Search Begins For Canadian Team To Restore 24 Sussex Drive, A House No Prime Minister Has Wanted Since 2015
The federal government has launched a search for a Canadian team to restore 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence that has been uninhabitable long enough that a child born the year the last prime minister moved out can now legally drive past it.
The appeal for Canadian expertise is a nice touch. Somewhere in this country there is a contractor who knows exactly what to do with knob-and-tube wiring, asbestos insulation and a heritage designation that forbids touching any of it. He is booked until 2031 doing a kitchen in Barrhaven.
The honest problem is not the building. It is that 24 Sussex has become the most politically radioactive address in Canada. No leader wants to be photographed choosing tile. The residence sits empty not because we lack tradespeople but because every prime minister since Harper has correctly calculated that a leaky roof is cheaper than a Question Period clip about taxpayer-funded bathroom fixtures.
So the plan is to spend real money on a house for a person who will publicly insist they never asked for it, then live somewhere else out of caution. Rideau Cottage has been the actual PM residence for so long that calling it temporary is a form of national performance art.
Meanwhile the Liberals just swept three byelections in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., which suggests voters are not especially bothered by any of this.
The restoration will be careful, respectful and Canadian. And when it is finished, the prime minister of the day will tour it once, praise the craftsmanship, and go home to the cottage out back.