Why is Land so Expensive in Canada?

Crown land, also known as royal domain or demesne, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realms such as Canada and Australia, crown land is considered public land and is apart from the monarch's private estate.

In Britain, the hereditary revenues of Crown lands provided income for the monarch until the start of the reign of George III, when the profits from the Crown Estate were surrendered to the Parliament of Great Britain in return for a fixed civil list payment. The monarch retains the income from the Duchy of Lancaster.

Within Canada, Crown Land is a designated territorial area belonging to the Canadian Crown. Though the monarch owns all Crown Land in the country, it is divided in parallel with the "division" of the Crown among the federal and provincial jurisdictions, so that some lands within the provinces are administered by the relevant provincial Crown, whereas others are under the federal Crown. 

About 89% of Canada's land area (8,886,356 km²) is Crown Land: 41% is federal crown land and 48% is provincial crown land. 

The remaining 11% is privately owned. Most federal Crown Land is in the territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon) and is administered by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. Only 4% of land in the provinces is federally controlled, largely in the form of National Parks, Indian reserves, or Canadian Forces bases. In contrast, provinces hold much of their territory as provincial Crown Land, which may be held as Provincial Parks or wilderness.

Crown Land is the equivalent of an entailed estate that passes with the monarchy and cannot be alienated from it; thus, per constitutional convention, these lands cannot be unilaterally sold by the monarch, instead passing on to the next king or queen unless the sovereign is advised otherwise by the relevant ministers of the Crown. 

Crown Land provides the country and the provinces with the majority of their profits from natural resources, largely but not exclusively provincial, rented for logging and mineral exploration rights; revenues flow to the relevant government and may constitute a major income stream, such as in Alberta. Crown Land may also be rented by individuals wishing to build homes or cottages.

So only 11% of the land in Canada is privately owned.

Total area of Canada: 2,467 million acres Of this area 2,247 million acres is land and 220 million acres are fresh water. The Europa World Yearbook 2004 describes Canada’s land area as the second largest in the world, after Russia.

The ownership factor is 1. The Queen is the sole legal owner of all the land of Canada. The private “holdership” factor, based on freehold tenure of housing is 67%. For all other land it is less than 9.7%, with over 90% of Canadian land remaining as Crown leasehold, administered for the Crown by various agencies and departments of the government of Canada

All physical land in Canada is the property of the Crown, Queen Elisabeth 11. There is no provision in the Canada Act, or in the Constitution Act 1982 which amends it, for any Canadian to own any physical land in Canada. All that Canadians may hold, in conformity with medieval and feudal law, is “an interest in an estate in land in fee simple”. Land defined as ‘Crown land’ in Canada, and administered by the Federal Government and the Provinces, is merely land not ‘dedicated’ or assigned in freehold tenure. Freehold is tenure, not ownership. Freehold land is ‘held’ not ‘owned’.

Principal uses of land in Canada:

National Parks

There are 43 National Parks in Canada, which cover a total of 55,465,548 acres, or 2.2% of the total area of Canada.

Agriculture

Farms cover a total of 166,798,546 acres in Canada. There are a total of 246,923 farms, with an average size of 674.5 acres. 235,131 farms covering a total of 62,359,984 acres are privately held. The remainder, covering 104,438,561acres, are rented or leased from others.

Private homes

There are a total of 11,562,975 dwellings in Canada. Of these, 7,417,525 are held in freehold tenure by the resident homeowner. 64% of Canadians hold their own home. Mining

Mining companies operate in all Canadian provinces. The main minerals mined are gold, copper, zinc, lead, coal, oil and natural gas. Most mining land is leased, on Crown leases.

Forestry

Forest and All Other Wooded Land in Canada

Provincial Portion by Province:

Province	Forest Land Owned by Each Province in acres
Newfoundland/Labrador	48,967,807
Prince Edward Island	56,833
Nova Scotia	3,148,054
New Brunswick	7,373,464
Quebec	185,092,726
Ontario	153,412,035
Manitoba	84,681,170
Saskatchewan	53,936,988
Alberta	80,386,572
British Columbia	152,300,085
Yukon	55,782,825
Northwest Territories	79,996,154
Nunavut	2,320,269

Private land (Total/Industrial, Nonindustrial)

Total	Privately held Land in acres
	Industrial	Nonindustrial	Other	Total
Newfoundland/Labrador	165,557	0	217,448	383,005
Prince Edward Island	0	0	610,337	610,337
Nova Scotia	2,293,088	5,011,188		7,304,276
New Brunswick	3,170,293	4,462,626	0	7,632,919
Quebec	2,720,571	20,165,831	2,471	22,870,873
Ontario	1,564,143	11,836,090	155,673	13,555,906
Manitoba	0	2,456,174	271,810	2,727,984
Saskatchewan	0	0	3,644,725	3,644,725
Alberta	0	2,641,499	37,065	2,678,564
British Columbia	0	4,398,380	0	4,398,380
Yukon	0	0	0	0
Northwest Territories	0	0	0	0
Nunavut	0	0	0	0

Forest companies often manage forests and engage in logging activities in a partnership with the government, rather than holding forest land in Canada. The government, or the public, actually holds the forest and simply leases it to various companies who do the logging and management in many cases.

Forest companies hold just over 1.5% of Canada’s wooded land.

The majority of Canada’s forest land, about 94%, is government owned and managed by provincial, territorial and federal governments. Only 6% of Canada’s forest lands is privately owned.

Prices go up when is scarcity of resource so when the land owned by the population is small people pay higher price for the land that is "held an interest in an estate in land in fee simple" not owned.

So in Ontario there are only 11,836,090 acres of non industrial land at a population of 13.6 million people so less than one acre per person is left per person.

Property purchased through freehold tenure may come with obligations imposed by governing bodies. Property taxes and maintenance and zoning costs may be the responsibility of the owner. The rights and obligations attached to the freehold tenure pass to the heirs of the owner upon death.

A transaction in which property is leased for use by one party with specified limitations on its use is a leasehold tenure. Leasehold tenure properties remain under the ownership of the original owner but allow the leaseholder certain rights pertaining to the property. Most leasehold tenure transactions have a specified expiration date upon which all rights to the property transfer back to the original owner. Leasehold tenure transactions may impose certain obligations on the leaseholder as specified under the contract.