A guide to Parliament Hill’s cafeterias
PARLIAMENT HILL—No one wants to go outside for long in winter. Ottawa is cold. The Ottawa River doesn’t help with windchill. Despite there being tunnels connecting some buildings on the Hill, there’s no equivalent to Toronto’s PATH, a 30-plus kilometre underground pedestrian walkway serving most of downtown. If you’re one of those who’d rather not […]
National Capital Commission, planners and stewards of Canada’s capital region
The capital we know today is the result of 120 years of planning, beginning with the Ottawa Improvement Commission, founded on the initiative of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1899. Over subsequent decades, the National Capital Region has benefited greatly from the work of giants of the planning world such as Frederick Todd, Edward Bennett, and […]
‘We’re flying the plane while we build it’: demolition work in Centre Block has begun
A final budget and timeline for the renovation of the iconic Centre Block building have yet to be determined, but work is plowing ahead, with demolition underway from the fourth floor up, which will see those floors stripped down to the building’s bones. “With these kinds of projects, we’re flying the plane while we build […]
Scheer’s lame duck problem
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Recently, while attending a luncheon in Toronto, I made a bit of a political faux pas. You see, the guy sitting next to me at my table just happened to be an executive with Canada’s Conservative Party, so just to make small talk I asked him something like, “Do you think any Conservative will […]
New Parliament should put best foot forward to address climate change
The health and wellbeing of Canadians is irrevocably tied to the health and wellbeing of the planet. Our newly elected government needs to demonstrate they understand what this interdependence implies. In 1987, the Bruntland Commission published a report with the title, Our Common Future. The commissioners presented a straightforward argument: the planet’s resources are finite […]
This election, vote for a Parliament that will defend, reinvigorate democracy
When Oct. 22nd dawns, no matter which party wins, somewhere between 60 and 65 per cent of Canadians who voted will feel like they lost. And with voter turnout at an average of 63 per cent for the last five elections, likely another third of Canadians will not even have played the game. Newly elected […]
Savoie’s new ‘magnum opus’ book argues federal public service has been ‘knocked off its moorings’
Although he says he didn’t plan for the release of his “magnum opus” in the final weeks leading up to the Oct. 21 election, Donald Savoie’s new book, Democracy in Canada: The Disintegration of Our Institutions, argues that if Canadians wish to locate political power, “they should not look to Parliament, political parties, cabinet or […]
Feds to finalize 100 Wellington’s future by 2021—Algonquin, Indigenous groups continue dispute over vacant site
Long-term plans for the building at 100 Wellington St. are to be finalized by the fall of 2021, but it remains unclear how much longer the site costing Ottawa an average of $200,000 per year will sit vacant. Once home to the U.S. Embassy, Ottawa said it would dedicate the space to Indigenous groups in […]
‘He was like a brother to me’: colleagues reflect on death of long-serving Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai
Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, who died last week after a brief battle with cancer, is remembered by his colleagues as a man “who took his job very seriously, but never took himself too seriously” and who “recognized humanity beyond the politics.” Mr. Obhrai died on Aug. 2, surrounded by his family, after being diagnosed with […]
The Château’s not your building; if you want to keep it the way it is, buy it
TORONTO—Several lifetimes ago, when this writer was a chief of staff in Jean Chrétien’s government—and when the Reform Party was a political force to be reckoned with—stuff started to fall out of the sky. Well, not the sky, actually. Centre Block’s Peace Tower, to be precise. Bricks and mortar and other stuff was crumbling and […]
