Gatineau Park the House of Commons of Canada since 1955, and known as The Farm, was part of William Lyon Mackenzie King's estate. This rural property consists of a renovated farmhouse and five outbuildings surrounded by 1.74 hectares (4 acres) of fields and forests. The residence is closed to the public, but a virtual tour is available. Also located inside the park is the Prime Minister of Canada's country retreat and official summer residence Harrington Lake, also called Lac Mousseau. At the end of the Gatineau Parkway, Champlain lookout provides views of the Ottawa Valley from high atop the Eardley Escarpment. When
Gatineau Park was to be the first national park created by the first parks service in the world, the Dominion Parks Branch. On December 3, 1913, Dominion Parks Commissioner James B. Harkin wrote to Deputy Minister of the Interior William Cory, arguing for the creation of a nationwide system of parks, the first of which was to be Gatineau Park. In his memo, Harkin said: A few months later, on Cory's suggestion, Harkin wrote Quebec Minister of Mines and Forests Charles Devlin inquiring whether he would help establish a national park in the Gatineau district. Although provincial officials wrote back that the