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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 10
Flap over LNG tax cap The provincial government will contemplate giving a limit to municipalities on how much they can tax liquefied natural gas projects. It’s a move that may make projects more competitive but has local politicians speaking out. The idea was floated by Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman in an interview with the Globe and Mail. The Sentinel has contacted his office for comment but have not heard from him by press time. There were few details on how such a tax cap would work, including whether it’s for the entirety of the Class 4 (heavy industry) tax category or just for LNG projects themselves. But the District of Kitimat Treasurer Steve Christiansen explained that a tax cap would, in time, shift municipal expenses on to residents. “It is fair to say that a cap on Class 4 taxes would, in Kitimat and other communities with Class 4 holders, likely result in a large shift of property tax burden to other tax classes, most to Class 1 — residential — and Class 6 — business,” he said through e-mail. He added, “There would also be a concurrent reduction in municipal non-core services, most likely in recreation, culture, beautification, snowclearing, and a general lowering of maintenance.” However, such a reduction would not be immediate. He said that Class 4 properties begin with a high assessment, so the tax rate for them is kept lower, and raised over time to maintain the same level of taxation as they depreciate in value. “Once the tax rates climb high enough to hit an arbitrary provincial cap, then the tax shift to the residential and business classes begins. Because we have a new asset with the rebuilt smelter, it may be some years before we reach this situation, depending on how low the cap is,” he said. Of course the impact province-wide won’t be equal. Christiansen notes that some towns won’t have the heavy industry that they already rely on, while others will see drastic shifts, such as those with full depreciated pulp mills as an example. Mayor Joanne Monaghan remembers past fights to stop taxation caps for industry and is not left pleased with talks of bringing it back again. She points to the swimming pool, ice rinks, and the library, among the services the town offers to make this an attractive community for workers. She sees tax caps as the province’s way to take more money out of the community. “For our bridge, for instance, we’ve actually had to turn some of the equipment away for the modernization on the trucks because they were too heavy for the bridge,” she said. “Does that make sense to you? And now they want to take some money away from us. Am I happy? No.” Continued on page 8
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
The band Les Copains du Nord perform at the Saturday brunch on February 22 of AFFNO’s Return of Winterfest celebration. The winter celebration returned after a few years hiatus, but the Association des francophones et francophiles du Nord-Ouest welcomed it back over three days this year. More pictures on page 6.
DCW hosts plebiscite meeting Cameron Orr Approximately two dozen people attended Douglas Channel Watch’s meeting last Wednesday, set to educate people on the 209 conditions on the Northern Gateway Pipelines project. Or more specifically the 209 conditions as laid out by the Joint Review Panel for the proposed project. DCW opted to host the community meeting in order to set a base of understanding ahead of a plebsicite in Kitimat which asks residents what their opinion is of the JRP’s conditions, and whether people are in favour or against them. Cheryl Brown, Murray Minchin and Dave Shannon each gave their perspectives on the conditions at the evening meeting, from an overview of the JRP report, to specific comments on their feelings on the report. Organizers didn’t hide their distaste
“Even though there are 209 conditions, some of them are really flacid, there’s no real stringent ones.” for the plebiscite question itself, but did encourage people to vote on it regardless. “The way I’ve been looking at it, it’s been written on smoke and deposited on mirrors, because even though there are 209 conditions, some of them are really flacid, there’s no real stringent ones, but they can change them at a whim at any time,” said Murray Minchin ahead of the meeting. He refers in particular to the first condition, which states: Northern Gateway must comply with all of the certificate conditions, unless the NEB other-
wise directs. That clause at the end worries him that the conditions aren’t firm, so why should the community vote on it. “So as a community we’re voting on something that is of no consequence. It won’t exist in its present format that we’re voting on in the future, so why even vote on it?” He calls it unreasonable that the average Kitimatian should have to vote on the 209 conditions rather than a more concise question on whether people want the project or not to be built here. “The question is absolutely unreasonable because even Enbridge didn’t understand the conditions and would have to step back and consider them awhile, so how can you expect anybody who hasn’t gone over all the conditions to actually vote on them?” asked Minchin. Continued on page 11
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Planning for Relay for Life ... page 10