Harrington Lake Diefenbaker suggested that he needed a quiet place to go fishing, not too far from Ottawa. Later that year, Harrington Lake was chosen as the site for an official country residence and the buildings were formally designated as a secure residence for Canada’s prime ministers. During the first prime ministership of Pierre Trudeau, his then-wife, Margaret, added a vegetable garden; according to Kim Campbell's autobiography "Time and Chance", the garden still provided the house with fresh produce at the time of that writing. Campbell was the only Prime Minister to have spent her entire term in office residing at Harrington
24 Sussex Drive several years of uncertainty, in 1950 the government decided to refurbish the property as a residence for the prime minister, the renovations costing just over $500,000. Louis St. Laurent was the first to take up residence in 1951. Since then, every prime minister—except for Kim Campbell (who resided at Harrington Lake) and, to date, Justin Trudeau (who has opted to reside at Rideau Cottage pending a review of work needed to repair the house)—has resided at 24 Sussex Drive for the duration of their mandates. Previous prime ministers lived at a variety of locations around Ottawa: Sir Wilfrid Laurier and