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Larry Muffin At Home

Tag Archives: Senate

Moving

03 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by larrymuffin in Parliament

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Canada., House of Commons, Ottawa, Parliament, renovations, Senate

Just before the Christmas break, Parliament and the Senate in Ottawa closed down for the last time in the Central block. For the next 15 years they will sit in temporary locations. The House of Commons will sit in what was the Courtyard of the West Bloc, a building that dates back to 1864 when Ottawa was still a mud town and the Senate will move to the old Railway Station across the street.

Since 2000 what are the 3 main buildings of the Parliament in Canada have been undergoing major renovation and retrofitting. Both the West and East blocs are original to 1864 and only minor cleaning and repair had taken place in the last 136 years. The West bloc was designed to house offices for members of Parliament and some Federal government departments. The East bloc was designed to house the Office of the Governor General, the Cabinet and the Department of Foreign Affairs. With the years and the growth of the Canadian Government after 1918, all that changed. The original Central bloc burnt to the ground in a spectacular fire in 1917 caused by a cigar butt left in a reading room. Only the Library of Parliament survived the massive fire because the Librarian seeing the smoke at the end of the corridor had to good sense of closing the steel doors thus protecting the Library from the flames. So in 1919  new Central bloc was inaugurated, the new building had an entire steel skeleton, a novelty then and a very tall clock tower now called the Peace Tower. However since then again little renovations had been done. The building though magnificent was having more and more mechanical system failures in the last few years.

The renovated West Bloc re-opened last week with the House now sitting in a very modern room for the next 15 years, the cost of this one building $863 million dollars CDN. It is a smaller building than the Central bloc and most Members have their offices in other buildings in the Parliament district, but that did not stop the media and some members of complaining about the small building. I worked in that building in 1979-81 and I do not remember it being that small, it is very grand inside with marble floors and grand staircases.

The Senate which in Canada and according to our Constitution is an un-elected body now sits in the Old Union Station, which was closed in 1965, converted into a government conference centre but mostly unused for years. It was a very badly neglected building with water infiltration etc. It too was completely renovated at great cost.

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But that is not all, other buildings around the area, like the Confederation Building, the Justice Building, the Old Metropolitan Life building at Wellington and Bank street, the Bank of Canada, the Supreme Court all have been renovated or are about to be renovated. The total cost is estimated at around $3.1 billion dollars, but the Central bloc alone will probably cost $1.2 billion to renovate. The reason for such high cost is that the buidings are full of sculptures, stained glass windows, chandeliers and artifacts, so the work has to take place around it all without damaging or displacing any of it.

The photo above shows the great Lion clutching in his paws the Coat of arms of Canada, he stands at the main door of the Central bloc under the Peace Tower, you can see how the stone is intricately carved with flora and fauna of Canada, well the inside is just the same, it all means something. In the distance on the photo is a part view of the West bloc.

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Computerized rendition of the West Bloc with the big blue roof covering the old Courtyard.

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The new visitor entrance located between the West Bloc and the Central Bloc on Parliament Hill.

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The temporary House of Commons built inside the Courtyard of the West Bloc, 20 steel columns hold up the glass roof. The public galleries are far larger and there is also many more seats for the Members of Parliament, in the next 15 years to population of Canada will increase so the architects thought of adding extra space to the existing 338 member seats.

The Senate building

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This is the old waiting room of the railway station transformed. The permanent furniture has not been installed yet, this is just a mock up of plain wood desk.

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This bronze wall was installed with images of the rockies, the door leads into the Senate Chamber. The employees of the Senate negotiated the return of one of the old waiting room seat with tiffany lamps from the museum where it was sent in 1966. A nice touch to the old railway station.

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Parliament, Parlement

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Canada., House of Commons, Ottawa, Parliament, Senate

Today we had what was billed as a private tour of the Central block of Parliament. The entire precinct of Parliament in Ottawa is currently going under a major $3 Billion dollar renovation. The West Block and East Block where built in 1864 and the Central block was rebuilt after the great fire of 1916. The other buildings of the Precinct like Confederation block and the old Metropolitan Life building and the old Bank of Montreal and the old Train Station are also part of the project since all those buildings will now house offices and a grand reception hall. The work is painstaking, our neighbour David works on the renovations, his job is to clean the stone work of the West block with a laser. What he has done so far is wonderful, it is a very large building, the stone is sandstone colour with a mix of pink granite. All the roofs are copper with intricate iron work which is very complex work. The East block and the West block are high Victorian Gothic style whereas the Central block is Canadian Gothic, the main central block houses the House of Commons and the Senate and the Library of Parliament. I use to work in Parliament, it was my first job working on the Hill. I loved that job and it was so nice. Today as we stood in the Ceremonial Hall under the Peace Tower I thought everything looked small and dingy. I do not know why but it did. Our guide was atrocious, I could have given the tour. Why do we have employees who are trained to give tours unable to explain anything and do not know the history of the buildings. I know they are moving out in two years while the main central block will be renovated but it all had a sad look about it. It could also be that we have had 10 years of Harper the worst Prime Minister this country has ever seen. I almost regretted going today, the House and Senate are in recess now until next week. Despite the fact no politicians are around there are regiments of guards everywhere. It is not the same place anymore, it use to be a place for Canadians to come and see the work of their Parliament, it now feels like a private club with well armed bouncers.

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Because the House is not sitting the lights were not on so despite the large windows and bright sunshine the halls were gloomy. The Senate Chamber had no light inside we could barely see anything. Again guards everywhere, nervous and jumpy. Most visitors are families with small kids or seniors. I was not impressed at all with this visit.

One person asked about the colours in both the House of Commons and in the Senate. The House has a green carpet and the seat are in green leather whereas the Senate as a red carpet and the seats are in dark red. The guide explained that she thought the green colour in the House was because it was a colour used in London at Westminster and red in the Senate represents the Queen. What?!? I cannot believe that no one told her that Red is the Crown and Green is the Commons (people), traditional colours.

Same with the many sculptures seen everywhere, she either was not sure or gave a short answer. Many people wanted to know where the crazed gunman had been shot on 22 October 2015. Our guide gave us the bureaucratize answer instead of simply pointing out as I did where he had been shot. It is apparently a State Secret, really its on tape everyone saw it. Had she been clever she could have diverted the conversation  to the purpose of our visit instead of giving us the Official Blah Blah.

I also found the guards rude and menacing with the public. Again I find that offensive, this is Parliament not some high security secret place. The openness of the place and the Official but friendly atmosphere of years past is gone. It use to be such a different place.

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Canadian Senate Chamber

1939 Ottawa

Opening of Parliament in 1939 by the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

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The earliest plaque with the four original provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

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The Senate Foyer with the paintings of various Sovereigns. Here George V, King and Emperor. The Foyer has all the Canadian Kings and Queens from George III.

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Here George VI and Queen Elizabeth II

Library-2

Library of Parliament with the white marble statue of a young Queen Victoria

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Main Entrance Hall of Parliament

HOC

House of Commons, Ottawa

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