Thank you for inviting Canada Lands Company Limited to appear today. In addition to the opportunity to provide opening remarks, we welcome any questions you or members of the committee may have.
I would also like to invite all the committee members to visit our websites. My team and I will be available after the meeting if you need additional information.
To give you more details and perspective, I have with me today Robert Howald, Executive Vice-President, Real Estate, Canada Lands Company. Mr. Howald is also in charge of the Downsview Park, in Toronto. Also joining me is Julie Payette, Vice-President of the Canada Lands Company and CEO of the Montreal Science Centre, as well as Basil Cavis, Vice-President, Real Estate, Quebec and Old Port of Montreal.
Canada Lands Company or CLCL was incorporated in 1956 as Public Works Lands Company Limited. After initial activity, it became dormant until reactivated by the government in 1995. Today we operate with the mandate defined at the time.
Unlike private sector businesses, Canada Lands Company has a mandate to take into account the government's strategic considerations. Those include the points of view of the affected communities and of other levels of government, as well as other heritage, environmental and social issues.
Structurally, Canada Lands Company Limited comprises the parent organization, referred to as CLCL, and three subsidiary corporations: Canada Lands Company, the real estate arm; Parc Downsview Park; and the Old Port of Montreal, which includes the Montreal Science Centre.
Each is headed by the same chairperson, directors, and president, and chief executive officer, all appointed by the Governor in Council.
We have provided the members of the committee with our corporate structure diagram and a concise chronology of the company's history as an accompaniment to our presentation.
As the real estate arm, Canada Lands Company manages the company's real estate interests as well as Canada's National Tower in Toronto. I will refer to this subsidiary simply as Canada Lands or CLC.
Canada Lands Company helps the government manage its surplus real property. Once properties are no longer useful to the government, the company buys them at market value.
Canada Lands' role in the disposal of surplus properties is defined by the Treasury Board's directive on the sale or transfer of surplus real property. What makes us unique is that in addition to profitability, our projects provide auxiliary benefits to Canadians and the communities in which we work.
We act as the master developer of properties. We engage, consult, and obtain development plan approvals. We sell to the private sector, which builds and sells the final product.
The next subsidiary of CLC is Parc Downsview Park Incorporated, which owns and manages the operations of Downsview Park and holds the Downsview lands in Toronto.
The last subsidiary is the Old Port of Montreal Corporation. It owns that property and manages the operation and investments of the Old Port of Montreal and the Montreal Science Centre.
From coast to coast Canada Lands Company creates benefits for its shareholder above and beyond financial contributions.
Allow me to describe some of the aspects of what we consider to be the value proposition for Canadians.
We handle complex properties. Acting as the government's expert in real estate disposal, we enable surplus, underutilized properties to be reintegrated into communities in productive ways. We bring innovative solutions and enable projects to move forward taking into account community, environmental, first nations, and private sector interests as well as the market. We engage and consult extensively.
The company's fulsome engagement process is our hallmark. Canada Lands is fully dedicated to understanding and collaborating with the community to enhance and integrate our properties. We see the benefit of our consultations, not only in the quality of our master plans, but also in the approvals we obtain. Recently, both Ottawa and Calgary approved our development plans without objections.
We fully comply with all municipal and provincial planning requirements. We operate within the context required of any developer. In that regard, we accommodate the planning preferences of municipalities.
We enable the creation of affordable housing. Canada Lands routinely explores the integration of affordable housing as part of our development plans. We participate in federal programs such as the surplus federal real property housing initiative, and we work with municipalities to ensure their objectives for affordable housing are met. To date, the CLC has enabled the implementation of 2,180 affordable housing units.
We incorporate parks, commemoration, and recreation components as key elements of our projects. On average, Canada Lands contributes 28% of its landholdings to green space uses for both active and passive recreation. We commemorate heritage land uses, investing over $11 million on 33 legacy initiatives, such as monuments to the armed forces, interpretative trails, and first nations commemoration.
We build business partnerships with first nations. We have established agreements or joint ventures with first nations at six sites in British Columbia and Ontario and are in discussion to create development agreements at three more.
We hold and manage specific properties to the benefit of Canadians. We manage the operations and invest in the CN Tower to ensure it meets Canadians' expectations worthy of its iconic stature. We have direct responsibility for the Old Port of Montreal, the Montréal Science Centre, and Downsview Park, and we bring due diligence, efficiency gains, and timely investments to these attractions of regional and national significance. We welcome more than eight million visitors a year to these sites.
We reduce the federal government's costs and provide a financial benefit to Canadians. We assist federal custodians to reduce their operational carrying costs and liabilities by removing surplus properties from their inventory. Our projects then become regional economic engines for trades, businesses, and professionals, building new communities and infrastructure.
CLCL and its subsidiaries are self-financing. We receive no appropriations. We pay applicable taxes at all levels of government and ultimately return all net revenue to the fiscal framework. Our 2015 to 2020 corporate plan identified financial returns to Canada that will exceed $470 million over five years, including cash dividends of $110 million.
Looking back, the company's financial contributions are significant. Since 1995, Canada Lands has contributed a total of $750 million to the government in the form of dividends, notes repayment, and income taxes paid.
We are keen to lend our knowledge and evolve in ways that increasingly benefit Canada, and I hope that you and others share with us the excitement about what the future holds.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide these remarks. We would be pleased to respond to your questions.