The Ottawa Citizen's general manager, James Orban, says the newspaper won't be muzzled by the National Capital Commission. He says the Citizen has been critical of the NCC, and that is the reason the NCC has pulled its Winterlude ads from the paper.

The National Capital Commission says pulling the ads was purely a business decision. It says it's getting a better deal with the Ottawa Sun.

Ottawa Citizen GM, James Orban

Orban doesn't think that was the reason. "We ran a front-page news story on January 20th that discussed the initiatives around a new logo for the NCC," Orban says. "The next day, they rented a truck, came to our loading dock, and loaded up inserts that were put there for us to distribute on this Sunday."

Orban says that advertising campaign was part of an attractive package deal for the NCC. He says the NCC called off the deal because it disagrees with the paper's coverage.

The NCC's Guy Laflamme disagrees: "What we have is an alternative, is another print [medium], which is offering us a higher return on our investment," Laflamme says. "In addition to that, people can obtain the program in almost any public location."

Guy Laflamme, NCC

Laflamme says the NCC might place ads in the Citizen in the future. He says it's strictly a case-by-case decision.