Letter of expectations for 2024 to 2025: Canada Lands Company

Ms. Kaye Melliship
Chair of the Board of Directors
Canada Lands Company Limited
1 University Avenue, Suite 1700
Toronto, Ontario  M5J 2P1

Dear Ms. Melliship:

I would like to thank Canada Lands Company Limited (CLCL) for providing its expertise and working in close partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada to launch a key pillar of Canada’s housing plan, the Public Lands for Homes Plan, which supports the Government of Canada’s goal of unlocking 250,000 homes by 2031. The Government’s bold plan will create positive change that will help advance housing to meet the needs of Canadians for generations to come.

I acknowledge and appreciate CLCL’s strong management, particularly as we continue to learn lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching effects. I look forward to seeing CLCL continue to invest strategically in its world-class attractions; maintain a strong federal presence within the surrounding communities of those attractions; and seek opportunities to enhance the CN Tower, Parc Downsview Park and the Old Port of Montréal as unique recreational spaces for the benefit of Canadian and international visitors.

In order to assist you in your role as Chair of the Board of Directors, I am writing to convey to you my priorities and expectations for CLCL for 2024-2025 and provide you with direction received through Budget 2024. Please share this letter with the corporation’s Board members and executives.

Budget 2024 housing announcements

Canada is facing a housing crisis that is impacting lives and communities across the country. We need to build more homes, faster, to resolve this current challenge and meet the demands of a growing Canada. This requires a historic shift in how all levels of government advance housing, and the Government of Canada is leading this shift.

As announced in Budget 2024, in order to support the use of public lands to fulfill its ambitious housing initiatives, the Government of Canada will evolve and adapt CLCL’s mandate. This includes the following: providing leases, including long-term, low-cost leases, to housing providers; transferring land from the Canadian government to CLCL for $1 (whenever possible) to support additional affordable housing; and enabling housing development on actively used federal properties.

This expanded mandate will also allow CLCL to work with Crown corporations and federal departments in a more streamlined manner to expedite the delivery of housing in order to solve the current crisis by focusing on the public good.

I also encourage CLCL to continue to pursue affordable housing within the context of its various projects and those of its subsidiaries, including achieving a minimum of 20 per cent affordability in all projects, and seeking opportunities to exceed this threshold where possible.

I look forward to working with CLCL to ensure that these measures are implemented in the coming months. This will help advance building more homes on public lands, faster, which is an important element in ensuring that we can address the housing needs of today and of generations to come.

Supporting government priorities

The Government of Canada is committed to delivering on ambitious priorities for Canadians, and we need your continued support in achieving our common objectives. I encourage you to continue to:

Collaboration

I would ask that CLCL maintain its good working relationships and regular communication with my office and Public Services and Procurement Canada. This includes continuing to help advance housing, as noted above, and providing advance notice of any significant developments or potential issues concerning CLCL. I would also like you to consult my office and the Department before any significant changes are made to CLCL’s activities that could impact or be of interest to the public, key stakeholders and other levels of government.

I appreciate your continued collaboration in advancing corporate plan processes. I would ask that you aim to submit a close-to-final draft of the next corporate plan to departmental officials as early as possible in October 2024 in order to provide Public Services and Procurement Canada with sufficient time to prepare a Treasury Board submission and seek the approval of Treasury Board.

I understand CLCL’s continued efforts to delay legal amalgamation given the potential financial impacts. I ask that the corporation continue to monitor this situation and inform me of any updates. In the interim, please include your subsidiaries’ financial statements in your annual corporate plan.

Thank you for your continued collaboration.

Yours sincerely,

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Services and Procurement

c.c.: Mr. Stéphan Déry
President and Chief Executive Officer
Canada Lands Company Limited

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