My guess is most readers assumed this was going to be a piece about how we have to fix the way Parliament works and bring more civility into the House. Well, no. This is literally about fixing Parliament, or rather the buildings it uses in Ottawa.
News reports today (note, today is Sunday and perhaps the fact this story came out on a Sunday suggests there is some political reason to have it overlooked by most Canadians?) suggest that the total cost to bring Parliament Hill back into fully useable and structurally safe condition may costs $1.5 billion and continue until 2020.
Anyone who has visited Ottawa recently knows the buildings look awful -- and the interior rooms suffer from crumbling walls and excessive moisture.
The buildings on Parliament Hill are in a bad way. It seems they were built without sufficient care about weight ditribution and the rigors of an Ottawa winter -- with ice forming in cracks and tearing the masonary apart -- were overlooked. Without restoration the buildings would collapse.
High wire fencing has been erected at a north corner of the Centre Block to prevent Hill pedestrians and visitors from coming too close to crumbling mortar and the danger of falling bits of stone from the walls and towers. The southeast corner of the West Block has been shrouded in white all-weather construction sheeting for more than a year. And, for the second summer in a row, brown see-through webbing is wrapped around other towers, looking like giant nylon socks over stone. The webbing is also a protection against crumbling mortar and stone.
Though they look like gigantic elastic bands, the steel cables strung around most of the towers, holding large planks onto the cornerstones, are crucial. These cables are actually keeping the buildings from splitting apart!!!
Though they look like gigantic elastic bands, the steel cables strung around most of the towers, holding large planks onto the cornerstones, are crucial. These cables are actually keeping the buildings from splitting apart!!!
Canada is a wealthy nation -- yes we have issues but compared to most places we are doing very well indeed.
Parliament Hill is Canada's national home. We can afford to do better and it's time to spend the money to speed up the repairs. This is something all Parties ought to be able to agree on.
4 comments:
I read the news article,but it doesn't say anywhere if they have the go ahead to do the work or that they are thinking about it. Do you know if the work is going to be done? Maybe I missed it.
We should find a way to take politics out of the equation. You know what would happen if we spend money on the PM official resident,some politician somewhere or some group in this country will come out and say "we have more pressing needs then to spend over $1 billion" we all know that this would happen. What is your thought on this,on how we can take the politics out? Thank You!
P.S.please no partisan jabs I agree that we need to fix up those buildings.
Given Harper's penchant for dismantling the federal government, I would figure that it's right up his alley to tear down the East and West Blocks of Parliament and sell off the stones and wood to the higher bidder or to a future business interest (probably in the U.S.).
The Right,
You are totally right (both ways). And fixing up Sussex Drive is also important. Look, Liberal or Tory we all love Canada (jabs aside there is no doubt on this point) so let's cooperate on this necessity.
j
"You are totally right (both ways). And fixing up Sussex Drive is also important. Look, Liberal or Tory we all love Canada (jabs aside there is no doubt on this point) so let's cooperate on this necessity."
I couldn't agree with you anymore James.We need to do something,but first we have to figure on how we can get politics out of it in which it won't be easy.
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