The National Research Council of Canada spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on high-end Brazilian walnut lounge furniture after a senior executive declared she did not want picnic tables on a rooftop patio, internal records show.Blacklock's Reporter says documents obtained through Access to Information reveal that the council’s managers spent more than a year debating design options for the rooftop of its Centre for Green Energy Materials in Mississauga, Ont. Emails show officials struggled to “come up with a vision” for the penthouse lounge, which one described as “huge” and capable of holding 274 people.“We only have one chance of doing this right,” wrote one manager, as the project ballooned in scope and cost. The $58.9 million building was completed in 2024 for $77 million — and by last spring, the council had settled on furniture made from Brazilian walnut, complete with trellises, flower boxes, umbrellas and a “concrete splash pad.” One supplier quoted $298,350, though the final cost was never disclosed..Director of research Caroline Cloutier rejected standard patio seating outright. “The only thing I have asked for was no picnic style tables,” she wrote, prompting one frustrated site manager to note: “I have no idea what Caroline wants and she is not able to articulate it, only to say she doesn’t want anything that looks like a picnic table.”Cloutier proposed buying the pricey furniture using the same budget code as office furnishings to maximize available funds, writing that the department would “plan to spend all we can this fiscal year, then pay for the rest next fiscal year once we have a new budget.” When told that contracts could not legally be split to skirt procurement limits, she pressed staff to finish what they could before the fiscal year-end..One lab manager warned colleagues to act fast. “We need to get the job done before the end of the fiscal year as the budget is only for this year,” he wrote.The furniture purchases came despite federal promises to rein in frivolous government spending. The April 2024 federal budget, Fairness For Every Generation, pledged to “cut unnecessary and wasteful costs,” declaring that it would be “irresponsible and unfair to pass more debt to the next generation.”
