…. nobody!
Upon taking office, the Conservatives said they were prepared to establish a National Portrait Gallery in some city other than the national capital and called for proposals from the private sector to build and house Canada's collection of portraits.
But after looking at the proposals that came in, Heritage Minister James Moore announced minutes ago that none of them were good enough.
“A number of developers submitted proposals to house the public programming and exhibitions of the Portrait Gallery of Canada. Unfortunately, none of these proposals met the Government's requirements, and we are therefore terminating the selection process,” said Minister Moore. “In this time of global economic instability, it is important that the federal government continue to manage its own affairs prudently and pragmatically. The selection process failed to meet the best interests of both the Portrait Gallery and taxpayers. We have therefore decided not to pursue this project further at this time.”
The collection will continue to be housed in Ottawa in the Library and Archives Building (where you have to go through hoops to be able to see some of the collection's remarkable pieces).
It was interesting that on CBC's “Politics”, they reported pretty much along the lines that you did, along with some editorial comment to the effect that this was another slap at the arts community.
On MDL, however, Sheila Copps, herself a former Heritage Minister, applauded James Moore first for taking this decision, and secondly for taking it so quickly. She then pointed out the following, which is the latter part of the official press release :”The portrait collection will continue to be available for viewing by Canadians through travelling exhibitions and other public programs. We encourage museums and galleries throughout the country to work with Library and Archives Canada to ensure that the Portrait Gallery collection is proudly and prominently on display across Canada.” In Ms. Copps view, this is by far the best way to deal with the issue in terms of enabling more Canadians to view some of these portraits.