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CTV News
a few seconds ago
- CTV News
Trump's East Wing expansion requires a reimagined White House tour
U.S. President Donald Trump's long-term vision to expand the White House's entertaining capacity is going to have short-term impacts on Americans seeking to visit the complex now. A residence, a workplace and a museum, the White House is the only home of a head of state in the world that is also open to the public most days. Hundreds of thousands of people enter the People's House for free tours each year, gaining firsthand access to the Blue Room, where President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom, the Red Room, where first lady Dolley Madison entertained, and the Diplomatic Reception Room, where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt held his radio 'fireside chats.' But that could stop next month when construction on Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom – which will overtake the current footprint of the East Wing – gets underway. Tour bookings have been halted temporarily, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, because construction will directly impact the current tour screening process and entry point. With the exception of visiting heads of state, guests arriving at the White House for receptions, dinners and tours currently enter through Sherman Park, just behind the US Treasury building, and get screened by US Secret Service in a temporary visitor center. Multiple previous efforts over the last two decades to build a permanent structure have failed to get the necessary funding from Congress or the Department of Interior to proceed. Once visitors have passed through checkpoints and security, they enter through the East Wing, which was first constructed in 1902 and took its current structure during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Trump's ballroom is expected to expand out beyond the site of the current East Wing, which is home to the Office of the First Lady, the Military Office, the Visitors Office and the Office of Legislative Affairs. East Wing In this December 2021 photo, people make their way through the East Colonnade of the East Wing of the White House in Washington, DC. Kent Nishimura/The Losvia CNN Newsource A spokesperson for first lady Melania Trump — whose office oversees tours — downplayed the disruption, saying only new tour bookings have been paused. 'There have been zero tour cancelations due to the addition of the State Ballroom. Instead, new tour bookings were paused proactively while a collaborative group of White House, U.S. Secret Service, National Park Service, and Executive Residence staff work to determine the best way to ensure public access to the White House as this project begins and for the duration of construction,' Nick Clemens said in a statement to CNN. 'The White House tour route has evolved over presidencies, and we look forward to near-term updates about the new State Ballroom. The President and First Lady remain committed to continuing the tradition of public access to the People's House in the present and for the future.' Officials are currently assessing how to move the screening process and likely truncate the tour while still capturing the essence of a White House visit during the construction. The scope of construction, a source familiar with the situation told CNN, is 'going to be invasive to what is the norm now [for tours]. They're going to have to put up temporary screening mechanisms. They're going to have to reroute the parameter of Secret Service protection.' In a reimagined route, the source said, visitors would miss entering by the first lady's office, walking through the East Colonnade past the family theater, and the area known as 'Booksellers Hall' where state dinner guests are received. But there will likely still be access to the home's most historic spaces: the State Floor, State Dining Room, Red Room, Blue Room, Green Room, East Room, Library, Vermeil Room, and Diplomatic Reception Room. The adjustments may also impact how many tickets are administered. 'The tours are not going to be canceled,' the source added. 'They're going to find a solution – but I think they're going to probably have to manage the numbers that come in and out now. There may have to be some changes.' White House Ballroom The White House Ballroom will be separated from the main building of the White House. McCrery Architects PLLC/The White House via CNN Newsource Construction is expected to get underway in September and is 'expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump's term,' according to a statement from the White House that included renderings of the new structure, which is nearly double the square footage of the main White House mansion. Trump has said that he, along with other donors, will privately fund the project, which is currently projected to cost US $200 million. Officials from the White House, Secret Service, National Park Service, and Executive Residence staff are working quickly to reassess the tour flow, another source familiar with the matter said, but changes to White House tours have taken years to enact in other circumstances. During the Biden administration, first lady Jill Biden unveiled a multimillion-dollar upgrade to the tour to make it more accessible and interactive, including new digital screens in the East Colonnade, a three-dimensional model of the White House's architectural transformations over the years, and tactile 'reader rails' with detailed information about each room on the tour. Those upgrades took more than two years to come to fruition in close coordination with the East Wing, the National Park Service, which oversees all improvements to the White House, the White House Historical Association, the White House curator's office, and executive residence staff.
Globe and Mail
30 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Conservative MP calls on minister to apologize to MAGA-affiliated singer over concert cancellations
A Conservative MP is calling on Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault to apologize to U.S.-based Christian musician Sean Feucht after the permits for recent concerts in venues overseen by Parks Canada were revoked. Marilyn Gladu, the opposition critic for civil liberties, says in a letter dated Friday that denying the permits did not 'preserve the principle of inclusion' but had the opposite effect in excluding Feucht and many Canadians who had planned to attend the events. MAGA-affiliated American musician faces wave of cancellations on eastern Canadian tour Montreal fines local church for hosting MAGA-affiliated musician Sean Feucht Feucht describes himself as a musician, missionary, author and activist. Having spoken out against what he calls 'gender ideology,' abortion and the LGBTQ+ community, his religious and political views have faced criticism while having grabbed the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Feucht ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Congress in 2020. Robyn Urback: Did we really have to make this D-list MAGA singer famous in Canada? Gladu says in her letter that regardless of whether you agree or not with Feucht's views, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of expression in Canada. A number of concerts planned in various parts of Canada were cancelled abruptly, with Feucht having to switch venues to hold them.
CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
BC Hydro says Site C dam near Fort St. John now fully operational
BC Hydro's Site C dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River is seen in this handout photo near Fort St. John, B.C., on Nov. 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Site C Clean Energy Project (Mandatory Credit) VICTORIA — BC Hydro says the Site C dam in northern B.C. is now fully operational after the sixth and final power-generating turbine has come online. The Crown corporation says in a statement released Saturday that the dam along the Peace River near Fort St. John will now be able to generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity -- enough electricity to power half a million homes per year. Adrian Dix, B.C.'s minister of energy and climate solutions, says this development means that 'generations of of British Columbians will benefit from reliable and affordable clean electricity.' With Site C now fully operational, it will serve BC Hydro customers for the next century, says Charlotte Mitha, BC Hydro president and chief executive officer. Construction of the controversial dam started in July 2015 under former B.C. Liberal premier Christy Clark, and continued under late NDP premier John Horgan, following a review of the project. With a final price tag of $16 billion, nearly double of its initial price tag, the dam is considered B.C.'s most expensive infrastructure project. This report by Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press, was first published Aug. 9, 2025.
