The Globe and Mail

Steve Peters stood just inside the main doors of Ontario's legislature building, itching to say something. He had recently been selected as the legislature's Speaker and had already discovered that the black robes he wears to work are hot. He was just a minute or two into his first tour of the building when he cut to the chase. "One of the first things that people are hit with when they open the doors is this blast of heat," he said. "Why is that?" It was left to Brian Brethour to attempt to explain the tropical heat that afflicts the legislature from the time radiators are turned on in the autumn until they are shut off in the spring. They provide an unceasing heat that means many people leave their windows open on even the coldest days simply to cut down the sauna effect. Mr. Brethour, who, as director of the precinct properties branch of the legislature, is responsible for the upkeep of the 114-year-old building, tried to explain that the problem is that there is no internal air-circulation system and that it takes days to warm and cool the place.