The prime minister’s official residence has been stripped of asbestos, mould, lead and rodents, according to the National Capital Commission.
But with the home still standing empty after eight years without a tenant, and with no clear plan for its future, there’s no guarantee the mice won’t move back.
“There’s a reason that there are rats running through the place. If you left your place vacant … you’d have rats running through it too,” said former heritage minister Sheila Copps in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House.
The home at 24 Sussex Drive is in a sorry state, thanks to successive political leaders being unwilling to be seen spending money to refit the 19th century home. The work being done now is maintenance that “must be addressed regardless of any decision taken by the government on the future of the prime minister’s residence,” the NCC said in a media statement.
The House12:16No more mould or mice — but no decision on 24 Sussex either
Workers have finished removing asbestos, mould and dead rodents from 24 Sussex Drive, but it’s estimated it will cost millions to make the prime minister’s official residence habitable. Critics call the languishing home an “embarrassment” to a G7 nation. CBC’s Jennifer Chevalier explores how politics are still getting in the way of a decision on what should be done about Canada’s most famous heritage home.
Crews at 24 Sussex Drive have removed all the asbestos, lead and mould from the crumbling house.
Valérie Dufour, a spokesperson for the NCC, said crews have also stripped out the old electrical wiring and plumbing, and heat pumps are being installed to keep it from freezing while a decision is made about its future.
The rodents are also gone. And although previous reports said they were rats, they were mostly mice.
24 Sussex wasn’t always a rat-infested death trap
After decades of neglect and runaway repair costs, CBC News has learned that the federal agencies in charge of 24 Sussex are exploring new sites for the official home of Canada’s prime minister. Material from the CBC Archives shows some of its better days and its dramas.
The NCC estimates the residence needs almost $37 million in repairs and renovations.
The home was built in 1868 by Joseph Currier in the Gothic Revival style. In 1902, it was sold to fellow lumber baron W.C. Edwards and several new features were added, including a turreted three-story tower, gingerbread fascia and a porte cochère. Those “chateauesque” features were later removed when the home was expropriated in the 1940s and renovated for use as the prime minister’s residence.
But it was the later renovations that created the first political firestorm.
“This goes back to Pierre Trudeau [and] the swimming pool of 40 or 50 years ago,” said Michael Wernick, who was the clerk of the Privy Council from 2016 to 2019 and is now the Jarislowsky Chair in public sector management at the University of Ottawa.
In 1975, when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, anonymous private donors paid for the construction of a pool and sauna at 24 Sussex — a renovation that tends to be brought up whenever anyone suggests spending money on the building.
A mover unloads the personal belongings of Prime Minister Joe Clark and his wife, Maureen McTeer, at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa on Thursday, June 1, 1979. (Peter Bregg/The Canadian Press)
“Anytime there’s been any money spent on any of the official residences, you get the sort of performance theater from whoever is in opposition of the day, from media, from some of the … lobby groups,” said Wernick. “There’s no political upside for going ahead with either a renovation or a new building. There’s only pain to be had.”
Wernick said the current government considered renovations early on, but did not act.
“In 2016, we came very close to a cabinet decision on renovation of 24 Sussex,” he said. “The matter was put to cabinet and cabinet decided not to proceed.”
Andrew MacDougall, former director of communications to Stephen Harper, said there’s a small window when a sitting prime minister can get away with renovating their home.
“Obviously, early in a mandate — when you’re fresh off a win and people are feeling good — is the best time to do it,” he said.
MacDougall said Trudeau squandered the chance to renovate the home when he took office and Harper never could because he was elected with a minority in 2006. In 2011, when the Conservatives won a majority, the world was coming off the global financial crisis.
“That’s not the kind of time you want to go and spend money on things like renovating the house,” MacDougall said.
Former minister says 24 Sussex deserves better
Sheila Copps, a former Liberal deputy prime minister, said she’s approached former prime ministers, including Jean Chrétien, Harper and Brian Mulroney, to see if they might lend their support to a cross-partisan push to end the stalemate and restore 24 Sussex.
