Assistant Deputy Ministers' message: The Long Term Vision and Plan for the Parliamentary Precinct - Annual Report 2019 to 2020

We are pleased to present the Long Term Vision and Plan (LTVP) Annual Report for 2019 to 2020, which provides updates on key activities in support of the long-term strategy that is guiding the restoration and modernization of the Parliamentary Precinct.

This year has been one of great opportunity for the precinct, but one that concluded with the challenge of our times. This year brought the significant achievement of breaking ground on the Parliament Welcome Centre, an integrated parliamentary complex that will better serve parliamentarians and visitors by connecting the Centre, East and West Blocks, but it also brought the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to our people and program of work. And as the team of creative, committed professionals that we are so privileged to work with always does when faced with challenges, we rose to confront it.

The global pandemic has impacted the way in which the entire world conducts itself, and PSPC is no exception. As the year ended and public authorities and governments implemented lockdown measures, we focused on the Centre Block program, and worked with major national construction partners active in the precinct, including the Canadian Construction Association (CCA), to develop protocols that would allow us to continue to work safely.

The decision to scale down operations in the precinct to focus solely on infrastructure in a critical state of deterioration demonstrates our overarching priority: to protect the health and safety of our workers, parliamentarians and visitors. The strict health and safety protocols that we developed with the CCA became the standard for construction sites across Canada.

By April 2020, we had adapted activities in the Parliamentary Precinct to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to do our part to help flatten the curve. Essential construction projects in the precinct, namely the Centre Block, Parliament Welcome Centre and East Block continued to move forward. PSPC is continuing to work with the construction industry to support a strong economic recovery beyond the COVID-19 crisis, and we continue to monitor the situation and respect the advice of public health officials to keep construction sites in the Parliamentary Precinct safe.

Since the historic decommissioning of Centre Block last year, the project, the largest of its kind in Canadian history, remains on track. Significant milestones were achieved including the relocation of monuments. We completed the most comprehensive archaeological and building assessments on the Hill ever undertaken to understand, to the finest degree possible, the condition of Centre Block and to reduce the risk of our work ahead. With these successes now behind us, we can look forward to the Centre Block entering its major construction phase.

We laid the groundwork to initiate an architectural design competition for the redevelopment of Block 2, which will form a part of the new “South Block” directly across from Parliament Hill. We have attracted interest from firms from across Canada and around the globe to provide high quality, creative and innovative design concepts that exemplify the symbolism and spirit of the location through design excellence.

Moreover, the precinct is poised to be a world-class model of Universal Accessibility and sustainability through advancements such as the Universal Accessibility Review and Action Plan (UARAP) and the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. As part of the LTVP update presently underway, these initiatives are vital to the Campus Master Plan that will affirm the Parliamentary Precinct as a modern, integrated parliamentary campus that is moving towards carbon neutrality and climate resiliency, and that can be enjoyed by all Canadians for years to come, all the while remaining one of the most important heritage sites in Canada.

With gratitude to our partners, employees and workers who made it possible to achieve these significant accomplishments over the past year, we are pleased to invite you to read this report.

Sincerely,

Rob Wright
Assistant Deputy Minister
Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch

Duncan Retson
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister
Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch