Gatineau Park matter would receive their minister's immediate attention, Devlin died before he could follow up on Harkin's request, and no further response was ever received. With the First World War intervening shortly thereafter, the government of Canada had to tend to more pressing matters. On April 7, 1927, the idea of creating a Gatineau national park was again raised in the House of Commons, where MPs considered a bill to create the Federal District Commission, which would build parks and parkways on both sides of the Ottawa River. During debate, however, Conservative MP John Edwards accused Prime Minister King of wanting
Harrington Lake for several decades. Since the land was not suitable for farming, the lumber industry replaced it as the primary economic activity. In the early 20th century, two Americans, W. A. Drum and W. L. Donnelly, built a sawmill at Harrington Lake to serve the lumber industry. In the 1920s, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards, a member of a prominent lumbering family in Ottawa, inherited part of the property from his uncle, Senator William Cameron Edwards (who had owned 24 Sussex Drive). He recognized the value of the land for recreation, as well as for lumber. He purchased more land around