It’s that old Bruno Mars chestnut. It’s called ‘The Lazy Song.’ It was running through my mind as I poured some orange juice around 7 am. The song was trying to lure me back to bed. It was still dark and I had no excuse for being awake and wandering.
Other than the fact I had more than eight hours of shut-eye, the bed was singing the siren song of ‘warm and cosy.’ I have no special plans for today. And there was nothing in the coffee or Toronto Star to get the juices flowing.
The headline on the front page of the Star was a silly story about the prime minister and family’s temporary residence at Rideau Cottage. Why they call a two-story Georgian style brick house a ‘cottage,’ I have no idea. I would expect Justin Trudeau to be surprised that they even call it ‘his fixer-upper.’ It just happens to be that he and his family are temporarily occupying Rideau Cottage while the official residence for prime ministers and their families sits dormant across the road at 24 Sussex Drive.
But it is totally unfair for the Toronto Star to point the finger at the PM and accuse him of being a spend-thrift. The house is the property of the National Capital Commission and the commission controls, and spends (lavishly) on Rideau Hall (the Governor Generals’ digs and office.), Rideau Park, Rideau Cottage and 24 Sussex. Who else would casually spend $189,000 on a new roof for a ‘cottage’ to keep the prime minister’s family warm and dry?
And, by the way, Rideau Park is the grounds where Rideau Hall and Rideau Cottage are located. The National Capital Commission might have recently spent more than a million on fencing, landscaping and paving but, again, the prime minister had no hand on the chequebook.
Mind you, at an annual salary of almost $350,000, the already wealthy prime minister and his family would not have to pitch a tent in the park. It is unlikely that he will be moving back to 24 Sussex. (His family lived there when he was born.) The National Capital Commission has claimed that it will cost over $36 million to repair the official residence.
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