The outgoing governor general is right. In an exit interview with “The Globe and Mail,” Mary Simon says the prime minister of Canada should not be living on the grounds of Rideau Hall. Mark Carney, like Justin Trudeau before him, lives in Rideau Cottage – a 160-year-old, two-storey, 22-room home traditionally occupied by the secretary to the governor general, or some such person. Trudeau moved into the building in 2015 after the prime minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex Drive – the house where Trudeau grew up – was deemed unfit. It’s been in an embarrassing state of disrepair for years, and no prime minister has been willing to take the political risk of spending millions to fix it up – particularly not during a national housing shortage. Simon says it’s not appropriate for the leader of the government to live on land occupied by the representative of the Crown. She’s making a largely technical, constitutional argument about the symbolic separation of the government from the monarch. Fair enough. But that’s not the best reason for the PM to move out – a government memorandum describes the cottage as inadequate and a security risk. The governor general is also right when she says, as a nation, we should provide a proper home for the prime minister, as we do for the leader of the Opposition. The leader of a modern democracy needs a modern and secure place to live and to entertain heads of government and other dignitaries. It’s an important symbol of sovereignty. It will cost money – tens of millions of dollars – to renovate 24 Sussex Drive or build a new official residence, but we need to do it. And the federal government should establish a national charitable foundation so that parliamentarians, the political parties, corporations and private citizens can make financial contributions to help pay for it.
