Time for a decision about 24 Sussex Drive

You may agree.

You may not.

You may put down your coffee, nod, and say “I can understand the need.”

Or you might throw your coffee out of the car window while yelling at no one in particular, “Damn Ottawa Liberal fatcats want to live high on the hog on our dime while we’re all barely making enough to keep from starving here.” Or words to that effect.

But at least you’ll have made a decision. A quick decision.

And often, it looks like Ottawa can’t even do that.

Right now, 24 Sussex Drive, the traditional home for Canada’s prime ministers whatever their political stripe, has been vacant for a decade, its walls stripped, its obsolete heating, mechanical and cooling systems removed.

The building had to be gutted to deal with asbestos, mold and rodent concerns, and has been standing empty since then, waiting for someone — anyone — to make a decision about what would come next. Will the building be refurbished? Will a new site be chosen and a new residence be built, properly integrating security equipment?

During that time, the temporary prime minister’s residence has been Rideau Cottage, a building constructed to house the secretary to the Governor-General. The RCMP say the cottage (at 14 rooms, a little larger than your usual cottage) is difficult to provide security for, and, frankly, is too close to the Governor-General’s residence.

The CBC reported this week that they had obtained a memo through a federal access to information request that spelled out the continuing buck-passing about the future of the prime minister’s residence.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has apparently ranking the replacement or repair of the facility as low on his list of priorities — former prime minister Justin Trudeau hadn’t moved ahead with a replacement plan either, although he did put in place a requirement that an advisory committee of past prime ministers should be put together to recommend what sorts of needs a prime ministerial residence should encompass.

Keep in mind this is no White House ballroom, a triumphal arch or the conversion of a massive gifted aircraft to become a new Air Force One — it’s not necessarily an ostentatious frippery. It’s a residence that would allow the RCMP to properly protect the prime minister, while also allowing him or her to have the resources to provide for the soft side of politics —meeting with and entertaining foreign leaders and dignitaries to help sway them to view issues in Canada’s favour.

Like it or not, that is a part of international politics, especially as Canada works to find its feet in the new world order that is unfolding before us.

We’re not pitching luxury accommodations for the sake of luxury. This is a home that should be fitting and suited for a mid-sized country’s prime minister. And yes, revamping or building will come with a pricetag — anyway from tens of millions of dollars to estimates that the CBC reported as being as high as $100 million.

Do we move ahead with the historic building at 24 Sussex, revamp Rideau Cottage to make it acceptable for continued use for the prime minister, or build new? Or maybe do we just boot the leader of the opposition out of free lodging at Stornoway and put new prime ministers there?

It’s almost tragically Canadian that, afraid to offend or anger this group or that group, we just trundle along, apparently unable to make any concrete decisions whatsoever.

One thing’s for certain — waiting is not going to make the construction cost any less. The pricetag’s only going to go up.

But with the speed things move in this country, chances are we could be printing the same editorial years from now.