OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to confirm that taxpayers will not be forced to cover runaway costs if the 24 Sussex Drive fundraising campaign falls short.

“Taxpayers need a guarantee that they will not be forced to bail out this project when the bill comes due,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “If the federal government can fundraise the money and keep the costs low that’s one thing, but Carney shouldn’t force taxpayers to bail out the project if it misses targets or costs balloon.”

Carney announced a fundraising campaign for the renovation of 24 Sussex Drive, which is one of the official residences for the prime minister. The government says the goal is for the fundraising campaign to raise “all or most of the cost of the project.” The government did not reveal a budget for the project or a ceiling on what taxpayers will owe if the fundraiser falls short.

“I don’t want to be too forward on what the budget is for this,” Carney said when reporters asked about the cost of renovating 24 Sussex. 

The notion that Canada’s official residences are underfunded is one of the biggest myths in Ottawa.

The National Capital Commission spent $135 million renovating and maintaining the official residences from 2006 to 2022, according to the CTF’s analysis of official reports. That’s about $8.5 million per year, which is enough to buy a brand-new mansion in Ottawa every year.

Even after all that spending, the NCC wanted another $175 million for major renovations and another $26.1 million every year for ongoing maintenance.

“One of the dumbest pieces of prevailing wisdom in Ottawa is that politicians are too cheap to fix their mansions,” Terrazzano said. “The problem isn’t that politicians are too cheap with taxpayers’ money, the problem is the NCC is too incompetent and wastes money managing properties.

“If the government keeps costs low and the fundraiser covers the bill, that’s fine. But what’s not fine is what the NCC has been doing for years.”