Evidence of meeting #34 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sauvé.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Mr. Glouberman.
Thank you, Madame Bourgeois.
Mr. Holder, you have the final five minutes, please.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Thank you very much Chair.
From time to time I certainly appreciate the chair's balance and fairness both in his judgments and in his comments. I'm afraid today is not one of those times....
I'd like to thank our guests today for attending and giving their frank and thoughtful testimony. My Cape Breton mom used to say, “After it's all said and done, there's a lot more said than done”. I sense that some of the dialogue around the table has reflected that today.
I want to touch briefly--for the last time, to get this finally off the table--on the issue of this infamous cocktail party.
Madam Gersovitz, you've said that you attended one time ever, and that was this one cocktail party.
10:35 a.m.
As an Individual
I'm not sure I'll ever attend another one, but I did attend that one.
10:35 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Understood.
Mr. Glouberman, you indicated that you attended this one, but you've attended several before. I thought I heard you say they weren't necessarily for Conservative functions. Do you recall what they might have been for in the past?
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, that's not an appropriate question. We don't grill people as to their political affiliations at this committee.
10:35 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
It's a person's own business what political party they choose to donate to and support. It's too late now, but if there are any apologies in order today, I think Ed Holder should apologize to this witness for demanding to know what political party he's donating to.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
That is not a point of order, Mr. Martin. It's a point of debate.
Mr. Holder, continue.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your candour there.
I'd like to get to the point that is perhaps the key point here, which is the issue of the renovations. Certainly we've all heard from media that the renovations are quite extensive and come at a very high price. I'd like to get your professional opinion, and if I might say, because of this high cost to renovate.... You've been involved in this building since 1995. I would think you know this building intimately.
I think this committee would appreciate a sense of what you think the renovation requirements are. How extensive is this? Is it worth the price we're paying?
10:40 a.m.
As an Individual
I definitely think it's worth the price that we have to pay for this. This building has deteriorated tremendously over a period of time. Also, it's a building that was initially built as a departmental building, and it's being updated to meet present requirements for parliamentarians, which are quite different. So there's modern technology and there's a lot of infrastructure that has to be included in this building now.
But basically most of the money is going into restoring the existing building. The masonry is in terrible shape. There's a tremendous amount of asbestos all over the building. That's very costly and very difficult to remove. It's all the way within the walls, so it's a very, very costly building to repair, and in addition, we are adding more space by creating space in the courtyard and closing that in.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
So in your professional opinion, the expense is justified based on the condition of the building as you see it today.
10:40 a.m.
As an Individual
I feel the cost is justified based on the condition of the building and the scope of the work that we have to do.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Thank you.
Finally, if I might, I want to clarify one of the questions that was asked by a member opposite. They wondered why you are here today. I think having you here today as world-class architects, and the work you're doing on our precinct... Frankly, this is a national treasure. I think it speaks to the calibre of your work, but also to the needs that are required for the building.
You may not know this, but we actually had Minister Paradis scheduled for today. But there were some members opposite who thought it was more critical to have you here. But I would say that you've added some dimension to our discussions, and I'd like to thank you both for attending.
Thank you, sir.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I just have one question, Mr. Chair. When I was asking for some information on the scope of the renovation, you stated that between 1995 and the early 2000s, I believe, you were no longer involved or the work had stopped during that time. Was any work that you're aware of undertaken on the preservation of the facade or anything else during that period of time?
10:40 a.m.
As an Individual
I know that during the time.... The project was stopped in 1998-99. We were called back in 2003 to do an analysis. In that interim time, Public Works was checking the building, scaling the building, and doing annual checks to monitor the deterioration.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
10:40 a.m.
As an Individual
I don't know if any reconstruction was done at that time.
10:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Mr. Warkentin.
Thank you to our witnesses, Mr. Glouberman and Madam Gersovitz.
Colleagues, don't leave the table just yet. We have one piece of committee business left.
I'll ask Ms. Gersovitz and Mr. Glouberman to leave, but thank you again for your testimony. I feel bad about the back-and-forth stuff. Anyway, thank you.
Colleagues, we have a motion put forward by Mr. Regan. It's a receivable motion. It's a timely motion.
Mr. Regan, do you wish to speak to your motion?
