Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 9th, 2025

[Jennifer Garrett]

Do I get to explain what they're associated with before I give you the numbers on it?

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

I'd like a number.

[Jennifer Garrett]

Okay. At this point, we're tracking around a $6-million premium on a multi-billion dollar program. The rationale for this is that we're taking Canadian steel products and using innovation. This is a new manufacturing methodology that has been brought to light since we started this approach, investigating what we could do to Canadianize steel production. We're able to take Canadian product and weld it together using Canadian manufacturers, so the incremental cost is providing jobs for Canadians in incremental manufacturing capabilities in terms of welding steel capabilities together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you so much.

I'll now turn to Madame Brière for six minutes, please.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for giving us this tour, which was very interesting and fascinating.

Have you encountered any challenges that you could tell us about?

What challenges do you anticipate between now and the completion of the work?

[Benoit Dicaire]

Thank you for the question.

There are challenges at every stage of such a large-scale project. I can talk about the challenges related to the role of the House and the House administration. My colleague can talk about the challenges associated with construction, design and so on.

In the House, we must always strike a balance between several factors, such as security and openness, or heritage elements and functionality, particularly the lack of space needed to hold meetings or events in the building. With regard to space, there are many activities in any one building, and we have to prioritize what stays and what goes.

For example, the House currently has a beautiful interpretation booth. There was also an interpretation booth in Centre Block. We have one here in the interim House. However, in the new House, given the increase in the number of members, we unfortunately do not have the necessary space. We therefore have to transform certain elements. A television control room that was directly associated with the House of Commons now has to be moved out of the building.

We therefore have to innovate and transform in order to offer the same service in a safe and functional way, just in a different manner.

That is a specific example where transformation is necessary. We do not have the necessary space in the building, and we must ensure that priority is given to the primary needs of the building and space for members, rather than to the House administration, in a heritage building such as the Centre Block.

I think Ms. Garrett can give you other examples, particularly with regard to the challenges posed by construction work.

[Jennifer Garrett]

Given where we are in the program, I would concur with Mr. Dicaire. From a design perspective, the chamber is a very significant undertaking and design challenge for us, but we're making good strides.

Moving more to the project side, those of you who came to the site to visit us today saw that we were doing a lot of work in the basement to stabilize the building and add base isolation so we can excavate underneath and link the new Parliament welcome centre to Centre Block. That is probably one of the most technical undertakings in the world right now, from a structural perspective. The slab is going from this big to several feet—about a metre and half wide, I would say. While we're doing that, we have to dig to a three-millimetre tolerance for the building. We cannot shake the building as we're digging beneath it.

We will be very happy to complete that excavation process, get out of the basement and complete the structural reinforcement of the building.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

In terms of the environment, are there any energy efficiency targets that you would like to achieve?

[Jennifer Garrett]

Yes, we do. From a sustainability perspective, we have a comprehensive strategy. We're pursuing LEED gold and carbon neutrality for the building. That is driving us towards innovative strategies. We are connecting to the building network in terms of heat, moving from steam to hot water, which will help our effort. It is outside the project that we're making those connections. Within the project, there are things like closing in the courtyards and putting in state-of-the-art building infrastructure designed for future climate change requirements.

Those kinds of things, in addition to our geothermal net, are allowing us to dramatically improve the performance of the building and hopefully the comfort of parliamentarians.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

In terms of history and heritage, I imagine you are working with specialists. I do not have the exact titles, but could you tell us a little about their work?

[Benoit Dicaire]

There are two aspects to that question.

The entire heritage aspect is the responsibility of Ms. Garrett and her team, while the decorative arts aspect is the responsibility of the respective speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate, supported by the curator of the House of Commons and teams specializing in that area.

With regard to heritage items, Ms. Garrett can speak about her team and certain specialists who are part of her team.

[Jennifer Garrett]

For all of this, we have dedicated experts within PSPC and the contractor community on both the design and construction sides of the program. Our lead designer, Centris, is a joint venture of HOK and WSP, and on the construction management side, we have a joint venture of EllisDon and PCL.

From our perspective, we started with the design process. We did an extensive assessment of the heritage character of the building. We went right back to the archives. There is a comprehensive heritage brief that, first and foremost, outlined the elements of the building that were important and required protection, so we considered those as we launched the design.

We have various conservators on the construction side and informing on the design side, because we have our constructor on board. It's an integrated delivery model. Construction informs design, hopefully sharing lessons learned and avoiding costs as we go forward, because we're getting expert advice up front in the program rather than at the end of the design process.

We've done dedicated strategies for the 50 special Pearson rooms in the building. I can assure the committee that we have been able to modernize and put modern architecture and capabilities, which Mr. Dicaire is leading on, into these heritage rooms without unduly affecting their heritage character.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you so much.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a really short question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

You are way over time.

Ms. Normandin, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much.

I want to echo what my colleagues have said. The tour was very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to plan the next steps.

My first question is for you, Mr. Kmiec, from the working group.

