The agency that manages federal properties in the Ottawa-Gatineau region is taking new steps to become more open and transparent, as recommended by a review panel in December.

The National Capital Commission announced at a news conference Wednesday that in order to enhance openness it will:

• Open quarterly board meetings to the public starting Nov. 7.
• Establish public standing committees to provide input and feedback on its projects and initiatives.
• Create an ombudsman position to investigate and address public complaints.
• Hold an annual open house.

The commission has been criticized in the past for its secrecy, but CEO Micheline Dubé said it is now "committed to enhancing openess and transparency ... not only in our governance structure, but in our day to day business and management processes."

However, government regulations limit some information that can be provided to the public, said NCC chair Russell Mills.

The commission must seek approval from the Treasury Board on many routine transactions such a leases longer than five years or sales of property valued at more than $10,000, and the commission has faced some its harshest criticism over its sale of public lands.

Treasury Board recommendations are cabinet confidences that cannot be revealed, and must therefore be discussed in a closed part of a meeting, Mills said.

"I hope the spending limits will be raised so that when we do complete something, when we do  have a new lease to announce or property to purchase or property to sell, that can be dealt with… and discussed in a board meeting that the public and the press can attend," he added. "But our objective will certainly be to open as much of the meeting as possible."

Mills vowed to make greater transparency a priority when he was appointed as the NCC's chair in May.

The new changes follow the recommendations released in December by a three-member panel headed by University of Ottawa Professor Gilles Paquet, which conducted the first review of the agency in almost two decades.

At the time the report was released, Paquet called for the commission to be more open in its dealings.