A pricey rooftop patio at the National Research Council is raising eyebrows after documents revealed the federal agency blew more than $60,000 on high-end lounge and bistro furniture because a senior manager refused to accept anything resembling a picnic table.According to an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons, the NRC confirmed it spent $61,329 on “bistro lounge chairs” and other patio pieces for its Centre for Green Energy Materials in Mississauga. Blacklock's Reporter said Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore) pressed the government for details, asking which vendors supplied the rooftop “sun lounge” and all related décor.Public Works ran the competitive process and handled the design and construction work, the NRC said. Costs for additional rooftop features like umbrellas, trellises, flower boxes and a concrete splash pad were left out of the disclosure.The furniture order came from research director Caroline Cloutier, who instructed staff she did not want anything resembling a picnic table. .One manager responded in frustration, saying they had “no idea what Caroline wants” because she could only specify what she didn’t want.The rooftop patio sits atop a building that was already massively over budget. The Centre for Green Energy Materials opened in 2024 at a final cost of $77 million, blowing past its original $58.9 million budget. The facility houses roughly 100 scientists and support staff who work on climate-related research, and the rooftop was branded as a “collaboration space.”Ottawa previously promoted the centre as a showcase for sustainable federal infrastructure, highlighting features such as energy-efficient lighting, EV chargers and renewable power from geothermal systems and solar cells. .At the ribbon cutting, then-Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos touted the project as “the future for federal science.”But the government’s 2024 budget warned that unnecessary deficit spending was unfair to taxpayers. The original announcement for the Green Energy building never mentioned a rooftop lounge for employees, let alone luxury furniture with a no-picnic-table clause.
