Set to be in full use in 2017, the Wellington Building dazzles
PARLIAMENT HILL—Under construction since 2010, the Wellington Building’s rehabilitation wrapped up earlier this fall, with its first occupants having moved in from the East Block in September. The building at 180 Wellington St. includes 70 MP offices, 10 committee rooms (three of which are multipurpose), eight MP meeting rooms, a new Library of Parliament branch […]
MPs startled by $6.6-million price tag on Parliament Hill wall
Several MPs were taken aback this week to learn that the cost to replace a crumbling 400-metre stone wall with a new masonry wall and wrought-iron fence along the Ottawa River escarpment behind Parliament Hill has added up to an eye-popping $6.6-million. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the total of $2-billion the Public […]
Conservative MP provides sweet treat to committee members, Parliamentarians visit the U.S. to study identity politics
Ask and you shall receive, Rob Oliphant. The Liberal MP and chair of the House Public Safety and National Security Committee probably didn’t think his playful comment about time allocation would score him and members of the committee bowls of free ice cream. But it did. Mr. Oliphant (Don Valley West, Ont.) jokingly told committee member […]
$17.5-million spent on security during Obama visit: fiscal update to Parliament
The federal government spent $17.5-million on security when U.S. President Barack Obama visited Ottawa for a summit of North America’s three national leaders last June, show spending details revealed Tuesday in the government’s annual fall fiscal update to Parliament. The cost of heavy security and protection for President Obama, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexico President […]
RCMP used cadets for Hill security for two years after 2014 shooting
The RCMP has quietly withdrawn a deployment of rookie Mountie cadets who had been integrated into ranks of regular RCMP members providing ground and perimeter security on Parliament Hill following a shooter’s attack in the Centre Block in 2014, The Hill Times has learned. As well, the newly formed Parliamentary Protective Service is forming a […]
Janis Johnson leaves Senate after 26 years, Parliament Hill only site eyed for outdoor NHL game
Conservative Senator Janis Johnson has resigned her seat in the Upper Chamber after more than two decades in office. Ms. Johnson (Manitoba) announced her intention to step down earlier this month, and formally relinquished her seat on Tuesday, exactly 26 years after her appointment to the Senate by then-Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. In an […]
Prime minister Mackenzie declined three offers of knighthood, never known as ‘Sir’ Alexander Mackenzie
Re: “Trudeau to become second prime minister to have office in West Block,” (The Hill Times, Aug. 15, p.1). It was great to see the media coverage on the renovations underway to the West Block. Some of this coverage noted that Justin Trudeau would be moving into the office first occupied by Alexander Mackenzie. At […]
The best nooks and crannies on the Hill
We’re on our way, a Hill Times photographer and reporter, to Liberal MP Greg Fergus’s favourite Hill nook, when he stops with eyes aglow and big smile on his face. He’s got another place he wants to show us first, somewhere a little more unconventional. Down we go in a service elevator to the sub-basement […]
House on Hill: a primer on multi-billion-dollar renovations of Parliament Buildings
The sights and sounds of construction have become a normal part of life on Parliament Hill after already more than a decade of ongoing work, which officially began in 2001 with the renovation of the Library of Parliament and will have cost an estimated $3-billion by the time Centre Block is emptied for renovations in […]
A closer look at the $863-million West Block renovations
Media got a chance to tour the West Block project’s construction site on Sept. 15, including a close-up look at the first phase of the new underground Visitors’ Welcome Centre and the building’s courtyard space that’ll be home to an interim House of Commons Chamber, in use by fall 2018 for at least a decade […]
