British Trans-Arctic Expedition at the North Pole, late 1960's.

                                                        

Ottawa construction magnate Robert Campeau.

   

                                                                       

Most of the CBC's real estate holdings are gone.

A website called the "Directory of Federal Real Property" provides a complete list of the Government of Canada's real estate holdings.
Yesterday, I discovered that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has been "delisted" from the FDRP. Now I know why---the real estate portfolio has been liquidated:


1140 Yonge Street is now a Staples Business Depot Ltd. and Best Buy Business Depot; 230 Front Street West is a hotel and condo; 354 Jarvis is the Canadian National Ballet School and condos, and condos were constructed on the huge parking lot behind 354 Jarvis Street. Rosedale is one of the wealthiest communities in Canada. (This document is part of the "1992 Federal Directory of Real Property"-stored at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.)

In 1985, the CBC owned 485 buildings and 1,870 hectares of land. (From: The Nielsen Report-1985-Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.)

According to a Globe and Mail article, the Crown corporation is selling the Montreal headquarters and 27 other properties, worth a billion dollars.
     "We've been hacking away at our vast portfolio of real estate" said Maryse Bertrand, CBC vice-president of real estate. (From: "CBC moves to find tenants for extra space at its Toronto headquarters" by Steve Ladurantaye, Globe and Mail June 15, 2012.)

In the year 2000, the CBC was seeking a buyer for a billion dollars worth of communications infrastructure. Not one dime from the sale was deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, Canada's treasury, because of "The Broadcasting Act" (1991):
FOR SALE
-608 transmission towers
-750 transmission sites
-2,500 transmitters. (From: CBC/Radio Canada - CBC Seeks Buyer for its Transmission Assets-July 18, 2000.)

The Crown corporation recently decommissioned 620 analogue transmitters, which will negatively impact Canadians who live in the Far North and Atlantic Canada, rural parts of the country and low-income earners. During the 1980's, 99% of Canadians had access to CBC television and radio.(From: The Canadian Broadcasting Company -The Canadian Encyclopedia - Hurtig Publishing Limited, 1985.)

Instead of laying off employees, cancelling television programs, shutting down television and radio stations and selling Crown property, the CBC should adhere to its Official Mandate:
MANDATE:
The programming provided by the Corporation should:

Be predominantly and distinctively Canadian, to reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions.---I never want to see "Roseanne", "Friends", "Married with Children", "Frasier" or any other American sitcom on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation channel. And I will never understand why the CRTC and CBC cut funding for local programming in smaller communities.
Be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means...The broadcaster should never have discontinued analogue transmission service.
Many Canadians who cannot afford it will now have to pay for cable or satellite television service.
CBC radio and television provided a vital service, particularly in Northern and Atlantic Canada, when they warned the population about impending weather disasters, such as hurricanes and massive snowfalls.

My cat Tigger just had a stroke.

I find it difficult to concentrate on my blog, or anything else, because my beloved cat just had a stroke. The veterinarian calls the condition vestibular disease, and Tigger seems to be unbalanced, both physically and mentally.

My beautiful daughter, a former Little Miss Bayshore, found Tigger at a Bayshore, Ottawa park in the year 2000, when he was only a few weeks old:

My daughter after winning the "Little Miss Bayshore" beauty pageant.

 Tigger follows me everywhere---when I watch t.v., he sits beside me on the sofa, and when I wash the dishes, he sits on the counter. When Tigger suffered a stroke he was drooling and his eyes were quickly darting back and forth, and I thought he had rabies, even though he has been inoculated against the disease. 

The vet knew right away what was wrong with Tigger - vestibular disease - and he was prescribed cat sedatives and from now on he has to eat geriatric cat food. My family jokingly said "The tranquilizers are for the cat, not for you"; and I had to find a baby gate to keep him from falling down the stairs. And I surrounded my bed with pillows, so he wouldn't get hurt when he flopped off the bed.

I have always admired celebrities who love animals. An actress named Sandy Dennis lived in Connecticut with her mother, three dogs and 37 cats. Sandy Dennis acted in several movies, including "The Fox" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff" and she died of cancer at a relatively young age.

Elizabeth Taylor rented a 120-foot yacht for her four dogs, and moored it on the Thames River because the United Kingdom had strict quarantine laws.

Mickey Rourke buries his beloved dogs at pet cemeteries. He is currently filming "Dead in Tombstone" in Romania, and has already adopted one dog, and plans to build a pet shelter in Romania.

 Tigger is recovering slowly, although one of his eyelids is droopy, and he is still uncoordinated when he walks.The oldest living cat in the world is Pinky, who was born in 1989 and lives with her caretakers in Hoyt, Kansas. (From:The Guinness World Records 2013).

