Province House closing for years of restoration

With the fall sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature ending Thursday, the process to shut down Province House for what will be years of restoration work has begun.

Staff at Province House have until the end of December to move everything out so repairs can begin.

Officially those are expected to take three-to-five years, but some unofficial estimates put the number as high as 10. The cost is expected to be between $30 million and $50 million.

Among those who will miss the old building is the P.E.I. Legislature's Sergeant-at-Arms Al MacDonald.

I've been here since, well just about 20 years. It'll be 20 years in April. And it's part of me. I enjoy coming to work, I enjoy the building. It's a great old building, lots of good memories, said MacDonald.

I'll miss it. Yeah, I'll miss it. You can move to another building but that one's not quite the same.

The next sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature will take place next door in the Coles building.

The historic building, which was built in 1847, is administered by Parks Canada, and the federal government had previously committed $10 million to the repairs. On Thursday Egmont MP Gail Shea, P.E.I.s representative in the federal cabinet, announced a further $10 million.

The biggest issue in the building is extensive water damage between the two walls that make up the exterior of the building.

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