Information supplied within the response checklist 67 actively leased properties throughout Canada and in 5 in different nations
The CBC owns practically half a billion {dollars} in actual property holdings, in keeping with just lately launched paperwork, with greater than two-thirds of the worth comprised of its expansive downtown Toronto broadcasting centre.
A response to a Could 2023 order paper query submitted by Conservative MP Adam Chambers concerning the government-owned broadcaster lists 12 corporation-owned properties throughout the nation, a portfolio value $444,414,469.
However the company’s most beneficial property by far is the CBC’s Toronto Broadcast Centre at 250 Entrance St. West, valued at $313.8 million.
The 13-floor, 1.7-million sq. ft. facility, opened in 1992, is the CBC’s main broadcasting, manufacturing and grasp management facility for its nationwide English-language operations.
The CBC’s company headquarters are positioned at its Ottawa manufacturing centre, occupying a number of flooring of a leased constructing on Queen Avenue close to O’Connor Avenue simply steps from Parliament Hill.
The CBC’s broadcast centre in Vancouver ranks because the company’s second most beneficial property. In-built 1975 and renovated 14 years in the past, it’s valued at $99 million.
The CBC Manitoba Broadcast Centre at 541 Portage Ave. in Winnipeg is valued at $11.7 million.
Different CBC amenities value over $1 million embrace its amenities in St. John’s ($4.4 million), Yellowknife ($3.1 million), Fredericton ($2.8 million), Charlottetown ($2.6 million), Saguenay ($2.5 million) Whitehorse ($1.8 million) and a second facility in Winnipeg value $1.5 million.
Solely two properties are valued at beneath $1 million: CBC’s studios in Thunder Bay, assessed at $537,000, and the company’s facility in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, value $314,600.
The CBC additionally leases area at 72 properties world wide, along with its leased Ottawa headquarters, that embrace regional workplaces, bureaus and studios throughout Canada. The lease values had been redacted from the response on the idea of economic confidentiality.
When requested concerning the leases and their worth, CBC spokesperson Leon Mar maintained that the data wanted to be stored personal.
“As indicated within the doc, the Authorities has withheld the data as a result of lease funds are thought-about delicate third-party business info,” Mar wrote in an e mail.
Information supplied within the response checklist 67 actively leased properties throughout Canada and in 5 in different nations.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, stated that within the pursuits of transparency, the CBC needs to be extra open about its leasing prices.
“It positive appears the CBC is spending far more on its buildings than opponents spend, however what worth do taxpayers get for all these properties?” he stated.
“Taxpayers have each proper to query why we’re paying for all these CBC buildings in Canada and in different nations.”
Internationally, the CBC leases two workplaces in america, one within the U.Ok., one in India and one in France.
The CBC’s New York bureau is positioned on third Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Its Washington, D.C., bureau occupies leased workplace area on the Nationwide Press Constructing, simply down the highway from the White Home.
The Paris bureau is positioned on Avenue de Wagram simply down the highway from the Arc de Triomphe, CBC’s India bureau is in western Mumbai, and its London bureau occupies area within the West Finish.
The response additionally famous the CBC’s two just lately closed bureaus in Beijing and Moscow, however it supplied no info on lease prices.
Right here in Canada, a lot of the CBC’s regional workplaces are leased, together with three separate amenities in Montreal.
CBC’s Maison Radio-Canada on René-Lévesque Boulevard East just lately reopened in a smaller location in a leased constructing simply west of its earlier, a lot bigger dwelling.
“Why does the CBC have to lease these properties in far-flung nations, not to mention a number of properties in smaller Canadian cities, and the way a lot is all of this costing taxpayers?” Terrazzano stated.
“The CBC prices taxpayers greater than $1 billion yearly, so on the very least it owes Canadians full transparency.”
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