First of all, I have to say that the support we are getting to move forward with the renovations to the West Block is excellent. It truly is. There is much work to be done, of course, but we have received the necessary authorities and appropriations to start the project. That's the first point I want to make.
Before emptying out the West Block, we had to find an alternative location south of Wellington Street to house former West Block employees. Renovations to La Promenade building were complex. It took a while to find accommodation for that building's employees. Then we had to deal with Library of Parliament staff. We signed leases for office space in relatively close proximity to the Hill, for practical reasons. Phase one involved relocating employees and finding suitable office space for them. Phase two consisted in the actual renovations to La Promenade building, once the premises had been vacated.
While it might seem that the work at the West Block has dragged on for quite a while, we couldn't simply empty the building before we had found alternate accommodation for staff.
In phase one, we emptied out La Promenade and in phase two, we completed the renovation work. Now we can concentrate on the West Block. That explains why it has taken us so long. Had there been a simpler solution, we would have resorted to it. And I might add that our parliamentary colleagues were in favour of the multi-phased approach that I have just described to you. They recognized that this was necessary in order to move ahead with the West Block renovations.