'An embarrassment to the nation': Former PM Chretien on state of 24 Sussex Drive

A look inside the gutted 24 Sussex Dr. The National Capital Commission has released new photos of the inside of 24 Sussex Dr. CTV's Austin Lee reports.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien says the current state of 24 Sussex Drive is "an embarrassment to the nation."

After years of warnings that the prime minister's official residence was in "critical condition," documents revealed this week that a rodent infestation played a role in its closure.

Chretien was asked by reporters what he thinks should be done to the historic property that's now become "uninhabitable" during a scrum in Calgary.

He said that it should be repaired rather than torn down, but noted the perceived political hot potato that the issue has been for successive prime ministers.

"The problem is, if a prime minister accepts to repair it, you guys, you'll write that he's spending the money of the taxpayers," Chretien said.

Chretien was Canada's 20th prime minister, leading the country as a Liberal between 1993 and 2003. He recollected once welcoming then-U.S. vice-president Al Gore to 24 Sussex Drive during the summer and how hot it was with just a "little cheap" window air conditioner.

"It was terribly embarrassing," he said, while also noting that he "did not repair it" either.

"Because I didn't want you guys to say I was a spender while I was cutting money to balance the books," he quipped.

This isn't the first time the former prime minister has chimed in on the state of 24 Sussex Drive. In 2015, he told CTV's Question Period that the crumbling official residence makes Canada look like a “bunch of cheap guys.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided when he won in 2015 not to move his family into the building previously occupied by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, who didn't move out for what then was estimated to be a year-long period to make what then was estimated to be $10 million in fixes to the 34-room, 10,000-square-foot mansion.

Instead, as he said this week, Trudeau opted to move his family into the "smaller, but better" Rideau Cottage.

A 2021 estimate from the National Capital Commission (NCC), which manages the property and other official residences in the area, said it would cost $36.6 million to bring 24 Sussex Drive up to good condition.

“I know there have been ongoing consultations and important processes to balance the historical heritage nature of that building, and the needs of government and of Canadians going forward,” Trudeau told reporters earlier this week. “Those conversations are continuing within the NCC and the department of public works.”