Feds Own Surplus Properties Worth $1 Billion in B.C.
Contact:
Michael Walker, Executive Director
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4545 Email: michaelw@fraserinstitute.caRelease Date: 10 July 1997
VANCOUVER, BC>>> The government of Canada owned 3,550 B.C. properties worth $4.1 billion as of July 1, 1994. About $1 billion of these assets are considered surplus to government needs, according to a Fraser Institute study released today.
The authors of A Federal Government Land and Building Inventory for British Columbia estimate that the magnitude of federal government holdings across the country is even more staggering when extrapolated from B.C. data. If the 7.9 percent of grants-in-lieu of taxes that B.C. receives translates into $4.1 billion in properties, then the federal government is landlord to almost $52 billion in property nationally.
"The government is landlord to surplus properties that should be sold to help eliminate the deficit and begin reducing the national debt," said Michael Walker, executive director of the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report.
The study also compares the regional distribution of provincial/territorial population with federal payments of grants-in-lieu of local taxes (a proxy for the regional distribution of the value of federal properties) and shows that B.C. has been severely under-represented compared to every other province except Alberta, as far as the value of federal land and buildings is concerned.
"The government of Canada is engaged in several commercial activities such as restaurants, parking garages, fish hatcheries, and logging. It also owns vacant industrial land clearly not required for government operations. All of these commercial operations should be considered for disposal," added Dr. Walker.
Other recommendations include:
- The government of Canada should make it clear to B.C. Indian bands that all federal properties surplus to its needs in B.C. will be sold to help eliminate the federal deficit and begin reducing the federal debt. If a property involves aboriginal interests, the Indian band or nation should be given the right of first refusal on any offer to purchase this property.
- In addition to Transport Canada, other departments with properties that should be declared surplus and sold include Forestry Canada and National Defence.
- Some federal properties should be turned over to the province of B.C. as federal programs and departments are devolved to the provinces. These include properties held by Agriculture Canada, Environment Canada's National Parks Service, Corrections Canada, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
- Federal properties that should be sold as part of the privatization of Crown corporations include the holdings of Canada Post, the CBC, Canada Harbour Place Corporation, and the remaining CN properties in B.C. held by the Canada Lands Company.
- All proceeds from the sale of government of Canada properties should be used for deficit elimination and eventually be applied toward reducing the federal debt. The only properties that should be retained are those that are absolutely essential to the core operations of the federal government.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.
For further information contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca
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