FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, June 12, 2026
Why is 24 Sussex Drive Still Empty?
| What caused the impasse at 24 Sussex Drive? Answer: not just political optics, but bureaucratic struggle between restoration and replacement. Certain officials have long pushed quietly for larger, White‑House‑style premises, for State banquets (and pastry kitchen) — rather than the legal mandate to maintain the existing Residence. 1. Legal The Official Residences Act requires that 24 Sussex be maintained as the PM’s Residence. The Federal Sustainable Development Act defines “sustainability” as maintaining assets “indefinitely.” But the Residence was allowed to become uninhabitable. 2. A history of conflict Around 2009, NCC prepared restoration plans — then abruptly vetoed them. Evidence suggests two camps: one for restoration, another quietly pushing replacement. When Justin Trudeau refused to move in (2015), NCC promised to “renew and transform” the property — but media reported a quiet NCC plan for a White House‑style rebuild ($150M). 3. Auditor General The Auditor General instructed NCC to “restore and maintain” the Residence. NCC responded with a detailed plan promising restoration — but never executed Instead, NCC blamed “severe underfunding” – even as it hired consultants in support of replacement. 4. Cost estimates? Despite public promises, NCC then withdrew 24 Sussex from third‑party Condition Reports, claiming its condition was already “well known.” And estimators were instructed: without the Report for a component, they must list replacement cost, not repair cost. This inflated estimates to $3,100 / ft.2, portraying restoration as implausible. 5. The push for grander Consultants said 24 Sussex “is not fit to serve as the home of a major world leader.” Media reported interdepartmental support for a new 15,000+ ft.2 building with a 5,352 ft.2 ballroom for 125‑person banquets. Consultants also singled out the lack of a pastry kitchen. NCC accepted this “guide for planning”, although State banquet facilities already exist at Rideau Hall (consistent with constitutional tradition). Certain officials deplored the indignity of the major world leader having to cross the street. 6. Today Mr. Carney pledged to resolve the impasse. The question is whether Canada will finally restore the existing structure as mandated, or build new à la Donald Trump and Louis XIV. |
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“The highest form of art is architecture; and the highest form of architecture is pastry-making.”
Antoine Carême, 1815
Admirably, Mark Carney pledged to resolve 24 Sussex Drive’s impasse – what Jean Chrétien called “embarrassment”; but what about its core roots – like fights over replacement versus restoration, banquets, and pastry?
Banquets? Pastry?
The Official Residences Act says this Residence cannot be moved without Act of Parliament, [1] adding the “National Capital Commission shall maintain and, from time to time as required, improve” it.”[2] Meanwhile, the Federal Sustainable Development Act defines “sustainability” as “capacity… to be maintained indefinitely”,[3] Did those principles stop at the PM’s door?
Dissension within officialdom goes back years. In 2009, NCC commissioned Plans & Drawings for a Call for Tenders to restore #24 – then vetoed it. In 2015, Justin Trudeau refused to move in. Supposedly, this was just temporary: the Governor-General’s office announced this vacancy would allow NCC to “renew and transform” the property. as NCC then pledged. [4] But did “renew” mean “restore and sustain”? Not according to media claims (2015) of a quiet “$150-million proposal from the National Capital Commission which includes rebuilding 24 Sussex Drive into a working residence similar to the White House.”
But the Auditor General told NCC “to restore and maintain;” so NCC announced that “plans to restore and maintain” these properties were its “Priority 1” – starting with “complete analysis of the resources needed to restore,” via “Condition Reports to provide the foundation;” “We can now initiate this plan”. [5]
Nothing happened. NCC blamed fellow officials (“severe underfunding”), but leaks still suggested a rival opinion – pro-replacement. Hence the core impasse: replacement versus restoration.
Next, that promised “Condition Report” was vetoed, as NCC officials claimed they already knew everything worth knowing.[6]
Two insiders told Historic Ottawa Development Inc.: in this Report’s absence, estimators were prohibited from citing repair cost, and obliged to cite replacement cost instead. It became easy to postulate a fantastic repair figure of $3100 / ft.2, exponentially beyond previous estimates.
Meanwhile, NCC was hiring consultants[7]. in support of replacement (discovered only under Access to Information). Referring to Justin Trudeau, they wrote:
Media reported[8] that this “grander” initiative had already secured interdepartmental acquiescence.[9] The rationale (finally public) was a supposedly fatal limitation in State reception facilities for banquets within the existing building:
And, wait for it, the report singled out the lack of a pastry kitchen.
Although the current structure exceeds 12,000 square feet, they proposed bigger: banquet facilities for 125 sit-down guests – what NCC called its “guide for the planning and design of a future official residence” – in granular detail, featuring a “hosting area” (AKA “ballroom”) of 5352 square feet. [10]
Yet facilities already exist across the street (Rideau Hall), per tradition in parliamentary democracies, that “State” events (as their name implies) belong to the Head of State (represented here by the Governor General), not Head of Government. Some officials, however, deplored the indignity that the major world leader had to cross the street, instead of hosting State banquets under his own roof.
Mr. Carney announced his determination to cut that Gordian Knot.
-So will Canada still sidestep the law,
-or delay, while awaiting statutory amendment?
The straightforward course is to allow the existing 12,000 square-foot structure (with independent advice) to fulfil its statutory mandate, as home for Canada’s prime ministers – not left in the cold because faceless officials prefer a replacement – complete with “hosting area” and pastry kitchen, à la Donald Trump and Louis XIV.
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Media please contact:
Marc Denhez
Historic Ottawa Development Inc. (HODI)
denhezmarc@gmail.com
[1] Section 2: Notwithstanding anything in the Parliament of Canada Act, the lands described in Schedule I and the buildings thereon shall be maintained as a residence for the Prime Minister of Canada.
Schedule 1: All and Singular that certain parcel or tract of land and premises situate, lying and being in the City of Ottawa, in the County of Carleton, in the Province of Ontario, being composed of part of lot 3 in the Ottawa and Rideau Junction… (legal description of 24 Sussex by metes and bounds).
[2] Section 6.
[3] Section 2
[4] Plan for Canada’s Capital, 2017–2067, page 79.
[5] “About three years ago I focused our efforts on cataloguing and understanding the nature and extent of deferred maintenance across the large and diverse portfolio… In 2016 and 2017, the Commission undertook significant efforts to gather information related to all the different aspects of life-cycle processes, inspection activities, capital investments, Building Condition reports, and so forth, in order to amalgamate them into an integrated framework… We now have a ten-year recapitalization plan to restore and maintain these assets to an appropriate condition… We can now initiate this plan and address the highest priority demands. We feel this is a judicious investment at this time. It is proportional to our internal capacity to deliver on capital projects while allowing us to address the most immediate risks associated with the assets.”
[6] Official Residences of Canada: 2021 Asset Portfolio Condition Report, s. 2.4.1.(page 13).
[7] HOK Architects.
[8] “A New Official Residence for Canada’s Prime Ministers? Feds Draw Up Possible Plans For Bigger, Grander Location”, Toronto Star, April 21, 2022.
[9] “Global Affairs, the Prime Minister’s Office, Privy Council Office and RCMP are all involved with the planning.” Ibid.
[10] “The proposed residence would cover more than 15,000 square feet. It would include a 5,352 square foot hosting area that could accommodate up to 125 people. The residential portion of the proposed building would cover 4,689 square feet.”