Edmonton’s Federal Building, once the proposed home of the so-called SkyPalace, is again a focus of controversy.
An adjoining outdoor skating rink and a $120,000 Zamboni ice-clearing machine were quietly axed in 2013 to save $1 million. In all, the government cut $10 million worth of items from the building renovation.
This 128 square metre garage on the plaza outside the Federal Building was built to house a Zamboni ice machine. However, the Zamboni and the rink have been scrapped. (CBC )
However, a $832,000 garage to hold the Zamboni was still built. Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw calls it a symbol of government waste.
“While Premier Jim Prentice is talking about raising everyone’s taxes, this $1-million empty garage is nothing more than a tool shed,” he told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
Saskiw said the renovation, which is running over budget, boasts high cost features such as marble tiles and luxury drapes.
In the meantime, he said, pipes were bursting in the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton and the government has decided to delay the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary.
“Isn’t it odd that the one that the public could have enjoyed, a skating rink, is the one thing they decided to cut, yet they spared no expense when it came to the building itself.”
Dave Prisco, press secretary for Infrastructure Minister Manmeet Bhullar, said the garage will still house lockers, washrooms and maintenance equipment.
“Look, we would love to have a skating rink at the Federal Building, and we will consider one in the future,” he said. “But we must make choices between what is nice to have and what we need to have.”
Renovations on the Federal Building were supposed to be completed in 2011. The building will house MLAs, their staff and other government workers.
People will start moving in next month.
A penthouse planned for former premier Alison Redford and her daughter was under construction on the 11th floor of the Federal Building but was later scrapped. After CBC first broke stories about the project in March 2014, the media and opposition started referring to the penthouse as the “skypalace.”
