Stornoway (residence)

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Stornoway

Stornoway is the name of the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition in Canada. It is provided in recognition of the opposition leader's position. Located at 541 Acacia Avenue in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Stornoway is valued at over C$2 million and is maintained with $70,000 a year in government funds.

It is some distance from Ottawa's Parliament Buildings, about 1.5 km by car farther than the Prime Minister's official residence. It is located in an area home to many ambassadorial residences.

Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party, is the current resident of Stornoway.

Previous residents of the house included:

Michael Ignatieff 2009-present
Stéphane Dion 2006-2008
Stephen Harper 2002-2004, 2004-2006
John Reynolds 2004
Stockwell Day 2000-2001
Preston Manning 1997-2000
Jean Chrétien 1990-1993
John Turner 1984-1990
Brian Mulroney 1983-1984
Pierre Trudeau 1979-1980
Joe Clark 1976-1979, 1980-1983
Robert Stanfield 1968-1976
John Diefenbaker 1963-1967
Lester B. Pearson 1957-1963
George A. Drew 1950-1955

[edit] History

The house was built by architect Alan Keefer in 1914 for Ottawa grocer Asconio J. Major and was given the name “Stornoway” by the second occupant, the Perley Robertsons, after their ancestral home of the Perley family in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

During the Second World War, it served as the temporary home-in-exile of Queen (then princess) Juliana of the Netherlands and her family, including the current Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Stornoway has served its present purpose since 1950 when it was purchased by a group of concerned citizens, and later transferred to the government. In 1993, the house became an issue when Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard declined to move into the residence as a mark of protest against the federal government, choosing instead to live in nearby Gatineau, Quebec. Following the 1997 election, the new opposition leader, Preston Manning, declined to move in for a different reason: he protested that it was too extravagant and a waste of taxpayer money, even joking that it should be used as a bingo hall to pay off the national debt. Manning asked that he be provided with a more 'modest' residence, but soon moved into Stornoway.^{[citation needed]}