Just fix the PM’S place up, already
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his family need to vacate the premises so the work can get done,
Every homeowner knows the longer repairs are postponed, the more they are going to cost in the long run. That applies doubly when the house in question is a large and drafty Victorian-era mansion.
This week, the Citizen learned that the National Capital Commission spent $69,000 on heat and hydro last year for 24 Sussex. The prime minister’s residence needs $10 million in repairs and renovations, a project that would likely take at least 18 months. This has been true since before 2008, when Auditor General Sheila Fraser released a report urging that repairs start immediately. Among the problems: asbestos, cracked windows and caulking and the need for updated ventilation, plumbing and wiring.
The need was urgent, the report insisted then. If anything, it’s even more urgent now.
Some five years after that report, Stephen Harper has repeatedly declined to move out, maintaining that he and his family find the residence “adequate to their needs.” In effect, Harper is signalling that in these tough times, he doesn’t want to grapple with the optics of spending $10 million to fix up a house.
There are plenty of precedents to show Harper how changing 24 Sussex can turn into a political liability. Questions were raised when anonymous donors paid $200,000 to build a pool for swimming buff Pierre Trudeau, with a tunnel and a sauna. In 1987, it was Brian Mulroney’s turn to squirm when it was revealed that the Mulroneys’ expenditures at 24 Sussex included $100 rolls of wallpaper and a closet for Brian’s 84 pairs of shoes — more than half of them Gucci. Then there was the glitzy animal-print rug for the staircase.
But prime ministerial lifestyles and changing decorating fashions are not the issue now. Ottawa’s official residences are symbolic of the capital’s place on the international stage. Completed in 1868, 24 Sussex is almost as old as Confederation itself and its style echoes the Gothic revival architecture of the Parliament buildings. The residence might be the home of the Harper family for now, but it should also hold a place of pride for Canadians. If Harper wants to make a sacrifice, perhaps it should be to vacate the premises and allow the NCC the time it needs to make 24 Sussex shine in the eyes of the world.