Thank you, Madam Chair.
My name is Kathleen Owens. I'm the assistant comptroller general for assets and acquired services within the Treasury Board Secretariat.
It's an honour to be here today to talk to you about Treasury Board policy as it relates to heritage considerations in the management of federal real property.
As you may be aware, the Treasury Board Secretariat is the administrative arm of the Treasury Board, which is a committee of cabinet that acts as the government's management boards and provides leadership to federal departments through the approval of government-wide administrative policies and directives.
One area of administrative policy deals with the management of assets throughout their lifecycle, from acquisition, to their use, maintenance, and disposal. It's the policy requirements around the management of federal real property that I'm here to talk about today.
First, a bit of background.
Federal real property belongs to Her Majesty, and the management of federal real property, with the exception of office space, is decentralized. Twenty-six departments and agencies have administration of federal real property, ranging in size from small organizations with only a few holdings, to large departments, like National Defence or Parks Canada.
Canadians can find information online on the inventory of the federal government's more than 20,000 owned and leased properties through the Directory of Federal Real Property. I gave you the web address for that directory.
The Treasury Board policy on the management of federal real property was approved in 2006 and applies to all departments and agencies listed in schedules I, I.1, and II of the Financial Administration Act. Given that not all these entities manage real property, the policy effectively applies to 26 custodial departments. I would note that the policy does not apply to crown corporations, with the exception that crowns are required to do reporting unless precluded by specific legislation.
The principle of sound stewardship underlies the policy's main objective, which is to ensure that federal real property is managed in a sustainable and financially responsible manner throughout its life cycle and to support cost-effective and efficient delivery of government programs.
With respect to heritage, the Treasury Board policy requires deputy heads to do three things.
The first is to ensure that the heritage character of federal buildings is respected and conserved throughout the life cycle. Buildings that are 40 years of age or older, whether crown owned or buildings that a department is planning to purchase, must be evaluated by Parks Canada for their heritage character.
Second, for the heritage buildings they administer, departments must seek conservation advice for recognized heritage buildings and consult with Parks Canada before demolishing, dismantling, or selling a recognized heritage building or before taking any action that could affect the heritage character of a classified building.
Finally, when departments have underutilized or surplus classified and recognized heritage buildings, they must make best efforts to arrange for appropriate alternative uses, first within the federal family and then outside the federal government.
Ultimately, deputy heads of departments are accountable for complying with these and the other requirements of the Treasury Board real property policy. The secretariat monitors departmental performance in the management of real property and can make recommendations to the Treasury Board on needed policy changes or specific departmental transactions.
The effectiveness of real property policy requirements is something that the Treasury Board Secretariat is currently examining as we undertake a policy reset exercise to reflect a more modern approach to comptrollership, as indicated in our president's mandate letter.
Over the past months, we have held consultations with departments and have heard how many organizations are challenged with conservation of heritage buildings. Given the significant rust-out issues faced by custodians resulting from under-recapitalization of real property assets, investment in heritage buildings can be expensive and represents an additional cost that falls outside the custodians' core program mandates. Finding appropriate alternative uses of heritage buildings no longer needed for federal programming purposes can also be difficult, particularly for assets in small communities.
As we develop our recommendations to the Treasury Board on the policy changes, the secretariat is looking at how we can incent real property custodians to make prudent management decisions in alignment with both sound stewardship and government priorities. In addition to looking at how we can protect our most valuable federal heritage assets, we are also looking at how real property management rules can leverage real property to improve the availability of affordable housing, meet the government's commitments to the greening of its operations, advance reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples by ensuring the duty to consult is respected, and improve the accessibility of our buildings for all Canadians.
I'd also like to note that a horizontal review is currently under way that may also ultimately influence the management of federal heritage buildings. The horizontal fixed assets review was announced in budget 2017. It's led by the President of the Treasury Board, and it's looking at the management of government federal real property by asset class. Horizontal issues, such as heritage considerations, are expected to be addressed in the final report and recommendations of the review.
I'd like to close by noting that the committee's study and report is very timely. We certainly expect it will inform how we look at our policy and the fixed assets review work, which is under way.
I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.