The saga of 24 Sussex Drive, the derelict onetime official residence of Canada’s prime ministers, took a brand new flip final week after a information leak signaled that the destiny of the house — Canada’s most well-known fixer-upper — may quickly be determined.
Citing an unnamed official, Radio-Canada reported final week {that a} authorities group answerable for determining what to do with the uninhabitable and rodent- and asbestos-infested home — which has been deserted since 2015 — is now leaning towards giving up on it. As an alternative, the group favors beginning over by constructing a brand new home at certainly one of two different places. Alternatively, the group is taking a look at making Rideau Cottage, the place Justin Trudeau moved after changing into prime minister, the everlasting dwelling of Canada’s head of presidency.
Whereas 24 Sussex solely grew to become the prime minister’s official dwelling in 1951, the concept of completely abandoning it was swiftly condemned by some constructing heritage specialists. However political calculations could finally resolve the proposal’s destiny.
Regardless of 24 Sussex’s symbolic significance, its fall into close to destroy has been happening for many years, as I wrote virtually 5 years in the past. And the dearth of will to reverse its decline comes from a worry of political backlash. As Mr. Trudeau, who lived in the home as a toddler when his father was prime minister, as soon as stated: “No prime minister desires to spend a penny of taxpayer {dollars} on upkeeping that home.”
[Read: Justin Trudeau’s Official Home: Unfit for a Leader or Anyone Else]
Whereas 24 Sussex was in a dismal state once I wrote that article, with an estimated restoration price of 38 million Canadian {dollars} on the time, the scenario has change into even worse. In 2021, the Nationwide Capital Fee, the federal company whose duties embrace taking care of Canada’s six official residences, rated its situation as “crucial” in a report.
“The constructing techniques at 24 Sussex Drive have reached the purpose of imminent or precise failure and require alternative,” that report warned, including, “the age and situation of {the electrical} techniques poses a fireplace hazard, and the plumbing techniques have failures frequently.”
In April, The Nationwide Publish obtained authorities paperwork that exposed there was a rodent infestation in the home. So many lifeless rodents and a lot rodent excrement had piled up in its partitions, attic and basement, a memo stated, that there have been “actual considerations with air high quality.”
After Mr. Trudeau moved into Rideau Cottage within the yard of Rideau Corridor, the governor normal’s official dwelling, a few of his employees remained working within the kitchen at 24 Sussex, which is throughout the road. The family kitchen in Rideau Cottage is way smaller and less than office security requirements, so Mr. Trudeau’s meals have been ferried throughout Sussex Drive. However even the cooks have been moved out of 24 Sussex final November and the constructing was formally closed.
The Nationwide Capital Fee didn’t immediately reply my questions on the potential for a brand new prime minister’s residence at a brand new location. However in an e mail, Valérie Dufour, a spokeswoman, stated that contractors had been at 24 Sussex since Could and that “pre-construction website preparation is full.” This month, a wide range of duties will start, together with ripping out the “mechanical and electrical techniques” there.
She added: “The present challenge will perform the work that should be addressed no matter any resolution taken by the federal government on the way forward for the residence.”
The Radio-Canada report means that the most important consider favor of constructing a brand new official residence is safety. Latest years have seen Parliament surrounded by the rowdy trucker convoy and a gunman kill a soldier on guard on the Nationwide Conflict Memorial earlier than then happening a capturing rampage in Parliament. In 2020, a navy reservist from Manitoba smashed by the gates of Rideau Corridor with a pickup truck earlier than heading on foot towards Rideau Cottage with a revolver, a pistol, a rifle and two shotguns to, he stated, arrest Mr. Trudeau. The prime minister was not dwelling.
Amongst its many safety issues, 24 Sussex is simply steps from the road, making safety from a automotive or truck bomb infeasible with out turning the residence right into a bunker. (Closing the street, which is a significant route with no apparent various, shouldn’t be potential.) Retrofitting the home’s roof for defense from drone assaults, it seems, poses related difficulties.
Even with out an official announcement, the suggestion of abandoning 24 Sussex has swiftly met resistance. At a information convention on Friday, a bunch of heritage specialists argued the case for renovating the home as a substitute. Residents close to the park that is without doubt one of the proposed websites for a brand new residence have additionally raised considerations in regards to the lack of public house.
However finally the political dynamic that has lengthy stalled coping with the home could proceed to maintain its future in limbo.
“We don’t want a brand new dwelling for the prime minister, we want a brand new dwelling for working-class Canadians,” Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative chief who lives in a government-funded official residence, instructed reporters. He added that coping with 24 Sussex can be the final merchandise on his agenda if he turns into prime minister and that Mr. Trudeau was targeted on “constructing mansions for himself.”
Trans Canada
A local of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Instances for 20 years.
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