Will Carney have the backbone to fix 24 Sussex? | Opinion

The residence at 24 Sussex has been vacant since 2015. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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Prime Minister Mark Carney has finally said aloud what most Canadians already know: the decrepit 24 Sussex is unfit for any prime minister – and he may never live there.

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“The current state of 24 Sussex couldn’t be any worse. It is an embarrassment,” he told CBC in an interview. “You are not going to see me at 24 Sussex, but I would like to see my successors at 24 Sussex in some way, shape or form,” he emphasized, pledging to put things right.

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Carney hasn’t said anything new. Everyone in Canada knows that a leaky, rat-infested fire hazard of a prime ministerial residence is not just a national embarrassment, but an international one too. So, the question is whether he has the political courage to do something about it.

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Every prime minister probably since Jean Chretien, who once called 24 Sussex an “embarrassment to the nation,” has known that it is uninhabitable. But they endured, refusing to spend what it takes to fix the crumbling edifice, or build a new one. So much has been said and written about 24 Sussex, that the whole discussion has become tiresome.

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The reason this national wound has festered for so long is a lack of political courage by successive prime ministers to do the simple job of repairing a crumbling home they live in. Or build a new one. Our leaders believe they will pay a political price at the ballot box if they become known as the prime minister who spent millions of dollars to build a lavish home for politicians, while ordinary Canadians struggle to make ends meet. Chretien admitted in 2023 that he didn’t fix 24 Sussex even though it was falling apart, because he didn’t to be tagged as a big spender. “The problem is, if a prime minister accepts to repair it, you guys (reporters) will write that I am spending the money of the taxpayers,” he said, implying journalists are part of the problem.

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Indeed, in 2011, Prime Minster Stephen Harper refused to vacate the building temporarily to allow $10 million of “urgent” repairs ordered by the National Capital Commission, which manages the building. In some bizarre way, our leaders consider it courageous to not spend money to fix 24 Sussex.

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It took Justin Trudeau to force the issue when, after his 2015 election, he refused to live at 24 Sussex and moved to Rideau Cottage. Carney, of course, followed, and now, has acknowledged the truth about 24 Sussex. But talk is cheap.

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Carney says he’ll do what he can to make sure his successors have a better 24 Sussex to call home, but it remains unclear what he means. One would expect Carney to seek re-election in 2029, and if he wins, there is potentially, another four-year term to serve. In essence, there won’t be a successor — or a new 24 Sussex for that matter — conceivably for another seven years.

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Unless Carney plans to stay in office for only one four-year term, the math behind his comments suggests a rebuilt or new 24 Sussex is not possible until somewhere around 2033. Yes, this may be the closest the government has come to clearing up the issue around 24 Sussex. But it is not clear enough. This saga, perhaps more like a farce, has gone on too long.

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Carney should put us out of our misery, and tell us in clear language whether Canada will get a new 24 Sussex, when, and then get on with it.

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Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at [email protected]

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