Parliament

The Parliament of Canada consists of two deliberative bodies, the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons of Canada. The Senate is the upper house, with its members being appointed by the Governor General on advice of the Prime Minister, and serve until their death, resignation, or their 75th birthday; whichever comes first. The House of Commons currently consists of 10 Members of Parliament or MPs, who are directly elected by the residents of the ridings they represent, either in General Elections which take place every 4 years, or by-elections which take place upon the death or resignation of the MP serving for that riding.

## Parliament Building

### **History**

#### **Bytown Grammar School**

In 1843, a grammar school with 40 paying students was opened in the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa in a house at the corner of Waller Street and Daly Avenue. In 1859, the school became one of the first in Ontario to admit girls. The school changed locations several times in the first few years, and was renamed first Bytown Grammar School and later Ottawa Grammar School. In 1871 the school was raised to a high school and in 1873 to a collegiate institute, becoming Ottawa Collegiate Institute.

#### **Ottawa Collegiate Institute**

The school found a permanent home in 1873 when a lot at what was then the southern edge of the city was purchased. The school board acquired the land on Biddy Street for $3,200 and paid a squatter $100 to give up any claims on the land. Biddy Street was renamed Lisgar Street in 1880 after Lord Lisgar, an Irishman who served as Canada's second Governor-General. A Gothic Revival style structure, designed by W.T. Thomas and W. Chesterton, was built at a cost of $26,000. Governor General Lord Dufferin (another Irishman) laid the cornerstone and the school opened in 1874.

In 1892, the school became the first public secondary school in Ontario to hire a female teacher. Four new classrooms were added on the south side in 1892, moving the front wall towards the street and enclosing the front entrance stairs. A fire in 1893 caused the school to be temporarily closed. Lisgar was one of a limited number of buildings to survive the Great Ottawa fire. There have been a total of 23 fires at the school, including three major ones: 1893, 1915, and 1942.

In 1903, the east wing was built with eight new classrooms. In 1908, Ottawa architect Edgar Lewis Horwood added a west wing with laboratories, an auditorium, and the main tower. The auditorium balcony is suspended by iron rods which lead to huge beams above the ceiling.

A rifle range for the cadet corps, in the now blocked-off fifth-floor attic, was added in 1912. Students practised shooting there until after World War II when shooting moved to the nearby Cartier Square Drill Hall.

#### **Lisgar Collegiate Institute**

A basement cafeteria was added in 1923. After the school was split in 1922 to form Glebe Collegiate Institute, OCI was renamed Ottawa Lisgar Street Collegiate Institute, which was soon shortened to Lisgar Collegiate Institute. Officially, the school remained OCI for several decades. Since the split, Glebe and Lisgar have been traditional rivals.

### **Its Use Now**

LCI now serves both as a premier secondary school, Lisgar was ranked 24th among all secondary schools in Ontario and 1st in Ottawa by the Fraser Institute in 2017/18, and, on Tuesdays, as the seat of the Model House of Commons.