Your Prime Minister's house is a fixer-upper, *cher*

Okay, *mes amis*, you know me. I'm usually talking about what's happening just off the Hill, not *on* it. But this one… this one is so classically Ottawa, I had to bring it to you. Apparently, Rideau Cottage, the place where our Prime Ministers have been living for the past *decade*, is "inadequate" and has "security risks." Seriously? This whole time, while we're debating everything from LRT delays to whether the Glebe or Hintonburg has better shawarma, the literal head of our government has been living in a place that apparently isn't up to snuff. It’s like finding out the NCC has been using a lawnmower from 1985 to cut the grass on Parliament Hill. This story went through three levels of approval before it got to me, and it is still fascinating.

It's not just the security risks, it’s the optics, *non*? For years, 24 Sussex Drive has been sitting there, falling apart, a symbol of bureaucratic inertia that only Ottawa could perfect. And now, the alternative is also a problem? It’s peak Ottawa, this. We are a city that prides itself on being structured, on having a plan, on doing things *properly*. And yet, for ten years, our leader has been in a house that's basically a placeholder. You know everyone at Starbucks on Elgin Street is going to be talking about this. You can practically hear the collective sigh from Westboro to Orléans.

The real story is never on the Hill — it's always just off it.

Catch Phil and the team breaking this down every morning. You can listen live at mornings.live.