The Prime Minister's Office has no plans to build a government-controlled briefing room, which would supplant the current National Press Theatre.
A news report on Monday said a plan, with an estimated cost of $2 million, has been in the works since at least last year.
The Privy Council Office and the PMO have been working on the "special project for the PM, otherwise reffered (sic) as the Shoe Store Project," said the documents obtained by the Toronto Star under the Access to Information Act.
But Sandra Buckler, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's director of communications, told The Canadian Press "there are no plans to pursue'' such a centre.
Officials were to have renovated an old shoe store, located near the PMO and PCO in Langevin Block, "for the possible use of the PM."
The "dedicated press availability facility" is part of plans to "put in place robust physical and information security measures to protect the Prime Minister and Cabinet," stated one document obtained by the newspaper.
A spokeswoman from the Privy Council Office told CP that the exploratory project had been abandoned at an "early stage." She added that there are no other locations being scouted for a media facility.
The Toronto Star's Tonda MacCharles, who first reported the story said she requested the documents about a year ago and received them late Thursday night.
"There was nothing in there that indicated that the project was not going to go ahead and ... today the Prime Minister's Office is saying they're not pursuing it," MacCharles told 愛污传媒net's Mike Duffy Live.
The National Press Theatre is operated by members of the parliamentary press gallery, meaning the prime minister has no control over who is asking questions.
Until an impromptu press conference earlier this month, Harper had never used the theatre since being elected 20 months ago.
Harper has had a sometimes frosty relationship with the national press corps, stemming from his staff's tight control over news conferences and lack of accessibility to MPs and cabinet ministers.
One of the documents obtained by the Star shows staff established a working list for what would have been put in the Shoe Store Project, including "a stage or riser; comfortable seating for 40-80 people, security at the back and front door, electronic feeds for sound, sound boards, simultaneous translation space, phone-in capacity, proper lighting for cameras (may require drapes for windows), tables for handouts, products, etc., glasses, water, flags, backdrop, photocopier, full work station/internet hook-up, printer (large-capacity) in the back for officials to use, washroom facilities."
A hand-drawn sketch of the facility also showed a space for "maybe permanently installed cameras with feeds to media."
That suggested that the news cameras may have been controlled by government employees instead of independent media journalists, reports the Star.
Many details of the project were blacked-out or withheld because of "international affairs and defence," "security," and cabinet confidentiality.
