Commentary
Fewer than one in ten Canadians own a second house or cottage, according to Statistics Canada. Most who do are well off, or have inherited a place they share with siblings. When it comes to our prime ministers, we hardly begrudge them access to an escape from the stress and strain of leadership, like every other political leader in the world. America’s president has Camp David in Maryland—and often his own place to go to, like Mar-a-Lago (Trump) or Rancho del Cielo (Reagan). The British prime minister has Chequers in the Chiltern Hills.
Canada’s equivalent is called Harrington Lake, 35 kilometres north of Ottawa. It is a large Colonial Revival farmhouse with a splendid veranda, old stone fireplaces, gardens, a guest house, and land all around the lake, called in French, “La résidence du lac Mousseau,” all formerly belonging to Margaret and John Harrington. It gets into the news whenever anyone mentions the high cost of renovating it….