Prime Minister Mark Carney says 24 Sussex Drive is “an embarrassment” and wants a decision on the future of the vacant official residence.
“You’re not going to see me at 24 Sussex, but I would like to see my successors at 24 Sussex in some way, shape or form,” Carney said in an interview Monday with CBC News: The National.
The 19th-century house has been empty since 2015, when it had deteriorated to the point that it was no longer suitable as a residence. The National Capital Commission, which manages official residences in Ottawa, closed the property in 2022. Workers have since removed mould, asbestos, lead and rodents from the building.
Carney said he sees the file as a matter of stewardship. Asked whether he would fix 24 Sussex, he said he believes “it’s a responsibility to hand off things better than you found them.”
“The current state of 24 Sussex couldn’t be any worse. It’s an embarrassment,” he told CBC chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault.
Since Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015, the prime minister’s residence has effectively shifted to Rideau Cottage, a red-brick home on the grounds of Rideau Hall. Carney also lives there because 24 Sussex remains unfit for habitation.
But Rideau Cottage has its own limitations. A government memorandum prepared last summer and obtained by CBC News through access to information described the cottage as inadequate for a prime minister’s needs and said its location creates security risks because of its proximity to the Governor General’s residence and the surrounding residential neighbourhood.
Carney said future prime ministers need a residence that can serve official functions, including hosting foreign leaders, premiers and Canadians.
The unresolved question is how far the government is prepared to go, and how much public money it is willing to spend. Successive prime ministers have avoided the political risk of committing the tens of millions of dollars estimated for renovations, or the cost of building a new official residence.
In his final days in office, Trudeau asked the public services and procurement minister to develop options for a new prime minister’s residence by January 2026 and to create an advisory committee to study location, cost, functionality and security requirements. The government has not said whether that panel has been formed.
Options identified in Trudeau’s proposal include a new or heavily renovated complex at 24 Sussex, a move to another property with a stronger security profile in Ottawa’s Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood, or upgrades to Rideau Cottage. Official estimates say even the least expensive option would run into the tens of millions of dollars and likely more than $100 million.
CBC News has reported, citing a source with knowledge of the matter, that the government could make a decision in the coming months. Carney’s comments add public pressure to settle a problem that has left Canada’s prime ministers without a permanent official residence for more than a decade.
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