Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (L) and his wife Laureen (2nd L), and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his wife Sara (2nd R), look at pictures of Jews killed in the Holocaust during a visit to the Hall of Names at Yad Va
IN PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (L) and his wife Laureen (2nd L), and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his wife Sara (2nd R), look at pictures of Jews killed in the Holocaust during a visit to the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem January 21, 2014. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool Reuters/Gali Tibbon

The Science and Technology Museum of Canada is set to undergo an $80 million renovation and upgrade works. The museum will be closed for the duration of the repair jobs and will reopen in 2017.

The budget allocation, Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover said, will be used to cover expenses for a new roof, an upgraded facade, updates to the exhibit space and a retrofit of the building to meet updated fire and earthquake-resistance codes. In September, the museum gained too much publicity hype after a leak in the roof was discovered by maintenance workers. The leak, unfortunately, had spread to the building's south wall. Tests later revealed high levels of airborne mould, forcing authorities to close the museum.

Before Glover announced the repair jobs on Monday, the museum was expected to reopen in 2015. But the new schedule is deemed better since the reopening coincides with Canada's 150th birthday celebrations. Moreover, the facility turns 50 years old in 2017.

John Baird, the Minister responsible for the National Capital Region, who was with Glover when the latter made the renovation announcement, said he commends the Canadian Heritage Minister for being able to gather such an amount in such a harried time. Baird had suggested earlier to seek a new facility for the aging building, eyeing the LeBreton Flats area. But he said he was also agreeable to the rejuvenation works at the current site.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum has a massive collection that delves on communications, domestic technology, energy, forestry, graphic arts, land transportation, marine transportation, mining, and physical sciences & space. It has over 40,000 artifacts, 60,000 pieces of trade literature and almost a million photographs.

Alex Benay, museum corporation CEO, admitting the current facility isn't big enough to house and display all collection in one single time, said looking for a new building will also be costly and might take too long. He said they are currently drafting plans how to showcase the collections.

"We do plan on having some regional programming that will take place in the next few months. We've built a new outreach team where we've consolidated some of the staff to focus some of the staff exclusively on outreach - regional, national and local," CBC quoted Benay. "We'll be looking at how we do more exhibits across Ottawa but also across the country, with other organizations from the Government of Canada. We're in discussions about how we get to Banff, how we get to Halifax, how we can go to other places across the country."