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.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
VANCOUVER – An incumbent BC United legislative member has reversed her decision not to seek re-election and has announced she’ll run as an Independent in the riding of West Vancouver-Capilano in the upcoming British Columbia election.
Karin Kirkpatrick has been a vocal critic of BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s decision last month to suspend the party’s campaign and throw support behind the B.C. Conservatives under John Rustad.
Kirkpatrick announced her retirement this year, but said Monday that her decision to re-enter the race comes as a direct result of Falcon’s actions, which would force middle-of-the-road voters to “swing to the left” to the NDP or to move further right to the Conservatives.
“I did hear from a lot of constituents and a lot of people who were emailing me from across B.C. … that they didn’t have anybody to vote for,” she said. “And so, I looked even at myself, and I looked at my riding, and I said, ‘Well, I no longer have anybody to vote for in my own riding.’ It was clearly an issue of this missing middle for the more moderate voter.”
She said voters who reached out “don’t want to vote for an NDP government but felt deeply uncomfortable” supporting the provincial Conservatives, citing Rustad’s tolerance of what she calls “extreme views and conspiracy theorists.”
Kirkpatrick joins four other incumbent Opposition MLAs running as Independents, including Peace River South’s Mike Bernier, Peace River North’s Dan Davies, Prince George-Cariboo’s Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka in Kootenay-Rockies.
“To be honest, we talk just about every day,” Kirkpatrick said about her fellow BC United incumbents now running as Independents. “We’re all feeling the same way. We all need to kind of hold each other up and make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
She added that a number of first-time candidates formerly on the BC United ticket are contacting the group of incumbents running for election, and the group is working together “as good moderates who respect each other and lift each other up.”
But Kirkpatrick said it’s also too early to talk about the future of BC United or the possibility of forming a new party.
“The first thing we need to do is to get these Independent MLAs elected into the legislature,” she said, noting a strong group could play a power-broker role if a minority government is elected. “Once we’re there then we’re all going to come together and we’re going to figure out, is there something left in BC United, BC Liberals that we can resurrect, or do we need to start a new party that’s in the centre?”
She said there’s a big gap left in the political spectrum in the province.
“So, we just have to do it in a mindful way, to make sure it’s representing the broadest base of people in B.C.”
Among the supporters at Kirkpatrick’s announcement Monday was former longtime MLA Ralph Sultan, who held West Vancouver-Capilano for almost two decades before retiring in 2020.
The Metro Vancouver riding has been a stronghold for the BC Liberals — the former BC United — since its formation in 1991, with more than half of the votes going to the centre-right party in every contest.
However, Kirkpatrick’s winning margin of 53.6 per cent to the NDP’s 30.1 per cent and the Green’s 15.4 per cent in the 2020 election shows a rising trend for left-leaning voters in the district.
Mike McDonald, chief strategy officer with Kirk and Co. Consulting, and a former campaign director for the BC Liberals and chief of staff under former Premier Christy Clark, said Independent candidates historically face an uphill battle and the biggest impact may be splitting votes in areas where the NDP could emerge victorious.
“It really comes down to, if the NDP are in a position to get 33 per cent of the vote, they might have a chance of winning,” McDonald said of the impact of an Independent vote-split with the Conservatives in certain ridings.
He said B.C. history shows it’s very hard for an Independent to win an election and has been done only a handful of times.
“So, the odds do not favour Independents winning the seats unless there is a very unique combination of circumstances, and more likely that they play a role as a spoiler, frankly.”
The B.C. Conservatives list West Vancouver School District Trustee Lynne Block as its candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, while the BC NDP is represented by health care professional Sara Eftekhar.
Kirkpatrick said she is confident that her re-entry to the race will not result in a vote split that allows the NDP to win the seat because the party has always had a poor showing in the riding.
“So, even if there is competition between myself and the Conservative candidate, it is highly unlikely that anything would swing over to the NDP here. And I believe that I have the ability to actually attract those NDP voters to me, as well as the Conservatives and Liberals who are feeling just lost right now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt on Tuesday for his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began nearly a year ago, this one aimed partly at refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire deal and release of hostages.
Unlike in recent mediating missions, America’s top diplomat this time is traveling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiations.
Also unlike the earlier missions, Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip. The Israeli leader’s fiery public statements — like his declaration that Israel would accept only “total victory” when Blinken was in the region in June — and some other unbudgeable demands have complicated earlier diplomacy.
Blinken is going to Egypt for talks Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and others, in a trip billed as focused both on American-Egyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt.
The tamped-down public approach follows months in which President Joe Biden and his officials publicly talked up an agreement to end the war in Gaza as being just within reach, hoping to build pressure on Netanyahu’s far-right government and Hamas to seal a deal.
The Biden administration now says it is working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised final proposal to try to at least get Israel and Hamas into a six-week cease-fire that would free some of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Americans believe public attention on details of the talks now would only hurt that effort.
American, Qatari and Egyptian officials still are consulting “about what that proposal will contain, and …. we’re trying to see that it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.
The State Department pointed to Egypt’s important role in Gaza peace efforts in announcing last week that the Biden administration planned to give the country its full $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding congressional requirements that the U.S. hold back some of the funding if Egypt fails to show adequate progress on human rights. Blinken told Congress that Egypt has made progress on human rights, including in freeing political prisoners.
Blinken’s trip comes amid the risk of a full-on new front in the Middle East, with Israel threatening increasing military action against the Hezbollah militant organization in Lebanon. Biden envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday to try to calm tensions after a stop in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has one of the strongest militaries in the Middle East, and like Hamas and smaller groups in Syria and Iraq it is allied with Iran.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged strikes across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas started the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will ease those strikes — which have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border — only when there’s a cease-fire in Gaza.
Hochstein told Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help get Israelis back in their homes, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu that he risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.
Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel’s northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.
Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would “not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.” The prime minister said Israel “appreciates and respects” U.S. support but “will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely.”
Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, warned in his meeting with Hochstein that “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action,” his office said.
In Gaza, the U.S. says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal in principle and that the biggest obstacles now include a disagreement on details of the hostage and prisoner swap and control over a buffer zone on the border between Gaza and Egypt. Netanyahu has demanded in recent weeks that the Israeli military be allowed to keep a presence in the Philadelphi corridor. Egypt and Hamas have rejected that demand.
The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. Militants also abducted 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, said Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction, displaced a majority of Gaza’s people and created a humanitarian crisis.
Netanyahu says he is working to bring home the hostages. His critics accuse him of slow-rolling a deal because it could bring down his hardline coalition government, which includes members opposed to a truce with the Palestinians.
Asked earlier this month if Netanyahu was doing enough for a cease-fire deal, Biden said, simply, “no.” But he added that he still believed a deal was close.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
