Article content

As Defence Watch readers know, the National Defence headquarters at 101 Colonel By in Ottawa will be shutting down for the long weekend. The last person is supposed to be out of the building today at 5:30 p.m., according to the memo sent to employees at NDHQ and provided to Defence Watch.

Electrical, water, ventilation and elevators (above a certain floor) will be shut down.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or National Defence headquarters shutdown – don’t forget to water the plants Back to video

The military and the Department of National Defence had originally expected some military staff and public servants who operate a communications centre in the building would be working there during the shutdown over the May long weekend. (The power outage for a three-day period is so maintenance can be done).

But staff balked at the unsafe work conditions (no fire alarms or sprinklers, no elevators, no lights, etc) and eventually senior DND managers agreed it wasn’t such a great idea after all to have people working in a darkened high-rise building.