TORONTO — Work to renovate Ontario’s legislature is still in relatively early planning stages, but the minister in charge of the massive project says it is already "a touch" delayed.
Legislative Affairs Minister Paul Calandra says he had hoped that after the 2026 election the newly elected parliament would convene for the first time in a temporary location, but while that timeline is not impossible he says it now seems unlikely.
The locations being considered for the temporary legislature are a closely guarded secret.
The director of the precinct properties branch told a legislative committee overseeing the project today that a historic structures report, which includes both the building and the grounds of the legislature, should be complete in a year and a half.
The committee heard today from legislative staff about some of the many exterior considerations when undertaking a rehabilitation of the legislature, including the various statues, commemorative plaques, and three Japanese flowering cherry trees.
Calandra said last year that the project will cost at least $1 billion.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press
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