100,000 PAGES OF DEFECTS IN WEST BLOCK

    Records on costly construction and design defects in newly-opened Parliament buildings run to more than 100,000 pages, says the Department of Public Works. MPs and senators complain of numerous errors, from doors that don’t open to sound systems that don’t amplify. Renovations cost more than $1.1 billion to date.

   Costs of refitting the West Block to house MPs were initially budgeted at $460 million in 1992, later revised to $769 million, and currently estimated at $975 million – more than double the original budget. MPs using the West Block for the first time noted inoperable doors, poor signage, and water damage from a burst sprinkler pipe that forced the evacuation of a cafeteria on January 29.     

MPs have also complained acoustics in the Commons are so noisy they cannot hear debate. “It is impossible to hear,” Conservative MP Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard) earlier told the House: “I cannot hear the member sitting only a few rows away.”