Federal auditors say the Department of Environment took more than a decade and $1.4 million to build a “net zero ready” garage in Whitehorse that was never fully completed and may not have been necessary in the first place.Blacklock's Reporter says according to an internal Audit of Asset Management, the 2,271-square-foot heated storage garage was approved after years of departmental planning, but costs exceeded initial estimates due to delays in approvals and what auditors described as “other compounding factors.” The facility was ultimately completed without solar panels because additional costs were not funded.The project dated back more than 10 years and was formally included in the department’s 2017-2018 capital plan under then-environment minister Catherine McKenna. In that plan, McKenna wrote that her department would “lead by example” in supporting Ottawa’s low-carbon goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Crown-owned buildings.Auditors found that while the garage was promoted as a climate-forward initiative, managers acknowledged other heated storage facilities were already available in Whitehorse. .Although options such as sharing space between branches or retrofitting existing buildings were explored, the audit said there was limited evidence those alternatives were fully analyzed before the new structure moved ahead.“Facilities assessments suggested that existing capacity might be sufficient or identified alternative approaches, but there was limited evidence that these options were further analyzed in decision making,” the report stated. “The project advanced following departmental planning and approval processes.”The audit concluded the case revealed missed opportunities to consolidate needs across branches and highlighted shortcomings in planning and oversight.While the Whitehorse garage was left “net zero ready” without solar panels, auditors did not disclose how much had originally been budgeted for the solar installation before it was dropped..The findings follow scrutiny over another federal “net zero” project — a 9,300-square-foot warehouse built at Rideau Hall in 2023 at a reported cost of $8 million. The project prompted hearings at the Commons public accounts committee, where Conservative MP Kelly McCauley of Edmonton West criticized the expenditure and called for closer examination.Cabinet disclosures in a 2024 Inquiry of Ministry listed 86 separate contracts tied to the Rideau Hall warehouse over a 10-year period. Payments included $752,738 to excavators, $497,559 to architects, $196,390 to mechanical and electrical engineers, $62,400 to structural consultants, $22,365 to translators, $19,459 to landscapers, $5,752 to acoustics experts, $2,350 to roofers and $1,500 to surveyors.No public report from the Auditor General has been released regarding the Rideau Hall project.
