OTTAWA — MPs will likely have to find a new spot to sign their Christmas cards and prop up their speaking notes when they return to sit in the Centre Block building, as the House of Commons is seriously considering swapping their desks for U.K.-style benches.

Among the myriads of challenges planners of the herculean, multibillion-dollar restoration of Parliament’s Centre Block still face is one about buttocks: how do you ensure seats for an ever-growing number of MPs in the renovated House of Commons?

The most likely answer is to swap out the 343 (and counting) iconic desks for rows of benches like in the U.K. House of Commons.

Darrell de Grandmont, director of the Centre Block Rehabilitation Program for the House of Commons, said various teams and a working group of MPs are currently l

See Full Page