The Department of National Defence plans to sell dozens of buildings and nearly 1,500 acres of Crown land as part of Ottawa's push to cut government spending, according to documents tabled before Parliament.Defence officials told the Commons government operations committee the department expects to save $99.7 million by 2029 through the sale of surplus properties and reductions to its real estate footprint."For the Department of National Defence, the comprehensive expenditure review is focused on generating sustainable savings from day-to-day operations while protecting operational readiness," managers wrote in a report submitted to the committee.Blacklock's Reporter said the department said it intends to divest 1,468 acres of Crown land and 28 buildings.Of those properties, 23 are located on the former Royal Roads Military College site in Victoria.Royal Roads Military College was closed in 1995. Defence officials did not identify the remaining five buildings slated for sale."The department will reduce its real property footprint through divestment of underutilized, obsolete or surplus assets," the report said. "This will lower costs associated with operations and maintenance, utilities, services and payments in lieu of taxes while streamlining the overall portfolio.".National Defence's planned asset sales come as Ottawa reviews government-wide spending in search of billions in savings.Federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations currently manage approximately 63.5 million square feet of office space.A 2023 briefing note from Public Services and Procurement Canada estimated as much as half of all federal buildings could eventually be sold or closed, although the process could take up to 25 years."The department is working to modernize and green the federal office portfolio over a 10 to 25 year planning horizon which includes the disposal of assets that are no longer required," the briefing note stated.Officials said changing workplace habits following the pandemic have accelerated the review of federal office space."The post-pandemic environment represents an opportunity to incorporate new workplace arrangements," the note said.Government studies conducted before the pandemic found federal office space was underutilized by at least 40% while generating annual operating and maintenance costs of roughly $2.4 billion.The planned defence property sales are part of a broader federal effort to reduce spending..Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters on March 20 that Ottawa had identified $60 billion in savings across government departments, although specific cuts were not disclosed."We found $60 billion of savings across different departments of the Government of Canada," said Champagne."Some programs we have decided to rationalize, to use technology, to merge, to look at the back office," he added. "Some others, we said, you know what, we need to bring back the civil service to a more sustainable level."
