Mayor Jamie McGarvey stood in front of the iconic House of Parliament Centre Block Christmas tree before it goes away for 10 years.
” I was in Ottawa for a meeting with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and it was a bonus to be able to actually get into the House of Commons. We had an opportunity to go to the House because FCM arranged for a question period with members there. Because it was so busy and I was waiting in the lobby for an interview with another member of Parliament who was tied up with another discussion about Canada Post, I took the opportunity to take a photo of the tree,” he said.
“That was pretty special because I take that the decoration of this particular tree has been happening in the House of Commons for many many years and because they are doing renovations on the House of Commons, they’re shutting that entire lobby area right down. That tree may not be seen in that location for at least 10 years…depending on what they find,” he joked.
The House of Commons Centre Block is slated to begin renovations in the new year which are expected to take a decade to finish. That means next year’s tree will be in a different location.
“I didn’t realise that everything was being shut down at the time so when someone explained what was going on, I just had to capture (the tree)”, he said.