment made by council two decades ago. "We want the city to honour its ban: I think it still does apply," said Richard Sanders, co-ordinator of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms 'The generosity shown by Citizen readers displays a caring community willing to help one another, even in difficult economic times' Trade. In 1989, in response to an uproar over the ARMX trade show at Lansdowne Park, city council voted to ban arms exhibitions at all municipal facilities.

BY JOANNE LAUCIUS But Mayor Larry Bnen now "We're trapped, and she's just desperate for a life," Ritchie told Citizen reporter Bruce Ward. Ritchie estimated that she needed a modest $3,000 for building materials for the project. Her church group had already offered to provide the labour. At breakfast tables, Ottawa residents were figuring our what they could do to make sure it happened. At Station 24, a group of firefighters was passing the hat and contemplating whether they could put up the ramp in a one-day building blitz.

The consensus was, yes, easi- ly. "There was just something about the story," said firefighter Sean Virgin. "She wasn't saying 'poor me'." See ANGEL on PAGE A4 contends the ban "was not a com prehensive ban on all defence and security trade shows as some have suggested." reach out to help. In a letter to the Citizen, Ritchie had outlined her quandary she had just moved to a Carlingwood-area rented home and wanted to build a ramp so Melanie could get outside and watch the world go by. Melanie, 30, who was diagnosed at nine with a genetic condition called metachromatic leukodystrophy and has physical and mental disabilities, only leaves her home for medical appointments because the entrance to the house isn't wheelchair-accessible.

What's more, a legal opinion pre Early Saturday morning, as newspapers landed on doorsteps, Holly Ritchie left her daughter Heather in charge of her 30-year-old disabled sister, Melanie "my angel" and went to visit her mother in a nursing home. Ritchie didn't know it, but at the same time strangers all over the city were getting acquainted with Melanie's story and Ritchie's plea to open up her daughter's world a little and each, in their own way, wanted to pared by city staff concluded the ban no longer applies to Lansdowne Park, which was sold to the former regional government in 1999. That deal did not require the region to adopt city policies, so the arms pro hibition ban did not "survive" when the facility was sold. Lansdowne was reacquired by the Tens of thousands protest G20 summit city during amalgamation. In a memo, city solicitor Rick O'Connor said he believes the site now stands outside council's 1989 trade show policy.

Councillor Alex Cullen said he Action sought on poverty, jobs, climate change was flabbergasted by the position. "I think it's bureaucratic sleight of hand," he told the Citizen. BYNICKVINOCUR AND NOAH BARKIN At the very least, he said, such a slogan "Put People First" to demand reforms to make the world's economy fairer. One group carried a Chinese dragon with the head of a devil papered with dollar bills, calling it "The G20 Monster." While the atmosphere was generally carnival-like, some marchers jeered when they passed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street offices. Police said up to 35,000 people took part in the march and subsequent rally in Hyde Park See PROTEST on PAGE A8 London waving banners saying "People before Profit," at the start of a week of protests that reflected growing public anger over bankers' pay and their role in the crisis.

Leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies meet in London on Thursday to discuss how tighter regulation of financial markets, billions of dollars in stimulus measures and credit lines for international trade can help the world economy recover. In Britain, trade unions, aid agencies, religious groups and environmentalists joined together under the policy change should have been debated at council. But by the time he and other councillors became aware of the new policy, Cullen said, a contract had already been signed with the trade show's organizer, the I III km 'm A f.l LONDON Tens of thousands of people marched in capital cities across Europe on Saturday to protest the economic crisis and urge world leaders to act on poverty, jobs and climate change at the upcoming G20 summit Chanting "tax the rich, make them pay," protesters marched through Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries. Anne Michaels returns with sweeping, poetic novel BOOKS, Bl See BAN on PAGE A4 3 TODAY'S WEATHER fQcanoda.com WHERI PtKSPICTIVU CONNICT ottawacltlzen.com NEWSPAPER SALES DELIVERY: 613-596-1950 CLASSIFIED ADS: 613429-9321 MAIN SWITCHBOARD: 613429-9100 Rain. High 9, low 2.

Sunrise: 6:48 a.m. Sunset: 7:27 p.m. 6 78ll3A567 PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR Ottawa Citizen, a division of Canwest Publishing 1X01 Baxter Road, Box 5020 Ottawa, 0nt.K2C3M4 JAMES ORBAN, Publisher ASTROLOGY D7 CROSSWORD 07 UZAROVIC All SPORTS Dl BOOKS Bl DEATHS B8 MASON A4 SUTCLIFFE D8 BRIDGE 07 DENLEY A3 MOVIES B5 TV TIMES CI CLASSIFIED B5 KENNEDY All SCOREBOARD D6 WARREN All All $1.41 plus applicable taxes at retail and $1.50 including tax at vending boxes SEE PAGE A2. carbon computing 1 ii FREE OS Leopard Wf UA- I mif' ml Seminars EVERY Saturday at 11am. Learn the ins outs of one of the best most stable operating systems.

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