Peace Tower bells to keep ringing out through construction

Asconstruction workers take over Centre Block for the next 10 years,AndreaMcCrady, dressed in a hard hat and steel toe boots, will continueclimbing the Peace Tower each day to go to work.

She's not in involved in the restoration project, per se. McCradyis the dominion carillonneur, and she lobbied hard to make sure the Peace Tower's famous bells continue to ring out.

"When Iheard that Centre Block was going to close for a decade,Isaid, 'Well, the Peace Tower carillon cannot be silent for a decade,'" McCrady told CBCRadio's Ottawa Morning.

"Ifthe flag master could put up the flag, I can come up the tower and play."

Bells will toll till at least 2021

McCradybecame the official carillonneur in 2008 after she left a career in medicine to pursue music.

"I didn't knowwhat I wanted to be when I grew up until I got here," she said."I love this job. I's a thrill every day, and a great honour."

While construction goes on around her, McCrady will continue to climb about two-thirds of the way up the Peace Tower to a tiny, windowless room.

There, she hammers on the carillon's keyboard, making the musicheard around Parliament Hill.

She said she's been told she can keep playinguntil at least 2021, when construction might silence the bells.Planners want to make sure the bells ring again byJuly 1, 2027,the 100th anniversary of their inauguration.

Artifacts, mementos moving

Portraits have been removed from the walls while staff and MPsrelocate to the newly renovated West Blockthe temporary home of the House of Commons, starting in January.

The Library of Parliament, which survived the 1916fire that destroyed the rest of the building, will also close down because the construction will make it impossible for people to visit or work there.

JohannaMizgala, the curator who is responsible for making sure the art, ceremonial objects and heritage furniture are moved safely into the new building, said it's difficult to leave such a beloved space.

"You can't help but feel sad when you have to say goodbye to something, and ten years is a very long time," she toldOttawa Morning.

"[But] it will also be an opportunity for this building to get some of its care it deserves."