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 where she collected Canadian antiques and craft-work. While Joe Clark and his family were resident at 24 Sussex, the interiors were redecorated, the dining room ceiling receiving gold leaf re-purposed from another project and unnamed business associates of Pierre Trudeau installed a swimming pool for his frequent workouts. The pool, designed by government architect Stig Harvor, reportedly cost C$275,000 due to an underground access increasing the expense. This was raised in a "public fund" headed by Keith Davey, the donors to which were never made public. Brian Mulroney was the first prime minister to have the costs of renovations publicly