OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney triggered a national sprint Friday to redesign and rebuild 24 Sussex Dr., saying that the prime minister’s official residence is a national landmark that is now in critical condition.
Speaking during a press conference in Ottawa at the dilapidated stone mansion that has been home to 10 Canadian prime ministers, Carney unveiled a new competition for Canadian firms to submit their rebuild and design proposals.
The competition, which largely ends more than a decade of debate about where Canada’s prime ministers will live, will be led and largely judged by The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. The institute, which has experience supporting architectural competitions, will review proposals and then make a recommendation to cabinet by July 1 of next year.
“It’s going to be a fantastic competition,” Carney told reporters. “We’ll see what they come up with.”
Carney also said the government will try to reduce the costs of the project by using a non-partisan charity, the Rideau Hall Foundation, to lead a national fundraising campaign to raise as much money as possible.
When asked how the government will avoid potential conflicts involving donors, Carney said the process will be transparent and that it’s unlikely that any single donor will be allowed to contribute more than 10 per cent of the final bill.
While the decision to renovate and perhaps expand the famous home will no doubt please many history and heritage buffs, the notion of donations drew criticism almost immediately.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, which advocates for democratic reform, said the fundraising proposal violates federal ethics law and the criminal code, which prohibit government officials from accepting benefits from anyone who is involved with the government.
“It was foolish for the prime minister to announce that donations will be allowed without making it clear that there are limits and safeguards already in place to ensure that no donation will be permitted that violates Canada’s federal anti-corruption or anti-foreign interference laws,” Conacher wrote in an email.
Toon Dreessen, president of Architects DCA in Ottawa, said the fundraising idea unnecessarily raises a number of potential ethical issues.
“This is an important project and an official residence,” Dreessen wrote in an email. “It should be funded and funded properly.”
Carney said that the project is important because the government has a responsibility to “restore and protect” 24 Sussex, which has been uninhabited for more than a decade, and ensure that it reflects Canada, Carney said.
The competition, which the government is describing as independent, will see the architectural institute provide advice on the competition’s rules and draw on Canadian experts in architecture, heritage conservation, and design. The selected bid will include both design and construction plans.
The jury will be chaired by architect Moshe Safdie and will lead proposal assessment and recommend the winning design to cabinet. “It’s an extraordinary site,” said Safdie, who has been involved with high-profile Canadian projects such as the National Gallery of Canada and Vancouver Library Square.
Some Canadian architectural firms are already planning to make bids.
D’Arcy Jones, principal of Vancouver-based D’Arcy Jones Architects, who has worked on many high-end renovations, said he plans to get involved. “We are definitely interested,” he said Friday.
Carney emphasized that the renovation will take enough time that he will never be able to live in the official residence, but that the project will be for future generations and prime ministers.
“We will restore 24 Sussex Dr. to a standard worthy of the country it serves.”
While Friday’s announcement kicks off a process expected to lure a range of renovation and rebuild proposals, it also ends a key part of the debate about the future of the prime minister’s residence. One of the ideas in recent years had been to start from scratch and build a new prime minister’s residence on a different site.
The big question now is whether the winning bid for remaking 24 Sussex will revolve mostly around a renovation or new buildings. The residence has not undergone a comprehensive renovation since it was converted into the prime minister’s official residence more than 75 years ago. Built in the late 1860s by a lumber baron and Ottawa MP, the home was purchased by the federal government in 1949.
The home at 24 Sussex has been uninhabited for about 11 years due to an wide range of problems, including heating and cooling, outdated wiring, asbestos, water damage, mould, rats, and practical problems such as insufficient space for offices and events.
But advocates for the residence argue that it is part of Canadian history and has inherent attributes, including its location overlooking the Ottawa River that is picturesque and includes security advantages. It’s also just a couple of kilometres from Parliament Hill.
The 12,000-square-foot, 35-room mansion, which sits on a 2.1-hectare property overlooking the Ottawa River, served as the prime minister’s official residence from 1951 to 2015. In addition to the living areas for the prime minister and their family, there’s an official guest house on the grounds, a swimming pool and pool house, security buildings and small gatehouses at the entrance for security screening. Bordered by security fencing and barriers, the grounds also include a detached garage and areas for small outside events. Yet the residence is modest when compared to the official residences of other national leaders.
Carney, like his predecessor Justin Trudeau, has lived at Rideau Cottage, across the road from 24 Sussex on the grounds of the Governor General’s residence at Rideau Hall.
Before Friday, Liberal governments have avoided making a decision about the property for the last decade, presumably because they didn’t want to be seen to be spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on their own leader, particularly during a housing crisis. In the meantime, however, millions have already been spent on restorations while the home has been vacant.
Asked Thursday what he thinks should happen to 24 Sussex, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters on Thursday that it’s the furthest thing from his mind.
The eventual cost of the renovations, at a time of high federal deficits and low housing stock, may present a difficult sell for the Carney government.
The specific plans chosen for the site will of course determine the final bill, but it’s expected to be well into the tens of millions of dollars. Five years ago, the National Capital Commission (NCC) wrote a report that it said it would cost $36.6 million to restore 24 Sussex Drive to “good condition.” That price tag did not include any grand expansions or new buildings.
24 Sussex is one of Canada’s six official residences, two of which – the other being a “country residence” at Harrington Lake – are for the prime minister’s use.
National Post
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