The
Harrington Lake estate is both the name of the official country retreat of the
Prime Minister of CanadaThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the...
and of the land which surrounds it. It is located near
Meech LakeMeech Lake is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada . The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in this area....
where the
Meech Lake AccordThe Meech Lake Accord was a set of failed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the provincial premiers, including Premier of Quebec Robert Bourassa. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982...
was negotiated in 1987 several kilometers northwest of
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
, in an area known as
Gatineau ParkGatineau Park is located in Quebec's Outaouais region, just north of Ottawa, Ontario. Administered by the National Capital Commission, the park is a 363 km² wedge of land to the west of the Gatineau River...
, amidst the
Gatineau HillsThe Gatineau Hills are a geological formation in Canada that makes up part of the southern tip of the Canadian Shield, and acts as the northern shoulder of the Ottawa Valley...
in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The estate is not open to the public, but the Mackenzie King Estate, the retreat of Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was a Canadian lawyer, economist, university professor, civil servant, journalist, fisherman, waiter, teacher and politician. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921, to June 28, 1926; September 25, 1926, to August 6, 1930;...
at Kingsmere, is a tourist attraction a few kilometers further south in the park.
The lake itself and the area around it are also referred to as
Lac Mousseau.
The
Harrington Lake estate is both the name of the official country retreat of the
Prime Minister of CanadaThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the...
and of the land which surrounds it. It is located near
Meech LakeMeech Lake is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada . The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in this area....
where the
Meech Lake AccordThe Meech Lake Accord was a set of failed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the provincial premiers, including Premier of Quebec Robert Bourassa. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982...
was negotiated in 1987 several kilometers northwest of
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
, in an area known as
Gatineau ParkGatineau Park is located in Quebec's Outaouais region, just north of Ottawa, Ontario. Administered by the National Capital Commission, the park is a 363 km² wedge of land to the west of the Gatineau River...
, amidst the
Gatineau HillsThe Gatineau Hills are a geological formation in Canada that makes up part of the southern tip of the Canadian Shield, and acts as the northern shoulder of the Ottawa Valley...
in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The estate is not open to the public, but the Mackenzie King Estate, the retreat of Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was a Canadian lawyer, economist, university professor, civil servant, journalist, fisherman, waiter, teacher and politician. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921, to June 28, 1926; September 25, 1926, to August 6, 1930;...
at Kingsmere, is a tourist attraction a few kilometers further south in the park.
The lake itself and the area around it are also referred to as
Lac Mousseau. The name
Harrington is thought to be a misspelling of
Hetherington, the name of a family which settled in this area. The French name
Mousseau comes from another early settler to the area, Louis Mousseau.
History
The lake and the property had been acquired by the Queen in Right of Canada in the 1950s, in order to build up preserves of natural areas around the capital. In 1959, supporters of Prime Minister
John DiefenbakerJohn George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC, FRSC, FRSA was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963...
suggested that he needed a quiet place to go fishing, not too far from Ottawa, and, later that year, Harrington Lake was chosen as the site for an official country residence for the Prime Minister. During the first prime ministership of
Pierre TrudeauJoseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, PC, CC, CH, QC, MSRC , was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968, to June 4, 1979, and from March 3, 1980, to June 30, 1984.Pierre Trudeau was a charismatic figure who, from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s,...
, his then-wife,
MargaretMargaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau Kemper is the former wife of the late Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.-Early years and marriage:...
, added a vegetable garden, which, according to
Kim CampbellAvril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, PC, CC, QC is a Canadian politician who was the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993 to November 4, 1993...
's autobiography
Time and ChanceTime and Chance is a book by Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada. The book details the career of Kim Campbell from her first election to the Vancouver School Board to becoming the Prime Minister of Canada....
, still provides the house with fresh produce.
Campbell was also the only Prime Minister to have spent her entire term in office residing at Harrington Lake. Initially, Campbell took up residence at Harrington Lake so that her predecessor,
Brian MulroneyMartin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of highly contentious economic...
, could continue to reside at
24 Sussex Drive24 Sussex Drive is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada., located in the New Edinburgh neighborhood of Ottawa, Ontario. Built between 1866 and 1868 by Joseph Merrill Currier, it has been the home of almost every prime minister since Louis St...
until renovations on his new private residence in
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
were completed. Once Mulroney vacated 24 Sussex, Campbell had not finished moving to that address before her party was defeated in the
1993 electionThe Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
.
External links