Canada's 150th birthday may be a year away, but Parliament Hill celebrates its big anniversary today.

On June 8, 1866, the legislature for the then-province of Canada met for the first time in the original Centre Block in Ottawa.

On Wednesday, MPs and senators from the current Parliament gathered on the steps in front of Parliament Hill for a rare group photo to commemorate the milestone.

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When the photo was finished, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waded into the crowd to shake hands with tourists and people gathered on the lawn for the popular weekly yoga session on Parliament Hill.

In that final session of the legislature, in 1866, preparations were well underway to turn what was previously a small logging town into a capital city. Elected representatives from what are now Ontario and Quebec debated the British North America Act and Canada's Confederation.

That became official on July 1, 1867, as the former colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined Canada and created the new country. Nationwide celebrations will mark that anniversary next year.

Before Wednesday's question period, House of Commons Speaker Geoff Regan read out a list of the legendary names in Canadian political history who were part of that legislature, including Canada's first three prime ministers — Sir John A. Macdonald, Alexander Mackenzie and John Abbott — as well as Sir George-Étienne Cartier and Thomas D'Arcy McGee.

"All of us are marching in the footsteps of these honourable members," Regan said, as MPs stood to applaud.

The original Parliament building burned down in 1916, with only the Library of Parliament spared. The 100th anniversary of that fire was marked earlier this year.

This year is also the 150th anniversary of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, which formed in 1866 to cover the legislative debates in Ottawa ahead of Confederation.

While Parliamentarians posed in front of the historic buildings Wednesday, Dominion Carillonneur Andrea McCrady played a special noon concert on the bells of the Peace Tower that included classic Canadian folk songs like The Log Driver's Waltz and V'là l'bon vent.

From left: Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and House of Commons Speaker Geoff Regan joined several hundred current MPs and senators for a rare group photo on the steps of Parliament Hill Wednesday to mark the 150th anniversary of the first time legislators met on the site. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

But a few hundred metres away, the attention of current Ottawa residents was focused on a present-day construction crisis: a giant sinkhole filled with rushing water that swallowed up a section of Rideau Street and cut off electricity to the immediate area.