On Canada Day, an impressive crowd of about 100,000 individuals, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, gathered at the Canadian War Museum for a day filled with live music, speeches, and a spectacular fireworks display. However, this year marked the second time in a row that the celebration did not take place on Parliament Hill. Due to an extensive 10-year construction project aimed at restoring the Centre Block, home to the Senate and House of Commons chambers, the traditional location for the event will be unavailable for several more years. The restoration project is not only focused on repairing years of deterioration but also on reducing the building’s carbon footprint, upgrading its systems, and ensuring safety in the face of fire and earthquakes.
While the renovation project is estimated to cost over 5 billion Canadian dollars, with approximately 600 million dollars already spent, it has managed to avoid the political controversies surrounding the abandoned official residence for the prime minister at 24 Sussex Drive. The neglect of this stone house has been due to the reluctance of recent prime ministers to invest the necessary funds to make it habitable again, fearing backlash for seemingly spending money on themselves.
In 2019, both the House of Commons and the Senate relocated their chambers and committee rooms to temporary locations as part of the renovation process. Despite facing challenges such as the pandemic, a public service strike, and a construction workers’ strike, Rob Wright, the assistant deputy minister at the Department of Public Works and Government Services, remains confident that the project will be completed as planned by 2031 and within the allocated budget. The federal auditor general has also expressed agreement with this timeline.
This restoration project has been particularly complex for two main reasons. Firstly, it was decided that all heritage elements of the building, including the House and Senate chambers, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Hall of Honour, should be restored to their original appearance, free of later additions like broadcasting cables. Secondly, Parliamentarians’ indecisiveness about their preferences has delayed critical design and engineering decisions.
During my visit to the Centre Block construction site, led by Mr. Wright, I witnessed firsthand the progress of the project. The first phase mainly involved the protection or removal of items for restoration, such as artwork, woodwork, and carvings. Both chambers have been stripped down to their bare structure and are almost unrecognizable under layers of scaffolding. The painted linen ceiling of the House of Commons has been carefully removed for restoration. Additionally, extensive asbestos removal, amounting to over 22.5 million pounds, took place as part of the renovation process.
Although the familiar aspects of the building will largely remain unchanged upon reopening, my initial sight after entering the high gray walls surrounding the construction site indicated that the Centre Block will indeed offer a different experience, especially for visitors. The massive pit, which once hosted the Canada Day performance stage, now marks the beginning of a new visitors’ center that will provide underground access to the building, expand the security check-in process, and allow the Library of Parliament to accommodate double the number of visitors per year.
Furthermore, the underground section will house Senate committee rooms, a cafeteria, and spaces for members of Parliament to meet the public. Only 50 out of the 338 members will have offices in the Centre Block after its reopening. However, measures have been taken to ensure that public access to the Great Lawn is not restricted or reduced.
The renovation work is progressing simultaneously in various areas. Stone masons now have digital maps of all 365,000 stones of the building, a third of which require replacement or repairs, while the rest are being cleaned using laser light to remove decades of grime. Sculptors are diligently restoring or replacing sculptures inside and outside the building, a process that often requires extensive historical research.
One of the most significant yet invisible aspects of the project is the construction of temporary concrete piles to support the Centre Block and Peace Tower, reducing potential earthquake damage. These piles, which will extend 23 meters into bedrock, will be cushioned with two-foot-thick rubber slabs to absorb seismic activity. This aspect of the project alone is projected to cost 300 million Canadian dollars.
After the tour, Mr. Wright acknowledged the setbacks caused by labor strikes and the pandemic disruptions. However, he expressed confidence in the project team’s ability to find alternative approaches to keep everything on track.
Ian Austen, a native of Windsor, Ontario, has been reporting on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. You can follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.
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