The PM and his family have moved out. The staff have evacuated. Yet, no one, from the PM down to the National Capital Commission – the federal agency responsible for its upkeep – wants to make a decision on what to do next. The paralysis over the decades has proven costly.
The residence was once a private home owned by lumber barons until it was expropriated during the Second World War. It became an official residence in 1951. Yet, at the same time, the innate conservatism of Canadians remained. Prime minister Louis St. Laurent essentially made medicare a national program by agreeing to split costs 50-50 with the provinces, but he was otherwise hands-off. He also resisted moving into the newly minted official residence, fearing the potential optics of him living off the government teat. The compromise was that the prime ministerCanadian fiscal puritanism knows no bounds.
The Boomers have aged, but the system has not evolved to meet their needs – namely, more chronic care than acute care, and programs like supportive housing in addition to medical care.