Carney to announce fundraising campaign, design competition to restore 24 Sussex: source

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce on Friday a long-awaited plan to restore 24 Sussex Drive that includes a fundraising campaign to come up with as much money as possible to pay for it, CBC News has learned.

A senior government source said Carney’s plan is set to include launching a design competition to allow Canadian companies to propose how they would make the home a suitable official residence again for future prime ministers.

The chosen design is expected to be announced by July 1, 2027, the source said. The winner, the source said, would both design and carry out the construction of the project. 

The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said an independent advisory panel is also expected to be set up to weigh in on the proposals.

So taxpayers don’t have to foot the whole bill, the Rideau Hall Foundation would run a fundraising campaign across Canada to try and cover the costs, the source said. 

In one of his final acts as prime minister, Justin Trudeau called for the creation of an advisory panel of former prime ministers to make recommendations about the cost, security requirements and location of the residence. 

Carney is scheduled to make the announcement at 9:30 a.m.

The government has faced calls for years to address 24 Sussex. The heritage building has been sitting vacant for almost a decade after Carney’s predecessors allowed it to deteriorate and become uninhabitable. 

Successive prime ministers haven’t wanted to take the political risk to spend the tens of millions of dollars needed to renovate the 32-room home. It was gutted in recent years to strip out mould, asbestos and rodents.

Former governor general David Johnston set up the Rideau Hall Foundation after he left office in 2017.

The organization says it’s a non-partisan national charity and was established to “amplify the impact of the office of the Governor General as a central institution of Canadian democracy, and to better serve Canadians through a range of initiatives linked to learning, leadership, giving and innovation,” according to its website.

Carney said he’ll announce on Friday what will happen to 24 Sussex after CBC News asked him at a news conference what he envisions for the residence.

WATCH | Carney says he’ll talk about 24 Sussex on Friday:

Future of 24 Sussex ‘one question I’m not going to answer’ today, Carney laughs

When Prime Minister Mark Carney said he’s planning to host a news conference on the future of 24 Sussex Drive on Friday, a reporter — the Toronto Star’s Tonda MacCharles — in the room asked ‘seriously?’ Laughing, Carney responded, ‘there’s something new every day.’

On Wednesday, CBC News reported his long-awaited decision was expected in the coming weeks, following months of meetings about what to do with one of Canada’s most famous addresses. 

In April, Carney revealed he wants to choose an option that allows future prime ministers to call 24 Sussex home. 

“You’re not going to see me at 24 Sussex, but I would like to see my successors at 24 Sussex in some way, shape or form,” Carney said in an interview in April with CBC’s The National. 

“I think it’s a responsibility to hand off things better than you found them. And certainly the current state of 24 Sussex couldn’t be any worse. It’s an embarrassment.”

Poilievre says it shouldn’t be a priority

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Carney hasn’t sought his input on what to do with 24 Sussex. But he told reporters that the residence shouldn’t be a priority.

“I really don’t think about it at all,” said Poilievre. “When I go around this country and I meet so many people who can’t afford a place to live, when I see the homelessness on our streets, then I see the young people who are desperate to start families but can’t get a house to do it, I just think the last thing on our minds should be 24 Sussex Drive.”

WATCH | Poilievre on 24 Sussex:

Future of 24 Sussex should be ‘last thing on our minds,’ says Poilievre

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says he doesn’t think at all about the future of 24 Sussex Drive — the heritage building that served as the official residence for past prime ministers but has been uninhabitable for a decade.

Tobi Nussbaum, the CEO of the National Capital Commission (NCC) which manages 24 Sussex Drive, said on Tuesday the government has been seized with deciding what to do about the property for some time. 

The commission’s plan to make the capital more beautiful over the next two decades was approved by the board this week. The plan calls preserving and enhancing 24 Sussex a “key objective.” 

The NCC recommends to “rehabilitate and renew the property, a classified federal heritage building, in a way that reflects its role as the official residence of the prime minister of Canada.”

Officials in 2025 had estimated the price tag to restore 24 Sussex, build another house elsewhere or renovate Rideau Cottage — three options that were under consideration — could range from tens of millions of dollars to more than $100 million.

The government has long faced calls to take future decisions about the official residence out of political hands to prevent history from repeating itself.