When tourists visit Canada's Parliament Hill, they see the beautiful Parliament Buildings, and the Mounted Police in their world-famous uniforms, and if they want they can tune in their televisions and watch the politicians arguing on Question Period. This is one side of the Hill, but there is another side - a side filled with behind the scenes stories. If you are interested in learning about the terrible discomfort our hard-working politicians had to endure in the hot, smelly Centre Block during the Victorian era, then this book is definitely for you! Learn about the fire of 1916 and that it probably was not an accident. Find out the surprising way workers used to make the copper roofs go green and why Queen Victoria's magnificent lion might be a tad lacking. With this book, written with flair and humor, Don Nixon takes you on a behind the scenes journey that not only has its pitfalls and pratfalls, it holds the determined spirit of a young nation up for all to see and admire.

Fred Cumberland (1821-81) a Canadian Renaissance man: an architect, railway manager and politician, whose life and work changed Victorian Toronto's urban landscape.

A fourth-generation member of a Quebec City family of artists and architects, Charles Baillargé was encouraged by his family in both artistic and intellectual pursuits. He was proficient not only as an architect but also as a surveyor, engineer, mathematician, and inventor, publishing over 250 books and pamphlets on his many interests.