
Next prime minister must tear down 24 Sussex
If he wins the federal election, Pierre Poilievre needs to build hundreds of thousands of homes. He should begin with his own.
It’s a match made in Heaven: a man who needs to prioritize house-building in his mandate will arrive on the first day of his new job in need of a new residence.
To be sure, Pierre Poilievre has not yet won the keys to 24 Sussex Drive. There might not even be any keys to 24 Sussex anymore, so long has Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dithered on the renovation of his former childhood home. But the sad truth is, nearly 10 years on from Trudeau and family absconding to Rideau Cottage, the problem of 24 Sussex remains.
If Canada is indeed a top nation and a beacon of freedom, it needs to project this through its institutions and instruments of state. Having an asbestos-ridden firetrap of an official residence that you can’t invite other world leaders to is a mark of a country in decline. Parliament is undergoing refurbishment. Trudeau refreshed the prime minister’s air fleet. It’s time for the next prime minister to get his (literal) house in order.
Symbols matter in politics. A common (and valid) criticism of Trudeau is that he is all talk and no action. The matter of the Prime Minister’s official residence is a potent symbol of Trudeau’s press release politics. What better symbol of change could Poilievre muster than the actual razing of this dilapidated home?
Strategically, all new prime ministers look for quick wins to help frame their agendas. Trudeau breached Fort Pearson (home of Global Affairs Canada) and basked in the love of a diplomatic corps and bureaucracy that had grown tired of holding Stephen Harper’s supposed shackles and foreign policy lines. Message: Someone who respects bureaucrats is back in charge. Trudeau then took a huge compliment of the public service to the 2015 Paris climate meeting with Harper’s greenhouse gas reduction targets and convinced the world that Canada was “back.”
With 24 Sussex, Poilievre could do the same. The country needs homes. He’s promised to build them. So why not get a Canadian architect? Canadian builders, building a piece of Canadian history. The first of the hundreds of thousands of homes that will go up across the country during his tenure. No more studies. No more consultations. Bulldoze and rebuild.
I’m in complete agreement with MacDougall. In fact I’ve been hoping for years that this Liberal debacle would catch fire and burn down, thanks to the rodent infestation in it. It’s time to end this and Poilievre is just the man to do it because there’s no better time. Everybody hates the Liberals. If it burns down and they complain who cares?