$46M lavish office overhaul for executive elite defies Liberals' housing crisis promise
The National Research Council is spending millions to transform a vacant Ottawa library into a lavish workplace with an executive suite, defying Prime Minister Carney’s order to repurpose unused properties for public housing.
The National Research Council (NRC) has earmarked nearly $46 million to transform a vacant Ottawa library into a lavish "engaging workplace," complete with an executive suite for its $377,500-a-year president, Mitch Davies.
The stunning display of bureaucratic excess was first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, and comes mere days after Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered federal agencies to repurpose unused properties for desperately needed public housing.
No housing crisis here: @NRC_cnrc budgets $46M to refit vacant library into "engaging" place with staff gym, "wellness rooms" & exec suite for its $377K/yr president: "Make big things possible." https://t.co/LQ9a1b16my @HICC_ca pic.twitter.com/G9sSUNTaD8
— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) September 29, 2025
The four-year renovation project targets the under-occupied 1974 National Science Library on Montréal Road, budgeting $45.8 million for construction and an additional $2.7 million for furniture and fixtures.
According to tender notices issued last Friday, the revamp promises a "collaborative and engaging" environment with an atrium, staff gymnasium, "quiet rooms," "wellness rooms," non-denominational prayer spaces, and an "Indigenous space" – all billed as enhancing "employee well-being" in a "low-carbon, climate-resilient" hybrid setup.
It’s yet another layer of government hypocrisy on taxpayer-funded perks, padding the nest of a six-figure executive like Davies, a former senior deputy industry minister.
WATCH: Mark Carney delivers a three-minute speech full of globalist jargon to the United Nations.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 25, 2025
Does anyone outside of the Liberal Party of Canada understand what he's talking about? pic.twitter.com/BXU6hYKqlG
"Our people make big things possible," Davies boasted in the NRC's latest annual report, but this "big thing" reeks of elite entitlement while Canadians grapple with a housing affordability crisis.
The timing couldn't be more tone-deaf. On September 14, Carney mandated that ministries identify Crown properties for housing development, echoing the Liberal Party's 2021 and 2025 election pledges to convert empty offices into "market-based" and "affordable" units on public land.
This government eroded the standard of living in Canada, by ensuring the public sector outpaced the private by 3x, with the average Canadian family spending more than half of its income on taxes than it does on all basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing combined https://t.co/43Vffwgw5L
— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) January 9, 2025
Yet the NRC is prioritizing "innovative functionality" over this promise.
This isn't the NRC's first flirtation with opulence. It follows their $77 million "clean energy" office refit in Mississauga, featuring a rooftop sun lounge, splash pad, and Brazilian walnut benches – details the council has stonewalled under Access to Information requests.
How much more will be squandered on executive suites as Carney's administration touts ambition for a "defining era," with lavish comforts for the connected and crumbs for the rest.