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
Gatineau Park was to be the first national park created by the first parks service in the world, the Dominion Parks Branch. On December 3, 1913, Dominion Parks Commissioner James B. Harkin wrote to Deputy Minister of the Interior William Cory, arguing for the creation of a nationwide system of parks, the first of which was to be Gatineau Park. In his memo, Harkin said: A few months later, on Cory's suggestion, Harkin wrote Quebec Minister of Mines and Forests Charles Devlin inquiring whether he would help establish a national park in the Gatineau district. Although provincial officials wrote back that the