Decades of frugal, peicemeal repairs have left the PM’s home in a sorry state

A look at the renovations to 24 Sussex

John Diefenbaker added an air-raid shelter, Pierre Trudeau updated the kitchen and Brian Mulroney paid for the hot tub himself.

Repairs and renovations to the prime minister’s residence at 24 Sussex have largely been piecemeal efforts to keep the home habitable while maintaining the public appearance of frugality.

But after decades of neglect, 24 Sussex no longer appears fit to house the country’s leader. Justin Trudeau announced Monday his family won’t reside in the official residence, instead calling Rideau Cottage home.

Just how bad is 24 Sussex? In a 2008 report, then auditor general Sheila Fraser urged the government to fix the drafty, deteriorating residence, a major task that was expected to cost $9.7 million.

The Harper family would have had to relocate for up to 15 months. However, Harper declined to move out or approve the renovations.

The mansion is more than a fixer-upper: the 147-year old house had a longlist of problems according to the auditor general’s report: out-of-date plumbing and electrical systems, loose windows, poor heating and air-conditioning and no fire sprinklers.

Critics suggest Harper refused to leave 24 Sussex since a big, taxpayer-funded renovation bill would look bad for a party with a tough stance on government spending.

But ignoring repairs and spending the bare minimum is by no means unique to Harper. Diefenbaker was proud of his spendthrift ways. He said he only spent about $5,000 during his residency, making only one structural change: an air-raid shelter in the basement.

“We were always on an economy kick,” David Walker, the public works minister for Diefenbaker’s cabinet, told the Ottawa Citizen in 1975.

“Looking back at it now, I think we overdid the frugality.”

After Trudeau moved in, contractors dished on the sad state of the mansion to the press. Jean-Louis LaLonde, a partner of the design firm tasked with renovating the kitchen, remembered seeing a large hole in the carpet in an alcove off the main dining room. “Mrs. Trudeau would always make sure that the table was placed over the hole in such a way that it could not be seen.”

Diefenbaker charged Trudeau with “spending money like a drunken sailor” on 24 Sussex. The paper reported that between 1968 and 1975, renovations and repairs bills added up to $300,000. Progressive Conservatives lambasted Trudeau for the “lavish use of public money.”

Trudeau’s updates to the mansions raised eyebrows. Apart from spending $24,000 on the kitchen and a $18,300 contract to overhaul the second floor family room, the Trudeaus installed a six-foot tall, iron security fence with a $20,000 price tag, according to the Citizen.

There was also the famous underground pool, paid for by private donors.

Renovations performed by subsequent prime ministers appeared downright quaint by comparison. In 1979, Joe Clark spent a reported $30,669.67 on renovations that included new furniture, a paint job, and carpet and drape cleaning.

But by 1984, 24 Sussex was in need of a major overhaul. Engineers said it was in a “grave state of repair” that would cost $600,000 to bring up to good standards. The problems were largely structural: reportedly, portions of wiring were so bad the wooden baseboards were charred near the electrical outlets.

In 1984, Mulroney only spent $100,000 on renovations. “We’re definitely doing less than what was recommended,” he said. “We’ve proceeded with great frugality.”

The media seized on any personal tidbits among the renovation work such as an expanded closet and the installation of a hot tub, which a Mulroney aide was keen to point out was not paid for by taxpayers.

Since then, renovations at 24 Sussex have been largely been low-key, though the roof was replaced when Chretien was in power in 1998.