I hope Tigger lives even longer than Pinky; Pinky had cancer and conquered the disease, so Tigger may have a chance at longevity.

Five nations participated in a NATO exercise called "Peacekeeper" in the North Atlantic in 1969.



Rotterdam: Canadian Ambassador to the Hague, Netherlands, Mr. A.J. Pick is welcomed aboard aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure by Commodore Noel Cogdon, Senior Canadian Officer Afloat. Bonaventure and three destroyers started a four-day courtesy visit to Rotterdam after participating in NATO exercise Peace Keeper in North Atlantic, September 1969.



The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is quietly selling millions of dollars worth of land, transmission towers, analogue television equipment and buildings. Apparently nothing is sacred at the CBC---100,000 record albums and CD's are gone, as well as the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, which was referred to as "Canada's second national anthem". At least people can hear the "Hockey Night In Canada" song on hundreds of YouTube videos.



The Glenn Gould statue in front of CBC Headquarters in Toronto.

According to the August 30, 2012 article "CBC/Radio-Canada puts surplus transmission assets up for sale":      "The assets for sale consist of land, transmission towers, analogue transmission equipment, and related buildings, located at 100 different locations across the country." 
Last summer, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) received many complaints from ordinary Canadians, for shutting down analogue television service; low-income and rural Canadians were particularly affected by the decision. The CBC mandate is--- to serve the people of Canada; to preserve our heritage and to provide broadcasting services from coast to coast to coast.



  On July 1, 1994, Canada's National Broadcaster owned properties in British Columbia worth $50,830,700 million dollars:


From: "Introduction When a Country".

A huge CBC warehouse at 2555 Douglas Road in Burnaby, British Columbia, pictured below, was sold to Lordco Auto Parts for $6 million dollars.  

More images of HMCS Bonaventure, a Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Maritime Forces Command aircraft carrier, in 1968.

British Columbians are losing their Coast Guard bases, lighthouses and National Historic Sites.

 The Government of Canada may be implementing the recommendations of a policy group called The Fraser Institute:

From a document called "Introduction When a Country".

The National Parks in British Columbia are:

Pacific Rim National Park
Gulf Islands National Park
Mount Revelstoke National Park
Kootenay National Park
Glacier National Park
Yoho National Park
Gwaii Haanas National Park
It would be a fiasco, a monumental blunder, if  National Parks in British Columbia are transferred to the provincial government of B.C. During his long reign as Premier of B.C. Gordon Campbell sold 120,000 hectares of provincial land; and he downgraded the status of provincial parks, leaving them open for resource exploitation.
On April 30 2012, more than 1,600 Parks Canada employees were told that their jobs could disappear. A day later, the government announced the privatization of hot springs at Kootenay, Banff and Jasper National Parks.

Canada Harbour Place Corporation, now called Canada Place, had an assessed value of $101,913,000 million dollars in July of 1994. Millions of federal, provincial and municipal taxdollars were spent, to build the convention centre and hotel. Canada Place has been compared to the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, yet Canada's landmark may be privatized:

Canada Place in Vancouver, B.C.



The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia.

                    

All of Canada's lighthouses, nearly one thousand, have been declared surplus. I cannot put into words how I feel about this desecration, this total destruction of these important symbols of Canada's maritime history. On almost every YouTube video featuring our National Anthem "O Canada" and the Expo song "Can-a-da", you can see pictures of lighthouses; and they are featured on stamps and postcards.Just a few of the lighthouses in British Columbia that are being divested:
Cape Mudge Lighthouse
Pulteney Point Lighthouse
Saturna Island Lightstation
Dryad Point Lightstation
Triple Islands Lighthouse
Green Island Lightstation
Langara Lighthouse
Cape Scott Lighthouse
Quatsino Lighthouse
Scarlett Point Lightstation
Nootka Lightstation
Estevan Point Lighthouse- In 1991, Estevan Point became a Classified Federal Heritage Building.
Cape Beale Lighthouse
Pachena Point Lighthouse
Carmanah Point Lighthouse
Sheringham Point Lighthouse
Lennard Island Lightstation
Point Atkinson Lighthouse, a National Historic Site of Canada.
Brockton Point Lighthouse in Stanley Park, Vancouver.
Trail Islands Lightstation
Race Rocks Lighthouse, a recognized historic building, is located near the Lester B. Pearson International College.
Fisgard Lighthouse
(From the book "GUIDING LIGHTS British Columbia's Lighthouses and Their Keepers" by Lynn Tanod and Chris Jaksa - Harbour Publishing".






Sheila Scott, Order of the British Empire, was the first British pilot to fly solo around the world. The autographed card reads: "To George Shaw Happy Landings! Sheila Scott & Myth Too".

