Thank you, Mrs. Chair.
I'm introducing a motion. There are some contextual clauses that are before the operative clauses. Those are simply for the benefit of the committee. I'm not introducing them as part of the motion. The motion is simply on the operative clauses.
I know the committee has reviewed this before. In fact there were many hearings with respect to the leaseback real estate plan that had been proposed by the government for initially nine properties and potentially some 31 more. The committee had expressed concern and asked that a moratorium be placed. The committee had also requested a great deal of information that wasn't forthcoming from Public Works and Government Services, and a lot of that information is still outstanding. However, some has come in dribs and drabs, and has been analysed and raised a lot of concerns.
Nine properties were supposed to be sold, and seven were. An injunction came forward that stopped two of the properties because there were not sufficient discussions with the Musqueam Nation, and there were interests there. That forced the government to stop the sale of those two properties.
Secondly, the concern on a go-forward basis is to look at that and see what kind of value has been obtained for the seven that were sold, to understand what the cost implications are for the two that are not. The question is, what is the intent of the government on a go-forward basis on those properties? Another concern is that there are 31 buildings that are considered for phase two, some of which are heritage buildings located within the national capital. Obviously, that raises a significant number of concerns, certainly on this side.
In that regard, I think it's appropriate that we return to look at this matter, that we have hearings, that we ascertain the costs--what kind of value for dollar was received in this deal that was concocted with Larco Investments--and also to look ahead.
I realize there was some confusion, for example, when we talk about the 31 additional buildings. Some of them are on one property, with multiple buildings on one property. Sometimes there is a little confusion about how many buildings we're talking about. But certainly before there's any further action taken on this, we need to see what's happened and ensure that we're getting appropriate value for our dollar going forward.