Ottawa city manager Kent Kirkpatrick said city councillors were made aware of a report critical of the Lansdowne Live group's early financial plan, even if copies of the report were never distributed in council.

The city commissioned a 2009 report from accountancy firm Deloitte and Touche to review the financial plan of Ottawa Sports and Entertainment in advance of the city choosing to enter into a partnership deal with OSEG for the $300 million redevelopment of Lansdowne Park.

The report raised a number of red flags about OSEG's proposals, in some cases pointing out that money that should go to the city — for advertising, concession sales and corporate suites — was instead going to OSEG. The accounting firm also offered several suggestions as to how the city could improve its financial return on the deal.

Council didn't see the report, but Kirkpatrick said in a note to council on Tuesday that city staff did inform them of its existence, which was one of several commissioned to assess submissions related to the Lansdowne proposal.

"Members of council were free to request additional information on the work of Deloitte and Touche or to request supporting materials," said Kirkpatrick in his note to council.

Former councillor Christine Leadman, now the head of the Glebe Business Improvement Area, said last week she knew nothing of the report.

Kirkpatrick also said the process "had nothing to do with the current financial model for Lansdowne."

An earlier report from the CBC mistakenly referred to the Deloitte study as a review of the deal and not OSEG's proposal in advance of the deal.

But as Friends of Lansdowne spokesman Michael Tiger noted, details of the OSEG proposal that the Deloitte report warned against ended up in the final deal.

"The absolute strongest recommendation in the Deloitte report was for the land which is being given [to OSEG] for a dollar a year for 30 years," said Tiger.

"The Deloitte report strongly recommends that the repayment for that land take precedence over everything else, even before the mortgage payments for the retail complex. The city has negotiated a deal which is the exact reverse," he said.

The group Friends of Lansdowne is taking the city to court over the deal, arguing the city broke its own procurement rules in sole-sourcing the contract to renovate the aging Frank Clair Stadium and surrounding park.

The group filed court orders and waited months to get a hold of documents relating to the current Lansdowne deal, including the Deloitte report.

Tiger said the information contained in it was important enough that council should have seen it.

"It's essential for anyone looking at a major business decision to see a business type of report which is what this Deloitte Report is about," said Tiger. "I think some councillors would have changed their vote."