What has the residence of Canada's prime ministers become?
The house where the country's political elite lived has fallen into complete disrepair. Read its history in our story.
There's a building in Ottawa located at 24 Sussex Drive. Its gray walls are covered with mold, and its rotten porch is sometimes littered with rodent corpses. This house serves the rats and hamsters as a home, a public restroom, and a mass grave at the same time. No, this is not a description of the monster building that the plot requires the hero of a horror movie to buy. This is the official residence of the prime ministers of Canada. The story of this place is sad and instructive — it makes you think about the structure of society and why people are never satisfied.
The house on Sussex Drive served the country's prime ministers well 70 years ago. It was built in 1868 on the banks of the Ottawa River for a lumber baron. That was the name given to the people who ran the business of the timber industry. The residence never had another purpose, unlike the White House or 10 Downing Street. It was only a dwelling, not a place for official receptions or work for parliamentarians. Important guests did visit the house — for example, Princess Diana and Mikhail Gorbachev. But it was too small to host banquets or delegations.
The last time the residence was restored was in 1951. Now it will cost about CAD 36 million to repair. The house is literally rotten from the inside out — mold has eaten away at the walls, and the shafts in them and the rooms are crawling with rats, which also crap and die there. Sometimes homeless people or adventurous teenagers break into it. During the recent bad weather, it sheltered people caught in the freezing rain.
Justin Trudeau, who spent his childhood in the house, does not want to return there or spend money to renovate it. The residence finally emptied out after his election in 2015. He prefers to live with his family at Rideau Cottage, the residence of Canadian governors and those close to them. It looks small compared to 24 Sussex Drive, which has as many as 34 rooms. The current prime minister has adamantly refused to invest taxpayer money to renovate the residence. He has left it up to the bureaucrats to decide whether it should be rebuilt.
Justin Trudeau's behavior may seem disrespectful to Canadian history and past prime ministers, but he has more significant reasons. Ever since the days of Brian Mulroney, all Canadian prime ministers have been harshly criticized for trying to somehow renovate the residence or invest in it. In the press, a flurry of protests was caused by any changes to the interior and furnishings of the house, even the most necessary ones (for example, repairing the plumbing). The prime ministers were called extravagant and prone to undeserved luxury, and were reproached for wasting taxpayers' money.
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