While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to leave office, CBC News learned that one of his final acts is an attempt to solve the problem of 24 Sussex Drive, the official and long vacancy residence of the Prime Minister of Canada.
In a letter to the Minister of Public Services and Acquisitions, Jean-Yves Duclos, Trudeau asks the Minister to develop a proposal with options for a new official residence for the Prime Minister in January 2026.
The prime minister asks Duclos to establish an advisory committee that would evaluate the requirements of location, cost, functionality and security of the new residence.
Trudeau sent a separate letter to the Minister of Public Security, David McGuinty, asking him to support the process, since his department would help with security planning.
CBC News has seen the letters and was informed about the general plan for a senior government official who talked about a history.
Trudeau asks Duclos to transfer the responsibility of the residence of the National Capital Commission (NCC) to Public Services and Acquisitions of Canada (PSPC), which is already responsible for buildings in the parliamentary enclosure.
The Advisory Panel would include Canadian eminents that could include former Prime Ministers and employees of the Private Council to find a long -term solution for an official residence that would also include space for work and events and meet modern security requirements.
The NCC is responsible for the management of the six official residences in Ottawa, including 24 Sussex. The house has been vacant since 2015, when Trudeau was first chosen and sits in poor condition. The NCC officially closed the residence in 2022 and the workers have stripped it of mold, asbestos, lead and the rodents that live inside.
In general terms, there are three options to replace 24 Sussex: a new or very renewed complex in the existing property, a transfer to a second property in the Rockcliffe Park neighborhood of Ottawa that has a better security profile or an update of Rideau Cottage, which has been the official unofficial residence of the Prime Minister since 2015.
None of the options is cheap. Official estimates say that the lower cost option would be in tens of millions of dollars and probably north of $ 100 million.
That price has been a significant obstacle for any attempt to update or replace 24 Sussex.
The official residence of the Prime Minister, 24 Sussex Drive, can never house another prime minister. The federal government is looking for options for a more modern and safe house for future prime ministers.
It was politically difficult to spend significant money on an official residence when the common Canadians fight for houses. This challenge was aggravated by the inflation and affording crisis in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee that Trudeau proposes is an attempt to overcome that, especially if the former prime ministers of different political parties participate in the process. The moment also means that Trudeau will not be beneficial for what the committee recommends.
However, it is possible that the successor of Trudeau, Mark Carney, or who wins the next federal elections, does not support what the committee recommends and decides not to move forward with a new residence.
Carney will appear as Prime Minister on Friday.
Any new proposal would need to take into account the updated security needs. Several security sources and experts have said that the 24 Sussex lands are too small to meet modern requirements.
And Trudeau has faced significant threats as prime minister.
In 2021, a former reservist of the Canadian forces crashed his truck through the doors of Rideau Hall, near the site of the current residence of Trudeau, Rideau Cottage.
According to judicial documents, Corey Hurren was outraged by the Covid-19 restrictions of the federal government and its prohibition of firearms in the style of assault. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was granted probation earlier this year.
Trudeau has never lived in 24 Sussex in his nine years as Prime Minister, but it was his home in childhood when his father was prime minister.
