‘Not just any home’: Liberal government set to announce plans to ‘restore’ 24 Sussex

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Spencer-Ross wrote Thursday in an email that if more space is required at the site, her group would prefer a new addition or separate structure that is compatible with the existing building and landscape.

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The Liberal governments have avoided making a decision about the property for the last decade, presumably because they didn’t want to be seen to be spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on their own leader, particularly during a housing crisis. In the meantime, however, millions have already been spent on restorations while the home has been vacant.

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Asked what he thinks should happen to 24 Sussex, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters on Thursday that it’s not something he thinks about.

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“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,” the opposition leader said. “I just think the last thing on our minds should be 24 Sussex Drive.”

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The eventual cost of the renovations, at a time of high federal deficits and low housing stock, will likely present a communications challenge. The specific plans chosen for the site will of course determine the final bill, but it’s expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Five years ago, the National Capital Commission (NCC) wrote a report that it said it would cost $36.6 million to restore 24 Sussex Drive to “good condition.” That price tag did not include any grand expansions or new buildings.

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While some taxpayers may balk at the price of the renovation, others have urged the government to make something that Canadians can be proud of.

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“What does it say about us as a country that our prime minister’s house is a ruin?” Toon Dreessen, president of Ottawa Architects DCA, told National Post this spring.

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Carney has talked in recent months about renovating 24 Sussex so that future prime ministers could return to living at the official residence but has acknowledged that the changes will take too long for he and his family to live there.

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Commissioned in 1868 as a private residence by Joseph Merrill Currier, a lumber tycoon and Ottawa MP who was first elected shortly after Confederation, 24 Sussex sits on a 2.1-hectare property overlooking the Ottawa River. Initially called Gorffwysfa (Welsh for “The Place of Peace”), the home has 35 rooms and 12,000-square-foot residence, but is modest when compared to the official residences of other national leaders.

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In addition to the living areas for the prime minister and their family, there’s an official guest house on the grounds, a swimming pool and pool house, security buildings and small gatehouses at the entrance for security screening. Bordered by security fencing and barriers, the grounds also include a detached garage and areas for small outside events.

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Classified as a Federal Heritage Building, 24 Sussex has been home to 10 prime ministers since 1951. Yet some of those leaders were far from pleased with their accommodations, with temperature control being a common complaint. As former prime minister Paul Martin summed it up: “Too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.”

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National Post

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