                                                               

Canada's transportation infrastructure

CPR land and buildings were sold via Privy Council Orders-in-Council, which means one thing:
THE PEOPLE OF CANADA OWNED  CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY'S LAND AND BUILDINGS:


The CPR Station at Grand Forks, British Columbia.

Windsor Station in Montreal, for sale again in August of 2007. (From: A classified ad in the Globe and Mail newspaper.)

Privy Council Order-in-Council - 1992 - Sale of a CPR Railway Station at Grand Forks, B.C. to Dover Financial Group.
Privy Council Order-in-Council - January 28, 1993 - Heritage Railway Stations Act - Canadian Pacific Limited to sell Windsor Station and land in Montreal.
Former prime ministers of Canada, court documents and Auditor General of Canada reports confirm the fact that CPR reversionary property is legally owned by Canadian citizens. That includes the Husky Tower in Calgary Alberta,which was built on the grounds of a demolished CP train station in Calgary.

As I have mentioned before, Prime Minister Trudeau tried to return CPR land to the people of Canada, see my August 16, 2012 blog "Why does a foreign prince own the Queen Elizabeth Hotel?".The Queen Elizabeth Hotel and the Chateau Laurier were CNR hotels, while the CPR owned the Royal York, Chateau Montebello, Chateau Frontenac, Chateau Lake Louise...the list goes on. No wonder Library and Archives Canada is decentralizing and "divesting" (getting rid of) thousands of books and documents---probably the Hansard Canada books, dozens of Privy Council volumes, Erik Nielsen documents and the massive CPR fonds.  Are CPR maps/evidentiary documents/ judicial investigations/archival real estate deeds and geological and mineralogical maps being shredded or burned?

German/Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber told a national Canadian newspaper that Canadians will "go out of their minds" when they find out what he knows. (From: Schreiber seeks public inquiry - thestar.com November 10, 2007.) And Karlheinz Schreiber told a reporter at the German magazine der Spiegel: "I could create the most horrible Watergate here when I want to."

The CPR and CNR railway stations in Montreal are National Historic Sites of Canada.

Many Canadian government buildings were named in honour of notable individuals.

1. Harry Hays Building in Calgary, Alberta -  Harry Hays was a Mayor of Calgary, an MP who became the Minister of Agriculture in the Pearson government, and an advocate of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Harry Hays Building was sold in 2007.
2. Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building in Ottawa, Ontario - Thomas D'Arcy McGee was a Father of Canadian Confederation, an Irish Nationalist; and he denounced the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, which advocated the takeover of Canada by the Americans. He was assassinated on April 7, 1868 on Sparks Street in Ottawa, near the building that bears his name. The McGee Building was sold.
3. The Lorne Building in Ottawa 
4. The Sir John Carling Building in Ottawa - the Hon. John Carling was a businessman and politician from London, Ontario, and his father founded the Carling Brewery. John Carling was a Conservative MP in the House of Commons; Postmaster General and from 1885 until 1891, Federal Minister of Agriculture. The Grand Trunk Railway built railway cars in London, Ontario, thanks to his influence.The Sir John Carling Building was constructed in 1967, and became the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.The award-winning building may soon be demolished.
5. Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia 
6. Sam Livingston Building in Calgary 
7. Joseph Shepard Building in Toronto, Ontario -
8. Sir John Thompson Building in Halifax, Nova Scotia -  Sir John Thompson was a Premier of Nova Scotia and a federal Member of Parliament. As a Minister of Justice, he created the first Criminal Code of Canada. Sir John Thompson was Canada's fourth Prime Minister. 
9.  R.H. Coats - was Canada's first Dominion Statistician.
10. Jean Talon - was Canada's first official statistician; he conducted Canada's first official census during the winter of 1665-66.
11. Brooke Claxton - was a Canadian World War 1 Veteran; Federal Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of National Defence.
12. Sir Frederick G. Banting Research Centre - Sir Frederick Banting discovered insulin; was a Nobel Prize Winner, and a CBC poll named the scientist and physician one of the Top 10 Greatest Canadians in 2004, behind Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox and Pierre Trudeau.
13. C.D. Howe Building in Ottawa
14. Lester B. Pearson Building in Ottawa
15. Paul Martin Building in Windsor, Ontario
16. L'Esplanade Laurier Ottawa
17. Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport Montreal
18. Joseph Smallwood Building
19. Place Vincent Massey in Hull, Quebec
20. Sir Charles Tupper Building in Ottawa
21. Joseph Ghiz Building, Summerside. Prince Edward Island
22. Edward Drake Building at 1500 Bronson Avenue Ottawa

Ray Munro and George Shaw in Dublin, Ireland.

(Left to right) George Shaw, Norman Jones, Jack Sloan and Ray Munro.