Plan for 24 Sussex Drive makes sense

It has, for more than a decade, been this country’s highest-profile vacant dwelling.

Prior to 2015, however, 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa had been the official residence of Canada’s prime ministers for more than 60 years, an address whose mention conjured notions of prestige and distinction akin to those associated with 10 Downing Street in London or the White House in Washington, D.C.

After years of deferred maintenance and, one might argue, outright neglect, the 35-room mansion that was home to every prime minister from Louis St-Laurent to Stephen Harper is no longer fit for human habitation. Among the concerns that led Justin Trudeau to opt not to live at 24 Sussex — choosing instead to dwell at nearby Rideau Cottage — were a leaky roof, cracked windows, failing plumbing, faulty wiring and the presence of asbestos in the structure’s 160-year-old construction materials.

Current Prime Minister (and non-Sussex resident) Mark Carney thinks it’s time for 24 Sussex to reclaim its status as the PM’s official residence. Last Friday he unveiled plans for a massive redesign and renovation plan and a fundraising campaign that will invite Canadians to contribute to the project.

The answer to the obvious “How did we get here?” question seems to be “inevitably.” For reasons that are not entirely clear, sometime in the last several decades the issue of spending taxpayer dollars on maintaining and/or upgrading the official residence became a political liability that successive prime ministers had no interest in touching.

Rather than boldly committing to the upkeep of the important structure that was also their home and dealing with whatever public reaction might follow, PM after PM chose instead to cower in an aging house that was crumbling around them. By the time Trudeau was elected in 2015, 24 Sussex had become the kind of once-stately mansion in which no right-thinking person, elected or otherwise, would choose to live.

In the absence of human inhabitants, rodents took up residence in the walls of the massive stone and brick structure, a problem the National Capital Commission has been taking steps to address in its role as the home’s caretaker. Under the NCC’s watch, 24 Sussex was effectively decommissioned in 2022; heritage items were moved into safe storage, the main floor was stripped down to the studs, asbestos abatement was carried out and the rat problem was addressed.

Restoring it will be a long and costly endeavour; some estimates put the price tag at $50 million or more. Given the timeline, Carney will never reside in the building he has committed to saving, but he’s absolutely right to be declaring this a project that should be undertaken.

A nation’s leader should have an official residence, an edifice that has significant symbolic value and can be the site of important ceremonial occasions. No government should have to apologize for spending prudently on such a structure’s upkeep.

Not surprisingly, some sought to gain political advantage from Carney’s announcement. “When I see the homelessness in our streets and I see the young people who are desperate to start families but can’t get a house to do it, I just think the last thing on our minds should be 24 Sussex Drive,” said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — who, it bears mentioning, lives at Stornoway, the eight-bedroom official residence of the leader of the Opposition.

How Carney’s government addresses issues of affordability and housing should be under constant scrutiny, and it should be held to account for failures in those and all other policy areas. But those things can happen without turning an official residence into a political football and then kicking its upkeep ceaselessly down the road.