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APRIL 14, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 45
Mines minister: KGHM Ajax is ‘shell shocked’ CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
KGHM Ajax is “shell shocked” by the scrutiny and opposition it has met in Kamloops, according to the province’s minister of energy and mines. Bill Bennett made an appearance Tuesday at the annual Kamloops Exploration Group convention, where he was scheduled to give a speech telling miners good times, propelled by the China story, are around the corner. In an interview earlier, he told KTW he reads every newspaper story, listens to radio and watches TV news reports regarding Ajax. “I read everything you guys write,” he said. Bennett is one of two provincial cabinet ministers who will make the decision whether to approve the project. That will be based on the report compiled by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office. The federal government makes its decision independently. “The company is almost shell shocked, it seems to me,” he said. That comes from opposition that Bennett said, in his experience, tends to build as projects become more advanced. Earlier this month, the company pulled out of talks with the city regarding a community benefit agreement, complaining of unfair treatment. This week, KGHM Ajax and the city held a press conference to announce the two sides are again talking, this time about impacts the mine may have on the community. The company has also been met by unfavourable reports from independent scientists and government officials, particularly over its air-quality predictions for the proposed mine. “I told a company official an hour ago that’s a good thing,” Bennett said, calling it
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“an extremely difficult process.” Bennett said the federal-provincial comprehensive environmental assessment is intended to be exhaustive. “There are people with legitimate concerns who will hold their feet to the fire . . . That’s what government wants.” The B.C. Liberal government also wants to see more metals and coal mines open in this province. In 2011, Premier Christy Clark came to the city to pledge that eight new mines would be built within five years. Since that time, five mines opened — including New Afton in Kamloops — while another opened and then closed. Two more in northern B.C. are scheduled to start operation by 2017. Bennett said his message to B.C.’s mining community is the province has a stable political climate, low taxes and streamlined, but tough, regulations ready for when commodity prices inevitably recover. That will be driven by continued growth in China and demand for electric cars, for example, that require twice as much copper as conventional automobiles.
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More from Bill Bennett and the KEG conference on A12.
KTW FILE PHOTO
Heavy-industry companies Domtar (above), Tolko and Lafarge are getting a $550,000 property-tax break — which means a tax hike for Kamloops homeowners.
ADD $58 TO YOUR TAX BILL ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Heavy industry in Kamloops will get a $550,000 tax cut in 2016. At a budget meeting on Tuesday morning, city council voted to shift some of the city’s property-tax burden from Domtar, Lafarge and Tolko and onto residential ratepayers. The shift, coupled with other increases this year, will hike the tax bill for the average homeowner by $58 on a house worth $351,000.
Heavy industries in the city have complained for years their tax rate is far too high compared to other communities in the province. While the city has frozen the mill rate (the amount of money per $1,000 of assessed property) paid by the three companies for several years, it is still above the provincial average. With Tuesday’s cut, heavyindustrial ratepayers will pay $74 per $1,000 of assessed value. Finance director Kathy Humphrey told council the community with the next-
highest rate in the province charges industries $53 per $1,000 of assessed value. The question of who should bear the brunt of the tax shift dominated council’s debate, with some councillors pushing for other businesses to carry some of the load. Coun. Donovan Cavers suggested the city look to light industry for more money, arguing residents should have their taxes increased by no more than three per cent a year. See 5-3 VOTE, A13
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