Canada Lands Company
Canada Lands Company Limited (French: La Société immobilière du Canada) is a self-financing federal Crown corporation reporting to the Parliament of Canada through Public Services and Procurement Canada. The company is responsible for managing property on behalf of the federal government, conducting public consultation and integrating properties back into their surrounding communities for development. Most of its assets are located in Canadian urban centres, and are sold after the CLC revalued the property by providing managerial support and subsidizing immediate costs such as decontamination. However, the company retains ownership of some of Canada's most valued properties, such as Downsview Park, the CN Tower, the Old Port of Montreal and the Montreal Science Centre, from which it draws rental and hospitality revenues.[2][3]
Company type
Real estate development,
attractions management
1956 (as Public Works Lands Company Limited
1981 (renamed Canada Lands Company)
1995 (reactivated)
Stéphan Déry (President and CEO)
Kaye Melliship (Chairperson)
C$269.4 million (FY2018/19)
History[edit]
The CLC was founded in 1956 as the Public Works Lands Company Limited (PWLCL). Its original function was to act as "an intermediary handling public land development, leases, permits, title transfers, etc. for other government departments". The PWLCL had little activity in the first few decades of its existence, and went dormant in the 1980s when the government's neoliberal program focused on privatization. It was renamed the Canada Lands Company Limited in 1981.[2]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government of Canada adopted legislation and policies that encouraged the sale of public lands and assets. Prior to this period, state ownership of land and corporations was supported by all political parties and was seen as necessary to bind colonial economies together and to assist the private sector through government intervention in the economy. Following the adoption of the Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act in 1991, government departments were incentivized to dispose of their holdings with no immediate benefits, with the idea that the private sector could make better use of it. The function of today's CLC originates in these policy changes.[2]
Canada Lands was reactivated in August 1995 by the Government of Canada as a "federal nonagent commercial Crown corporation" for the disposition of physical government properties deemed superfluous.[4]: 69 It is mandated by the government to act as its agent for the disposal of such assets,[4]: 67 and the government is the company's only shareholder.[4]: 69 The necessity of the disposition of land and other physical assets was the result of the privatization of Canadian National Railway in 1995, as the government had excluded non-rail real estate assets from the privatization and re-activated Canada Lands as a holding company for these assets, and to dispose of high-value assets in urban areas.[4]: 69 Any property deemed surplus by the government must be sold to the Canada Lands Company at fair market value, which must then develop, manage, or sell the property.[4]: 337
In the 2010s, CLC's major projects were the operation and development of the CN Tower and surrounding areas, and the redevelopment of decommissioned Canadian Forces bases across Canada into pricey residential units.[5]
Governance[edit]
The chair of the company and its board members are appointed by the Governor-in-Council.[4]: 69 It is a self-financing company operated at arm's length from the government that reports to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement.[8][4]: 69 It functions as a "private sector, full-service real estate company".[4]: 69 Unlike other government agencies, it is able to borrow money from capital markets, use letters of credit, and hold cash and other short-term financial instruments.[4]: 69
Indigenous relation[edit]
CLC land is sometimes used to resolve Indigenous specific land claims. An example of this is the 2014 transfer of the Jericho lands in urban Vancouver to three First Nations groups (the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations). The land deal is worth $237 million.[2][19]
As part of its joint venture with the Algonquins of Ontario, the CLC is redeveloping the site at 299 Carling Avenue.[20] Canada Lands entered into a Participation Agreement with the Algonquins of Ontario for the redevelopment of the former CFB Rockcliffe in Ottawa, now known as Wateridge Village.[21]
CLC is also participating in the development of Naawi-Oodena, the former Kapyong Barracks in southwest Winnipeg, and the largest urban reserve in Canada.[22]