Port Alberni suing Catalyst Paper for unpaid taxes
Port Alberni suing Catalyst Paper for unpaid taxes
With the dawn of the new year came another skirmish in the B.C. tax revolt. The City of Port Alberni is taking court action against Catalyst Paper to force the company to pay its municipal taxes. Catalyst withheld its taxes in 2009, and challenged Port Alberni and three other municipalities in court last year, claiming their tax rates were unjust. The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in all four cases in favour of the cities.
Catalyst is reported to be appealing the decisions, but in the meantime, interest is accumulating on the unpaid balances, and Port Alberni has gone one step further. The city is suing Catalyst Paper to collect $3.3 million in back taxes plus 20% in late penalties, The Daily News of Nanaimo, B.C. reported January 7.
Court upholds TimberWest’s petition against Campbell River’s tax rate
TimberWest’s petition to the B.C. Supreme Court to set aside the City of Campbell River’s 2009 tax rates bylaw as it applies to managed forest land has succeeded. In the Reasons for Judgment handed down on Dec. 31, Madam Justice Gerow declared that the sum of $1,211,639 was unlawfully levied by the City on TimberWest. The portions of the bylaw affecting TimberWest’s managed forest lands and the related property tax notices have been set aside.
TimberWest is one of several B.C. forest products companies to revolt against property taxes in 2009, either by challenging the tax rates in court, or withholding taxes, or both.
Newfoundland won’t pursue legal action against AbitibiBowater
Newfoundland’s Justice Minister Felix Collins told the province’s members of parliament that the province has backed away from court action against AbitibiBowater, the Telegram newspaper reported in early December.
The province was looking to recoup what it has paid as severance to laid-off workers after AbibitiBowater shuttered its mill in Grand Falls-Windsor in the spring of 2009.
Lockout over at Tembec Pine Falls; mill remains idle
Although the Manitoba Labour Board put an end to the employee lockout at Tembec’s Pine Falls newsprint mill, employees will not be returning to work. Tembec announced in December that the mill is up for sale, and it will remain idle until it is sold.
The board’s decision ended a four- and-a-half-month lockout involving more than 250 employees. The Winnipeg Free Press reports that the decision will likely prompt the company to issue layoff notices, which will let workers apply for employment insurance benefits.
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