If you’ve seen the Centre Block of Parliament Hill on television lately, you’ll know the beautiful facade is obscured by cranes, as the century-old building is five years in to a massive, decade-long renovation.
The same treatment is in the offing for Ontario’s Legislative Assembly, which is also said to need a billion-dollar facelift. Again, the building is more than a century old and needs considerable modernization.
Perhaps there’s something to learn from Prince Edward Island, whose legislative assembly is about to reopen after 11 years of intense renovation. Province House was built in 1847. It’s the place where, in 1864, Sir John A. Macdonald gathered delegates in the Confederation Chamber and began the negotiations to create Canada. But in 2015, Islanders began to notice their seat of democracy was suffering from structural damage. The roof was never particularly good to begin with, and water damage was having its way with the place.
Speaker of the House, Brad Trivers, in the newly renovated legislative assembly. (Steve Paikin)
Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province, with an annual budget of only $3.8 billion. There was no way the province could handle the nearly $140 million cost to renovate. So, given the national significance of the place, the federal government agreed to pick up the tab and the renovation has been on for the past 11 years.
Brian Willis has been in charge of the Province House renovation since 2017. (Steve Paikin)
I was in Charlottetown last week and took a special tour of Province House. Project manager Brian Willis told our group that his team dug out the basement, adding five feet of depth, requiring each stone to be numbered, dismantled, cleaned, then put back in. As many as 1,000 people have worked on this assignment, with masons coming from all over the world.
A mason etched a face into the walls of Province House. (Steve Paikin)
Speaking of masons, today’s workers have found evidence of “the whimsy of masons from 180 years ago,” as tour guide Chantal MacDonald describes it. At least one face, carved into the stone, has been found. So has the original architect Isaac Smith’s signature, penned under one of the floorboards. Province House was Smith’s last project before he packed in architecture and became a missionary.
Renovators discovered British architect Isaac Smith's signature under one of the floors and have preserved it behind glass. (Steve Paikin)
For the past decade, legislators have moved across the road to the George Coles building, where the 27-seat assembly has reconvened. (Still no word on where Ontario’s 124 MPPs will reassemble once Queen’s Park goes under the knife.)
For this special tour, the Speaker of the Assembly, Brad Trivers, opened the guest book for the first time in 11 years, and had PEI’s lieutenant governor Wassim Salamoun sign the registry. As the Speaker surveyed the newly renovated floor of the assembly, he showed off a new Clerk’s table which was a gift from all the other provinces.
PEI's lieutenant governor Wassim Salamoun becomes the first person in 11 years to sign the guest book in Province House. (Steve Paikin)
PEI also does something rarely done in the British Commonwealth. In almost every other parliament, the government sits to the right of the Speaker, and the opposition on the left. In PEI, it’s the opposite. Apparently, when the building first opened, the left side of the chamber was warmer, so the government used its muscle to switch things up and force the opposition to sit on the colder side. It’s persisted to this day. (Newfoundland and Labrador is the only other house of assembly that does this switcheroo, and for the same reason.)
PEI Lieutenant Governor Wassim Salamoun inspects the renovated and cleaned brickwork in Province House's basement. (Steve Paikin)
Meanwhile, planners have taken almost every effort to preserve traditions from the original building. Even though the basement was significantly dug out, builders have left a bedroom at the original level. The building’s housekeepers raised their five kids down there. Also, you will see what look like marble columns. In fact, they’re made of wood and painted to look like marble.
Tour guide Chantal MacDonald shows how former housekeepers raised their five children in the basement of Province House. Renovators left the original quarters intact. (Steve Paikin)
Although the Ontario government has postponed its Queen’s Park renovation for a couple of years, decision-makers there could do worse than to call Charlottetown and learn some lessons from a project that appears to have gone exceedingly well.