Dozens of office properties occupied by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in the 10 provinces and three territories of Canada could go vacant after the federal election if the Conservative Party wins and forms a government.
The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, have long pledged to slash funding for the English side of the CBC, or Radio Canada, as it is known to French Canadians. The government-run broadcaster occupies three large facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, as well as 68 other offices and studios nationwide.
The French-language operations would escape the cuts, Poilievre has said. The CBC declined to comment on the possible future cuts when contacted by CoStar News.
The cancellation or non-renewal of leases could affect property owners across Canada during a challenging and uncertain time for an office market working to rebound from the pandemic. The leased locations are in big cities and smaller towns, including Lethbridge, Kamloops, Sept-Îles, Caraquet and Prince Rupert, among the 71 properties occupied by CBC-Radio Canada in towns and cities across Canada.
Amid the uncertainty, Montreal-based real estate developer Broccolini recently put the second-largest CBC facility in Canada up for sale. The Maison Radio Canada, as the building is known, stands seven floors at 1000 Papineau Ave. and spans almost 420,000 square feet. It was completed in 2020.
The CBC has 25 years remaining on the 30-year lease deal at an annual cost of $22 million. The CBC staff moved to the complex from the previous nearby tower, now vacant, that Mach Group bought for $42 million in 2017. Broccolini did not reply to email queries about its decision to sell the building.
The CBC’s most valuable real estate ownership asset is the nearly 1 million-square-foot facility at 250 Front St. West, where the broadcaster occupies over 86% of the seven-storey building.
The smallest of CBC’s three major operations is located at 181 Queen St. in Ottawa and spans approximately 250,000 square feet. The CBC leases its space in the building from its owner, the Canadian federal government.
The CBC has over 7,000 employees. It costs $1.93 billion annually to operate its 27 television stations, 88 radio stations, one digital-only station and seven foreign bureaus.
'Can't wait to defund' CBC
During the campaign, Poilievre repeated his long-held promise to defund the CBC's English-language operations while keeping the French operations intact.
Last summer, Poilievre posted on the X social media platform, “I can’t wait to defund the CBC and sell off the headquarters for housing.”
Poilievre was the longtime frontrunner in the election race until concerns over American tariffs upended the campaign and left the election results far from certain. Recent polling data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute found Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to maintain an advantage among most demographic groups. Carney called for a snap election to be held on April 28 after succeeding former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Some have embraced Poilievre's planned cuts, including the Canadian Taxpayer Federation.
“Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for media corporations. Independent and private-sector media should not have their tax dollars going to their competitors,” Franco Terrazzano Alberta Director of the CTF wrote in an email to CoStar News.
“The government should defund the CBC and sell off the massive real estate portfolio the CBC has quietly amassed over the years,” he said. “Why does the CBC need to lease properties in far-flung countries, let alone multiple properties in smaller Canadian towns, and how much is all of this costing taxpayers?”
The CTF issued a report in 2023 assessing the total value of the dozen properties owned by the CBC at $444.4 million, with the Toronto facility at 250 Front St. West accounting for 71% of that figure with an assessed value of $314 million. The CBC building at 700 Hamilton St. in Vancouver is the CBC's second-most valuable real estate asset, with an assessed value of $70.4 million.
Other CBC properties include two in Winnipeg, assessed at $9.27 million and $1.58 million, respectively. It also owns properties in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Saguenay, Quebec, Whitehorse, Yukon, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The CTF's opposition aside, many Canadians are passionate in their support for the CBC and oppose the possible cuts.
“The CBC is the heart of so many cities and towns right across the country," Friends of Canadian Media Executive Director Marla Boltman said in an email. "When jobs are lost, and broadcast buildings disappear, communities experience more than just economic loss. They are deprived of a vital public service that not only brings them together but connects them to the rest of Canada."
Recent polling data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute found Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to maintain an advantage among most demographic groups. Carney called for a snap election to be held on April 28 after succeeding former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.