One of the first notable stories revolving around our Prime Minister Elect Justin Trudeau is about his new residence. Twenty-four Sussex Drive has been the home of Canadaâs prime ministers since 1951, and Trudeau is now refusing to move in until proper renovations have been made.
According to reports, the 34-room mansion is in a sorry state of disrepair; there are cracked windows, faulty wiring, and asbestos in the walls. It should come as little surprise that Trudeau doesnât wish to move his family into the rundown residence. Instead, he wants to repair it, at a cost estimated to be upwards of $10 million.
The decision has been met with widespread support across the country. Sussex Drive does not exist simply to house Canadaâs prime ministers and their families. The Ottawa building is often used to entertain visiting dignitaries and should be something we can take pride in. A veritable crumbling castle is a miserable impression to present to esteemed foreign guests. Kudos to Trudeau for having the countryâs best interests at heart.
Itâs very astute of him to realize how quickly he has to implement this remedy. The place obviously fell to shreds during some little-known major storm the instant he came into power.
Full stop. It did not.
How is it that the endless stories of the astoundingly poor condition of Sussex didnât surface during Stephen Harperâs time there? Harper and his family lived in the residence since he assumed power in 2006. Did he make major renovations? Did his family die as a result of the asbestos, cold, or litany of other issues? Were there rampant tales of visiting ambassadors expressing shock at the embarrassing home they were invited into?
The answer is a resounding ânoâ on all counts. The last one especially should resonate since the Canadian public and media seemed to be on the former prime minister for even the tiniest slip-up. Were a foreign dignitary to so much as quip about needing to keep their jacket on while inside, the papers would have had a field day. âHarperâs house proves to be only thing colder than his heart,â âCheap Harper humiliates country,â or similar headlines could have danced across the pages of our dailies. The ex-Conservative leader would have been buried beneath the landslide of flak.
But perhaps such events did transpire and were kept quiet by even the newspapers, because sometimes the perception of a country is more important than belittling a hated figure. Or maybe they didnât, but the mansion is a mess. Either way (and I voted NDP in case you were wondering), for Harper to put up with such conditions is incredibly financially prudent of him. To live with subpar heating during those chillingly snowy Ottawa winters is a task most governmental heads wouldnât take on. Harper should be praised for his efforts to save Canadians every last dime.
However, since we live in a country where itâs impossible for anyone to give genuine praise to Lego-hair, that canât be the case. Weâll step away from Harperâs involvement for a moment.
Sussex Drive is, of course, maintained throughout the year anyway. In fact, costs for 2008-09 and 2009-10 were almost $1.5- and $1.1-million respectively. Utility servicing, including electricity and gas, were under $100,000, meaning that general upkeep and work done to the residence was still in the $1-million range (security costs not included in these figures). The weekly pool maintenance came in at just under $10,000âyet supposedly needs more work. Fun fact: the heated indoor poor was installed by Trudeauâs father when he was prime minister.
It seems curious that cracked windows would be ignored while the swimming pool saw nearly $40,000 a month. Nearly $10,000 were spent on flowers as well⌠perhaps to hide the windows.
There are two conclusions that can be drawn from the evidence on the table. Either 24 Sussex Drive, as reported by the journalists who have been privileged to visit, is as shoddy as weâre all lead to believe and Harper is actually deserving of our admiration, or the residence is not shoddy at all and an effort has been made to deceive the public for some unstated purposeâmaybe so as to make the allocation of funds towards a remodel spectacularly easy to procure.
In any case, I canât help but find it amusing how the story has been covered. For a nation purported by every left winger to be heavily populated with hard right-wing newspapers, the exceptional disdain for Harper and unlimited support for Trudeau is remarkable. Iâm no Harper fan, but I think we can all agree if he were the one refusing to make Sussex Drive his home until millions of dollars were poured into it, every soul would be calling for his head. Meanwhile, Trudeau is being carried on jubilant shoulders for taking the necessary measures to ensure the hugely important building is kept in respectable shapeâa.k.a. the same thing.
Allâs fair in love, war, and politics? Evidently not.
Danke danke,
Eric Wilkins
