The Parliament Buildings, Parliament Hill, Supreme Court of Canada, Library and Archives Canada, Experimental Farms, highways, post offices, Forestry Canada properties, military bases, federal office buildings, railways, Royal Military Colleges, penitentiaries, RCMP Detachments, bridges, Dominion Observatories,Rideau Canal,lighthouses, the northern half of the Sparks Street Mall, museums, the National Arts Centre, National Parks, embassies in foreign countries, the Plains of Abraham, Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario...
"In one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible that there will be no Crown land assets left."
House of Commons Ottawa November 22, 1991. Bill C-3, the Federal Real Property Act. Member of Parliament. Derek Lee (Scarborough-Rouge River) Liberal: "Madam Speaker, I want to address a very specific aspect of the proposed legislation. The area I want to address is what I would call post-disposition disclosure."
"Before I am done here I think I am going to get angry again. I am going to get angry because in my view, and I have only been in the House for three years, this particular section of the bill is probably the single greatest step away from accountability that I have ever seen. I want to say to the taxpayer, the shareholders of Canada, beware."
"This particular bill governs the procedure by which the government manages and disposes of Canada's real estate assets. There are a lot of those assets maintained for many different reasons, ranging from our national parks to our federal office buildings to land that has been acquired for future use by the federal government for military purposes. There are many uses and all of them, with very few exceptions, are good and far-sighted."
"What really comes into dispute, from time to time, is the management of those assets. When our government disposes of these real estate assets it usually goes through a process of decision making inside the Public Service to decide whether these assets should be sold. Ultimately a decision is made. If the decision is to sell it can be sold by different means:by public auction, bids can be listed for sale in various manners. However the goal is to coax out a fair market price for the real estate."
"I do not have any general problems with the conceptual process. My focus is on the post-sale disclosure, that is the way the public finds out how the disposition took place and where the proceeds went.."
"I want to bring to the House's attention two separate instances when assets of this government were disposed of and the government refused, refused and refused to tell the taxpayers and Parliament exactly how the assets were disposed of." (more)
House of Commons November 22, 1991. Member of Parliament Dennis Mills (Broadview-Greenwood) Liberal: "...In my office I read parts of Bill C-3, an act respecting the acquisition, administration and disposition of real property in Canada...as I started to reflect on what is really going on in this bill I became concerned. There is another aspect of this bill which disturbs me immensely. It concerns me that in one year, with the support of this bill, it is possible that there will be no Crown assets left."
"I think of my own city of Toronto and the way that this government has disposed of Harbourfront lands, has disposed of Terminal 3 at Pearson International, and of the disposition of the CBC lands. This is a bill that is going to make the developers of every region and every city of Canada ecstatic."
"As a result of this bill if a line department has a Crown asset, a land asset, which does not meet that particular department's needs, at that time the department will have the ability to put that land basically out to tender."
House of Commons November 22, 1991. Member of Parliament John Nunziata (York South-Weston) Liberal: "Mr. Speaker, I did not intend to speak on Bill C-3, but I have been listening to my colleagues in the Liberal Party speak on the bill and I became concerned about its provisions. It is not a bill that I was responsible for or paid much attention to until today. I am moved by some of the very persuasive arguments made by my friend from Broadview-Greenwood and other colleagues on this side of the House."
"Much to my regret, I note that members of the Conservative Party and members of the New Democratic Party seem to be involved in some type of-and I use this term loosely-conspiracy to have this bill pushed through the House without much debate or consideration." (more)
Let the public have access to documents pertaining to the sale and lease of federal Crown land in Canada.
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The Experimental Farm The 1,100 acre site is worth more than 1 billion dollars. In the hearts and minds of Canadians the Farm is priceless. We have no idea:
-exactly how many trees will eventually be chopped down, or how many heritage buildings are slated for demolition.
are views of the Rideau Canal being sacrificed when Carling Village, the 4-storey parking garage and medical towers are constructed? UNESCO has already notified Parks Canada that the designation UNESCO World Heritage Site will be revoked from the Rideau Canal if buffer zones are breached, and views of the waterway are blocked.
How much land is the City of Ottawa removing from the Baseline Road boundary for their transitway project.
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