Why Canada’s prime minister is homeless
La résidence vétuste du Premier ministre canadien.
Le Palais de l'Élysée, le Kremlin, la Maison Blanche, le Château de Prague… Il n’y a pas une résidence d’Etat au monde qui ne fasse rêver. Sauf peut-être 24 Sussex, au Canada, la résidence officielle du premier ministre, qui ne joue clairement pas dans la même catégorie, comme a pu le constater Justin Trudeau…
MOST heads of government have an official residence. It is normally an uncontroversial perk. Not so in Canada. Since 1951 the country’s prime ministers have lived in 24 Sussex, a 34-room limestone mansion in Ottawa. Justin Trudeau, the current prime minister, did as a child, when his father, Pierre Trudeau, had the job. But he has taken up residence at Rideau Cottage on the neighbouring estate of the governor-general, the queen’s representative in Canada. The problem is that 24 Sussex is too run-down to house Mr Trudeau, his wife and three children. And he does not want to take the political heat for approving repairs.
IN NEED OF NUMEROUS REPAIRS
2. No one doubts that the 150-year-old house, built by a lumber baron, needs work. Ceilings and walls are impregnated with asbestos, a mineral so carcinogenic that Canada will ban its export next month. Some of the paint is lead-based. The place is infested with mice, which may be why Mr Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, liked cats. The auditor-general warned a decade ago that the plumbing was clapped out, the 50-year-old knob-and-tube
wiring was near full capacity and heat was escaping through loose windows. The house needed C$10m ($10m) in repairs immediately, she said.
COPING WITH THE SITUATION
3. Recent prime ministers have preferred to cope with the quirks of a house that last got a big renovation nearly 70 years ago. Jean Chrétien, who governed from 1993 to 2003, used buckets to catch rain. He blew a fuse when he plugged
loose lâche; ici, qui laisse passer l'air. 3. to cope with faire face à; ici, vivre avec / quirk bizarrerie, anomalie / bucket seau / to blow, blew, blown ici, faire sauter / fuse fusible / in a heater to supplement the feeble central heating. Paul Martin, his successor, made light of his discomfort on a satirical television show by visiting Canadian Tire, a hardware store, to buy plastic wrap for the windows. Mr Harper, a fiscal conservative, said his family would wear sweaters to ward off draughts. When he left, his moving boxes carried mould warnings.
JUST A GOVERNMENT AGENCY
4. Unlike the White House or 10 Downing Street, 24 Sussex has no government function. It is just a residence, managed by the National Capital Commission (NCC), a government agency. Mr Trudeau works in an office block across the street from Parliament. Soon after he became prime minister in 2015 the NCC suggested several options for housing Canada’s first family, from extensive repairs on 24 Sussex to knocking it down and building an environmentally friendly showpiece residence in its place. Suggestions have poured in from ordinary Canadians. A home-makeover reality television show called “Reno my Reno” offered to help fix the house up.
5. But Mr Trudeau is unconvinced. No prime minister wants to be accused of spending taxpayers’ money to make his life more pleasant, he said recently. Mr Martin, who endured 24 Sussex for two years, suggests setting up a non-political body to keep up the house. Neither Mr Trudeau’s office nor the NCC will say what they think of that idea. He seems resigned to spending his prime ministership as the governor-general’s guest while his childhood home moulders across the street.
No prime minister wants to be accused of spending taxpayers’ money to make his life more pleasant.