RCMP build bomb-proof ‘bunker’ on Parliament Hill
The RCMP has erected a bomb-proof heavy steel envelope around a vehicle screening centre at the main road entrance to Parliament Hill as part of $3.4-million worth of support and enhanced “physical security” for Parliament and its newly unified protective service. The steel cladding, which the RCMP calls a protective enclosure but which other members […]
Parliament isn’t ‘just’ there to hear constituents: Lib MP Fisher
Re: “Number of break weeks ‘obscene’ ‘MPs should re-evaluate use of time,’ says parliamentary expert,” (The Hill Times, Feb. 15, p. 1). I may be a rookie MP, but I’ve been an “on the ground” municipal councillor for the better part of a decade. The majority of politicians I have met take their jobs very seriously. […]
‘It’s a very small building, but it’s very rich,’ new Hill space opens with Sir John A. Macdonald Building addition
There’s some new square footage available on the Hill with the new addition to the historic Sir John A. Macdonald Building, which includes a multi-purpose room and was designed to be a contemporary, modern match to the main heritage hall, say architects involved in its design. “It’s a very small building, but it’s very rich,” said David Clusiau, […]
Record-setting snowfall in Ottawa wreaks havoc for MPs
Liberal MP Ali Ehsassi’s week is off to an unconventional start, after he was delayed by a few hours flying in from Ottawa to Toronto yesterday morning due to the monstrous snowstorm that hit central and eastern Canada. The delay was an inconvenience for him, he says, but it really affected the MPs who were […]
Record snowfall
Canada’s military summary trials are frozen in time: Drapeau, Juneau
OTTAWA—Military summary trials are ancient, outdated, and unfair—and they are insulated from judicial scrutiny. Immediate reform is necessary to this system of “justice,” not only to strengthen our military justice system, but to bring it in line with traditional Charter-protected rights and values, and to catch up to the modernizations that have already swept across […]
Senators say they’re frustrated by slow pace of Senate reforms
Frustration is bubbling up in the Red Chamber about the slow pace and lack of progress on reforming the Senate, as another Senator quit their caucus last week to sit as an Independent—becoming the third from both parties in the last three months—and it appears more might do the same. “Obviously, frustration exists with many Senators,” said […]
Wellington Building to open in September, to include new Library of Parliament branch
It’s been taunting us for nearly six years. But the House will finally get possession of the $425.2-million newly-renovated Wellington Building at the beginning of May, with the building to be in use by September. Furniture is already being moved into the space, which will include 70 MP offices, 10 committee rooms, and a new […]
My quest to identify the 528 men who rebuilt Centre Block
OTTAWA—When I saw this amazing photo of the hundreds of men who helped rebuild the Centre Block after the 1916 fire hanging on a wall just outside the washrooms in the basement of Irene’s Pub in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood, I was in awe. So I returned a few days later to find the man who had put it there. I […]
How the 1916 fire of Parliament opened a half decade of fiery debate, parliamentary change
Fire destroyed the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on the night of Feb. 3, 1916, leaving only the Library of Parliament intact. The next day, as the burned shell stood coated in ice from the fire brigade’s hoses, the House of Commons met at the Victoria Memorial Museum, now the Canadian Museum of Nature, […]