Copps, who now lobbies on behalf of the heritage group Historic Ottawa Development Inc., said she approached the late former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.
“He stepped up immediately and said yes, this should be done. This is an important element of Canadian history and shouldn’t be torn down or repurposed for something else like, you know, sending out last week’s garbage or something,” Copps said.
In a statement sent to CBC’s The House, the office of Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said “any decision for the future of 24 Sussex Drive will not be taken lightly.” The statement said the government is still in discussions with stakeholders.
Heritage advocates propose fixes for 24 Sussex
A group of heritage proponents with construction backgrounds are proposing plans to restore the dilapidated 24 Sussex Dr. as a place fit for Canada’s prime minister.
“Noting that there has not been any significant investment in over 60 years, this ambitious work is ongoing and will balance security needs with universal accessibility, historic preservation, and aspects of environmental sustainability,” the minister’s statement said.
The statement did not say when a decision would be made.
Heritage groups fear further deterioration if it doesn’t happen soon. Others are convinced the politics is making a decision impossible.
“You don’t get credit for not spending the money, but you do get blame if the residence falls apart under your watch,” MacDougall said. “It just takes a leader with a bit of confidence to [say] we are a G7 country, we are an important country on the world stage. We don’t keep things together with Bondo and hockey tape.
OTTAWA – The House of Commons returns today from a week-long break, but it’s unlikely to be business as usual.
Members of Parliament are slated to resume debating a Conservative demand for documents about federal spending on green technology projects.
The matter of privilege has all but paralyzed House business as the Liberals try to maintain a grip on an increasingly fractious minority Parliament.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to face the most serious challenge to his leadership to date.
Several media reports have detailed the plans of a group of Liberal MPs to confront Trudeau at the party’s Wednesday caucus meeting over sagging poll numbers and gloomy electoral prospects.
The precise strategy and breadth of the attempt to push Trudeau to resign remain unclear, though some MPs who spoke to The Canadian Press on background said the number of members involved is significant.
Trudeau could sidestep both problems by taking the controversial step of proroguing Parliament, which would end the session and set the stage for a fresh throne speech.
Some political watchers have mused the move would allow time for a Liberal leadership race if Trudeau were to step down.
The prime minister also plans to soon shuffle his cabinet to replace four ministers who don’t plan to run again in the next election.
A general election is scheduled to be held in October next year, but could come sooner if the Liberals lose the confidence of the House.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — Kamala Harris told the congregation of a large Black church in suburban Atlanta on Sunday that people must show compassion and respect in their daily lives and do more than just “preach the values.”
The Democratic presidential nominee’s visit to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest on her 60th birthday, marked by a song by the congregation, was part of a broad, nationwide campaign, known as “Souls to the Polls,” that encourages Black churchgoers to vote.
Pastor Jamal Bryant said the vice president was “an American hero, the voice of the future” and “our fearless leader.” He also used his sermon to welcome the idea of America electing a woman for the first time as president. “It takes a real man to support a real woman,” Bryant said.
“When Black women roll up their sleeves, then society has got to change,” the pastor said.
Harris told the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Gospel of Luke, about a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers. The traveler was beaten and left bloodied, but helped by a stranger.
All faiths promote the idea of loving thy neighbor, Harris said, but far harder to achieve is truly loving a stranger as if that person were a neighbor.
“In this moment, across our nation, what we do see are some who try to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” Harris told the congregation. “The true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”
She was more somber than during her political rallies, stressing that real faith means defending humanity. She said the Samaritan parable reminds people that “it is not enough to preach the values of compassion and respect. We must live them.”
Harris ended by saying, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” as attendees applauded her.
Many in attendance wore pink to promote breast cancer awareness. Also on hand was Opal Lee, an activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. Harris hugged her.
