Stornoway is the name of the official residence of the leader of the Official Opposition in Canada, and has been used as such since 1950. It is provided in recognition of the opposition leader's position and is located at 541 Acacia Avenue in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Ontario. Stornoway has assessed value $4,225,000 (2008) (based on this value, which is only an approximation of the market value, the municipal property taxes are calculated) and is maintained with $70,000 a year in government funds. The National Capital Commission has owned and managed the property since April 1986. The lot size, with a frontage of and depth of , is slightly irregular.

The property is from Ottawa's Parliament Buildings, whereas the prime minister's official residence is only away from Parliament. It is located in an area which contains many ambassadorial residences.

History

The house was built by architect Allan Keefer in 1914 for Ottawa grocer Ascanio J. Major and was given the name "Stornoway" by the second occupants, Irvine Gale Perley-Robertson and Ethel Lesa Perley, after the ancestral home of the Perley family in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

During the Second World War, from summer 1941 to 1945, Mrs. Perley-Robertson offered Stornoway to (then) Princess Juliana of the Netherlands as a temporary home-in-exile for the Dutch royal family, including the future Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

  • Lester B. Pearson: 1958–63
  • John Diefenbaker: 1963–67
  • Robert Stanfield: 1968–76
  • Joe Clark: 1976–79
  • Pierre Trudeau: 1979–80
  • Joe Clark: 1980–83
  • Brian Mulroney: 1983–84
  • John Turner: 1984–90
  • Herb Gray: February–December 1990
  • Jean Chrétien: 1990–93
  • Vacant, 1993–97 as Bloc Québécois leaders Lucien Bouchard, Gilles Duceppe, and Michel Gauthier refused to use the house
  • Preston Manning: 1997–2000
  • Vacant, March–September 2000, as Deborah Grey did not move into Stornoway.
  • Stockwell Day: 2000–01
  • John Reynolds: 2001–02
  • Stephen Harper: 2002–06
  • Bill Graham: February–December 2006
  • Stéphane Dion: 2006–08
  • Michael Ignatieff: 2008–11
  • Jack Layton: May–August 2011
  • Nycole Turmel: 2011–12
  • Tom Mulcair: 2012–15
  • Rona Ambrose: 2015–17
  • Andrew Scheer: 2017–20
  • Erin O'Toole: 2020–22
  • Candice Bergen: February–September 2022
  • Pierre Poilievre: 2022–present

Notable absences

Although the Bloc Québécois were the official Opposition from 1993 to 1997, party 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.

Jack Layton, who led the New Democratic Party to official Opposition status in the May 2, 2011 election, moved in a month later, but stated that he would continue to live in Toronto when Parliament was out of session. it was subsequently revealed that Layton and his wife Olivia Chow spent only one night in the house. His interim successor as NDP leader, Nycole Turmel, also did not formally move into the house, though she used Stornoway for entertaining purposes and slept over on occasion.

Of interim party leaders, John Reynolds, Bill Graham, Rona Ambrose, and Candice Bergen are the only interim party leaders to have formally resided at Stornoway.

In the 2025 Canadian federal election, the leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, lost his seat; pursuant to the Official Residences Act, he was no longer entitled to reside at Stornoway. However, he never moved out of the home; Andrew Scheer was appointed opposition leader and allowed Poilievre to remain at Stornoway until he returned to Parliament in a by-election.

Architecture

Stornoway is a 19-room mansion with eight bedrooms, five bathrooms, living room, sitting room (2nd floor), and dining room, and sits on extensive grounds.

Besides the residents in the home, Stornoway is served by a staff of three: a chef, chauffeur, and household administrator.

Notes

  • Stornoway in the Directory of Federal Real Property
  • Stornoway (at the National Capital Commission site)