Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. There are two things. One is that they have the genetic material from the tree to be part of their ongoing scientific research. Second, yes, the plan is to plant the same stock throughout the parliamentary precinct. We would be more than happy to work with Greenspace Allianc

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We would have to take a significant analysis of that. Before we get to costs, you would have a visitor welcome centre that would not be symmetrical. It would have an impact on how Parliament Hill and the landscape look. There would be no getting away from having a visitor welcom

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We started with the initial plans, of which this was a part of a broader suite. It made sense with the plan to reuse the tree, to cut it before the sap started running. That was important. We had contracts in place to do the other tree, so it made sense to do it as one piece. As

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Our understanding at this point is that it would reduce up to around 15% of the planned volume of the visitor welcome centre, which would have significant impact. If we were to take the root system, as was discussed—and I'll pass it over to Ms. MacDonald—it certainly extends wel

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do have some formal opening comments, but I'll try to address some of those questions up front so that sets the stage, if that would be okay. The location of the visitor welcome centre is obviously a really critical matter to this study. You would all be aware of where phase o

Environment committee  Thank you for your questions. The Centre Block is one of the most valued buildings in Canada. It will therefore be a conservation exercise first and foremost. We are not planning many changes to the building other than a new visitors' centre. Phase one of the visitor welcome c

Environment committee  That is hard to say right now. The consultations with aboriginal organizations and communities have not started yet. So we do not really have a specific vision as of yet. Those consultations will inform the vision, which will drive decision-making around that building. Of course

Environment committee  We're quite far away from making those types of decisions at this point. That will involve, of course, working with the parliamentary partners—the House of Commons, the Senate, the Library of Parliament, and Parliamentary Protective Service—to see if that meets the accommodation

Environment committee  It was quite a small proportion actually. We needed to provide a chamber, and the type of space that would provide that type of functionality is very limited within the geographic boundaries. In totality, I think it was a smart investment, and having a glass roof versus another t

Environment committee  In many respects, it's a national footprint and a local market as well. Many people relocate as well to work on the Parliament Buildings. If you look at something like stone masons.... I've been involved in this for over a decade now. If you go back to some of the initial pilot p

Environment committee  I don't have that at my fingertips, but I would say that escalation is a very important factor in this work. The costs rise over time, so doing work now saves you money later, and that is an important factor.

Environment committee  The visitor welcome centre is a separate project with a separate cost of approximately $129 million.

Environment committee  Thank you for your question, because it is important. At a high level, most of these investments flow through to small and medium-sized enterprises and to individuals. For example, take the delivery of the construction work. Generally, we do that through a construction manageme

Environment committee  Absolutely. I'll unpack all of those costs for you. One thing that's important to preface that with is that we produce an annual report that focuses on all the costs. We put that on our website. We send it to the Treasury Board Secretariat, and it's available for all Canadians.

Environment committee  The Sir John A. Macdonald cost $99.5 million. This building here, 180 Wellington, was $425 million.