As we know, the parliamentarians who sit in Parliament today are not the ones who will be sitting in Parliament 50 years from now. So, there is a need for a long-term vision.

Demographics and the world are changing. For example, not so long ago, we did not have a voting app. Viviane Barbeau once told me that less than 30 years ago, there were not enough bathrooms for female MPs, and they would sometimes arrive late for votes. There are situations that we cannot yet foresee.

What support do you receive from outside groups or experts, for example, to help you plan for the future so that decisions made by parliamentarians who will no longer be there are still appropriate for future needs?

[Tom Kmiec]

Ms. Normandin, you said that in 50 years, today's MPs may no longer be sitting in Parliament. I would say that Mr. Plamondon is proof that no one can predict someone's political path. It is quite possible that some members will still be here in 50 years and will see the trajectory of the construction work and how the House is being used.

We are getting assistance from experts such as the clerks of the House of Commons and members of the department responsible for construction projects.

We rely on people who have been chairs of this subcommittee for much longer than I have. Several other MPs have been members of this working group. We are relying on those responsible for the construction to suggest people to contact for advice, which we included in the documents distributed to the committee.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I would like to hear your comments on the issue of tunnels connecting the north and south sides of Wellington Street.

At present, the meeting is public, so I understand that some information cannot be disclosed, but I would like to hear your comments on the security aspect in general.

It could be an improvement in terms of security if only MPs and employees were allowed to use the tunnels, for example. If someone manages to infiltrate, it could become problematic. I am thinking of the situation not so long ago when a convoy of truckers invaded Ottawa. If the ends are blocked, it could make things more dangerous.

How will security be guaranteed when the various buildings are connected by tunnels?

[Benoit Dicaire]

That's an excellent question. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can say in public, but I would be happy to answer your question.

That being said, what I can say is that the safety of MPs and parliamentarians is paramount in our long-term planning. Several measures are being taken to analyze emerging risks. The security environment has changed significantly between 2014 and today. We must continually adapt to new security realities and challenges, and we must seize new opportunities.

In this context, tunnels represent both a challenge and an opportunity. They are one of several elements that are part of an integrated security strategy for the parliamentary precinct.

When we talk about security, we are talking about a multi-layered approach. We must use the physical and digital resources at our disposal. We also have an operational workforce, namely the Parliamentary Protection Service team, which handles operational needs. We must work together to ensure an integrated approach to security.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I know that you have been in contact with representatives from several parliaments around the world to get an idea of best practices.

Which parliaments are similar to Canada's? There are some very modern parliaments that are like something out of this world. I know that the Speaker of the House recently visited Westminster. That is also very different, because it is quite old and cannot be expanded from the inside.

Which parliaments would be comparable to the Canadian Parliament?

[Benoit Dicaire]

I can speak about certain elements. We have a great partnership with PSPC in relation to what is happening elsewhere in the world.

Certain trends, such as the visitor experience, have changed dramatically. We are very much in line with modern parliaments on this point.

Parliaments in several countries are at different stages of their reconstruction projects. The visitor experience is one trend, tunnels are another. The security context is a third element of similarity, regardless of which parliaments we visit.

Ms. Garrett's team and I are part of a network that allows us to share lessons learned at different stages. We take comfort from that when speaking with one another. We observe very similar situations and challenges, and we are able to learn from them.

Ms. Garrett, would you like to add anything?

[Jennifer Garrett]

PSPC and the parliamentary administrations are part of an international network. It's interesting that many parliaments across the world are renovating their parliaments at the same time. It is an opportune time to share lessons learned. Interestingly enough, when we get together, we find ourselves very much having common problems and challenges, so the exchange is very rich.

In terms of heritage, even though Westminster is bigger, we're very similar to the U.K. Parliament in terms of its heritage and its challenges. It's also similar to Hungary.

When we talk about security, visitor experience and modern parliamentary functions, we have a lot of interest in aligning with the U.S. Capitol, but I would say that every parliament across the world we're involved with has something to provide us. There's a link somewhere with everything we're doing, and we do rich exchanges on a variety of topics.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Kram for five minutes, please.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for joining us today.

The provincial legislative building of Saskatchewan recently underwent a pretty major rehabilitation project, so I was a bit surprised to see on page 6 of the slide deck the infographic about buying Canadian, where it says that 95% of the 400 companies working on the project were representing just about every province except Saskatchewan.

I was wondering how that one fell through the cracks. What happened with the potential Saskatchewan suppliers? Why did they not make the grade, so to speak?

[Jennifer Garrett]

I'll take that question. Thank you for the opportunity.

I will say, do not despair. There is a lot of time left in this job. Our goal with this program is to have every province and territory represented in the project.

To date, we've bought out the job only as far as the structural side goes. I would have to go back to understand, through our construction manager, if we had any company from Saskatchewan that bid and did not make it through the bidding process. All of our processes are bid competitively through our construction manager.

There is a lot more work to come, and we're hoping that we can get the word out and have bidders and companies come from across the country to work on this important program.