Angry in the Great White North

From the web site of John Weston, Conservative candidate for West Vancouver -- Sunshine Coast -- Sea to Sky (John Reynolds riding, for those who are wondering, but Mr Reynolds has decided not to run again):

Paul Martin's embattled Liberal Government is flagrantly wasting Canadian taxpayers' dollars by failing to resolve the issue of 55 acres of federally leased North Shore land. The prime waterfront property has sat empty for decades.

"This case is a local example of the waste and fiscal incompetence of the Martin government," said John Weston, Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky Country, where the land is located. "Mr. Martin is turning a blind eye as millions of dollars are being forked out for absolutely nothing."

The issue dates back to 1974, when the Trudeau Government leased the land from the Squamish Indian Band for 71 years to build the Pacific Environment Centre as an election promise. The Liberals won and nothing was ever built.

How much is it costing to rent this empty spot of land until 2045? We're not really sure what the cost is right now.

Another candidate's web site, this for Cindy Silver, running on behalf of the Conservatives in the riding of North Vancouver, explains why:

The federal government leased the land from the Squamish First Nation in 1974 for seventy years. They planned to build an environmental complex to service Western Canada, but the plan was scrapped in 1976. The land has been vacant ever since, with the government continuing to make annual lease payments at a rate that has increased every five years. The lease rate for 1998 - 2003 was $6.2 million per year. The government has not disclosed the present lease rate, which took effect in 2004.

Well, we can only assume it is even more than $6.2 million per year.

One source tells me it is now at $7.91 million per year!

Now why didn't the government built the Pacific Environment Centre? Because the land they bought is poisonous!

In 1974, the federal Department of Environment signed a 71-year lease for the PEC site. The lease terms dictated the land could be used only for a building with an environmental theme, but soil and groundwater contamination delayed the centre's construction.

The site was cleaned up in 2000.

So they paid rent for 26 years, then finally cleaned up the place.

Or did they?

From the government's own website, as list of federal contaminated sites receiving funds in 2005-2006 for environmental cleanup:

The Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan was created in 2003 to help federal departments and agencies in efforts to manage risks associated with contaminated sites for which the federal government is responsible, especially those that pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment. The Action Plan was created to deliver on the Budget 2003 commitment. Budget 2004 provides for long-term funding of $3.5 billion for federal contaminated sites. With these ongoing resources, the Government of Canada is demonstrating that human health and environmental protection are priorities and that it is taking action for the common good and the quality of life of all Canadians.

#4 / Environment Canada / Pacific Environment Centre / Vancouver, BC

So according to the government, this piece of land, leased by Environment Canada, to be the site of a centre for research and education about a safer environment, for which millions are being paid every years for decades, is the fourth nastiest piece of contaminated land we taxpayers are on the hook for.

Was there ever any action taken?

It's not like the government didn't know. Consider this from the 1994 Report of the Auditor General of Canada:

We have reported five times since 1976 that the federal government has been making unproductive lease, property tax and grant in-lieu-of taxes payments for land in Vancouver. Sixteen years after the Standing Committee on Public Accounts recommended that the government resolve the matter, the payments continue. Since 1974, the government has paid about $26.6 million net of sub-lease revenue for the land. The Crown has recently sought private sector interest to develop the site under an environment centre concept with a federal presence, and is currently evaluating proposals received. Although numerous attempts to date to resolve the issue have been unsuccessful, the federal government believes that its present approach will finally produce results.

Finally produce results. That was in 1994, eleven years ago. The land is still poisoned. The payments continue.

Who was supposed to take action in 1994? Who was the Environment Minister who told that Canadians that they would finally see results? One of Jean Chretien's favourites, Sheila Copps.

From Hansard for December 14, 1994:

Mr. Benoît Sauvageau (Terrebonne, BQ): Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment. In his recent report, the Auditor General mentions that after spending $26.6 million, the federal government has still not solved an issue related to unproductive rent payments, this after 20 years. Those payments concern a Vancouver lot rented by the federal government, and more specifically by the Department of Environment, where an environmental centre was to be built. However, the project was abandoned in 1976.

Can the minister tell us what action plan her department has to solve this issue, since this useless lot costs taxpayers $4.4 million a year?

Hon. Sheila Copps (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am very glad that the member has asked this question because on taking over the ministry I made arrangements to inform the band that future payments after this fiscal year should cease and desist.

We have begun negotiations and in fact expect to conclude an agreement very shortly where in fact there will be no further federal payments made for this land. In a year we have solved the problem.

Cease and desist. That was ten years ago. The land is still poisoned. The payments continue.

Did anything happen since 1994?

In 1997, there was a plan to spend $15,654,000 on the site, published in 1997-1998 Estimates for Public Works and Government Services. I don't know if that included the $4+ million in lease payments.

In 1999, a performance report was published focusing on Environment Canada:

Key next steps for the Clean Environment business line include implementing the renewed CEPA, completing development of Canada-wide standards on six priority substances, reporting to federal and provincial Ministers on a National Implementation Strategy to deal with climate change, beginning remediation of the Sydney Tar Ponds and Pacific Environment Centre contaminated sites, and implementing the recommendations in the government response to the Office of the Auditor General audit on toxics.

David Anderson was the minister in charge. Six years ago. The land is still poisoned. The payments continue.

Bottom line is that Pierre Trudeau made a poor deal and we're still stuck with it. The lease says that the land can only be used for a facility with an environmental theme, and the Squamish nation seems content to collect the money year after year without any action being taken.

Who can blame them?

Could a new government, a Conservative government, break this logjam? Well, after 30 years, I think it's fair to say that they should get at least get a shot at trying.

I'll leave the final word to John Weston, the Conservative candidate for the riding in which this mess is located:

The cost of the leasing the unused land for the last 30 years has been over $90 million. The lease terms call for the Government to pay rent at the level of its highest and best use, as if fully developed, but in the words of Weston, a constitutional lawyer, "The lease was negotiated to expire only in 2045, and permitted such a narrow range of uses that the Federal Government has few options to draw real value from the investment for the Canadian taxpayer. It's hard to imagine the imprudence involved in executing such a lease."