The vice president also has a midday stop at Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro with singer Stevie Wonder, before taping an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton that will air later Sunday on MSNBC. The schedule reflects her campaign’s push to treat every voting group like a swing state voter, trying to appeal to them all in a tightly contested election with early voting in progress.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, headed to church in Saginaw, Michigan, and his wife, Gwen, was going to a service in Las Vegas.
The “Souls to the Polls” effort launched last week and is led by the National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders, which is sending representatives across battleground states as early voting begins in the Nov. 5 election.
“My father used to say, a ‘voteless people is a powerless people’ and one of the most important steps we can take is that short step to the ballot box,” Martin Luther King III said Friday. “When Black voters are organized and engaged, we have the power to shift the trajectory of this nation.”
On Saturday, the vice president rallied supporters in Detroit with singer Lizzo before traveling to Atlanta to focus on abortion rights, highlighting the death of a Georgia mother amid the state’s restrictive abortion laws that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, with three justices nominated by Donald Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Donald Trump still refuses to take accountability, to take any accountability, for the pain and the suffering he has caused,” Harris said.
Harris is a Baptist whose husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. She has said she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church. Harris sang in the choir as a child at Twenty Third Avenue Church of God in Oakland.
“Souls to the Polls” as an idea traces back to the Civil Rights Movement. The Rev. George Lee, a Black entrepreneur from Mississippi, was killed by white supremacists in 1955 after he helped nearly 100 Black residents register to vote in the town of Belzoni. The cemetery where Lee is buried has served as a polling place.
Black church congregations across the country have undertaken get-out-the-vote campaigns for years. In part to counteract voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by candidates.
In Georgia, early voting began on Tuesday, and more than 310,000 people voted on that day, more than doubling the first-day total in 2020. A record 5 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that the mobilization effort launched last week, not Oct. 20.
VANCOUVER – Predictions of a close election were holding true in British Columbia on Saturday, with early returns showing the New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives locked in a tight battle.
Both NDP Leader David Eby and Conservative Leader John Rustad retained their seats, while Green Leader Sonia Furstenau lost to the NDP’s Grace Lore after switching ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill.
However, the Greens retained their place in the legislature after Rob Botterell won in Saanich North and the Islands, previously occupied by party colleague Adam Olsen, who did not seek re-election.
It was a rain-drenched election day in much of the province.
Voters braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system that forced closures of several polling stations due to power outages.
Residents faced a choice for the next government that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, between the incumbent New Democrats led by Eby and Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election
Among the winners were the NDP’s Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in Delta North and Attorney General Niki Sharma in Vancouver-Hastings, as well as the Conservatives Bruce Banman in Abbotsford South and Brent Chapman in Surrey South.
Chapman had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post that called Palestinian children “inbred” and “time bombs.”
Results came in quickly, as promised by Elections BC, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time.
The election authority expected the count would be “substantially complete” by 9 p.m., one hour after the close of polls.
Six new seats have been added since the last provincial election, and to win a majority, a party must secure 47 seats in the 93-seat legislature.
There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.
The wild weather on election day was appropriate for such a tumultuous campaign.
Once considered a fringe player in provincial politics, the B.C. Conservatives stand on the brink of forming government or becoming the official Opposition.
Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.
Rustad shared a photo on social media Saturday showing himself smiling and walking with his wife at a voting station, with a message saying, “This is the first time Kim and I have voted for the Conservative Party of BC!”
Eby, who voted earlier in the week, posted a message on social media Saturday telling voters to “grab an umbrella and stay safe.”
Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.
Some former BC United MLAs running as Independents were defeated, with Karin Kirkpatrick, Dan Davies, Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka all losing to Conservatives.
Kirkpatrick had said in a statement before the results came in that her campaign had been in touch with Elections BC about the risk of weather-related disruptions, and was told that voting tabulation machines have battery power for four hours in the event of an outage.
— With files from Brenna Owen
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
