In his recent retirement show, 86-year-old Melvyn Bragg, host of BBC's long-running podcast In Our Time, used a fitting phrase — 'epidemic of incompetence' — that captures how many of us feel about modern times. The New York Times' Ross Douthat recently wrote about how 'The crisis of the West isn't about who governs, but that no one can.' Britain, echoing postwar Italy, appears poised to install its sixth prime minister in ten years, a turnover rate even surpassing the Edmonton Oilers' coaching changes over the same period.
A Call for Competence
Our own new federal government, now over a year in office, promised to build things 'at a pace not seen in generations.' While the pace of announcements is indeed impressive, the actual construction remains frustratingly slow or nonexistent. This is not entirely the government's fault; today, every announcement invites a barrage of lawsuits. While I am not a big fan of government — an institution we have far too much of in the 21st century — we do need it. And although we can manage with incompetent government, as Adam Smith noted, there is a lot of ruin in a country, and Lord knows we have had our share. How much better it would be if we could have confidence in government's competence.
Building Confidence One Step at a Time
As hockey coaches often say, confidence is built one step at a time. To help rebuild Canadian confidence, how about we commit ourselves, paraphrasing President Kennedy, 'to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,' of having a prime minister sleep in 24 Sussex Drive without the risk of being nibbled by rats or otherwise inconvenienced. The Americans reached the moon in just over eight years. In the three-plus remaining years of this decade, surely we can renovate one official residence.
The Symbolism of 24 Sussex
When I was a child, every schoolchild knew about the White House, 10 Downing Street, the Elysée Palace, and 24 Sussex. While kids in other countries might not have known 24 Sussex, Canadian children certainly did. For practical and symbolic reasons, we should be comfortable giving the head of Canada's government a place to live and meet people that is close to work — and according to Google, 24 Sussex is a six-minute drive or a half-hour walk from Parliament Hill.
As I grew older, it struck me as wholly charming that our prime minister's residence bore the same number as our country's favourite denomination of its favourite beverage: the 'two-four.'
Flaws and All
No doubt there is plenty wrong with 24 Sussex. It is too close to a major street, according to the RCMP. Architectural snobs deem its architecture undistinguished — abstract and inhuman would be so much better! Perfectionists say it is not remotely what you would do if starting from scratch, though that makes it a lot like the country itself: well short of perfect and not what you would do if starting over. But it offers a dramatic view from atop a cliff overlooking the Ottawa River. It is centrally located. It is a pleasant enough limestone Victorian (and Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!). Its construction was commissioned in 1866, when Canada was still on the drawing board, and completed in 1868, our first full year of existence as a country.
