Yet, as the Fraser Institute analysts pointed out, “Ottawa cannot efficiently downsize its own office footprint despite ample funding and years of effort. That record hardly inspires confidence in its promise to deliver complex housing projects across the country.”
Federal real estate record under scrutiny
The federal government’s real estate management has long been a source of concern. In 2017, Ottawa admitted that half its office space was underused, but it took until 2019 to develop a plan to sell off surplus properties. By 2023, the office footprint had only shrunk marginally—from 6.0 million to 5.9 million square metres.
In 2024, the government pledged $1.1 billion over 10 years to accelerate the sale of underused properties, aiming to save taxpayers $3.9 billion in the first decade. However, the original goal of a 50% reduction by 2034 has already been scaled back to just 33 per cent, according to government projections.
An auditor general report released in 2025 found that the government “lacks even basic data on its own real estate portfolio, routinely misses internal targets for consolidation, and continues to rely on a lengthy process that takes six to eight years to offload surplus buildings.”
The report also flagged poor cooperation between departments and a lack of financial incentives for space reduction, with nearly half of the largest departments refusing to sign space-reduction agreements.