City takes issue with Ottawa’s tactics in PILT fight

Cold Lake, AB – Cold Lake City Council voted unanimously to formally raise concerns with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) that his ministry, and the Department of Justice Canada, seemingly used misleading information in its Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) arguments to improperly influence decision makers.

Cypress County recently notified the City of Cold Lake that information presented by PSPC to the PILT Dispute Advisory Panel, and then again to the Federal Court of Appeal, was false. It is also the City’s view that PSPC has demonstrated that it was aware the information it presented was misleading as it has attempted to alter its processes and approach after the fact to make them appear consistent with the information they had originally provided.

On multiple occasions throughout its protracted PILT dispute with the Federal Government, the City of Cold Lake has faced unreasonable decisions, as confirmed by the courts. These have cast serious doubt on PSPC’s integrity and brought into question the motivation behind its staff's questionable actions.

The City of Cold Lake was frustrated to discover that the evidence submitted through official quasi-judicial and judicial channels, under oath, ultimately lacked any basis in fact.

Meanwhile, taxpayers in the City of Cold Lake have suffered negative financial consequences. A dangerous precedent is also being established which threatens to adversely impact every municipality across Canada that has federal property within its jurisdiction.

“The Government of Canada appears to be handling this issue by throwing money at lawyers and bogging us down in the legal system,” Mayor Bob Mattice said. “They have done a great job of turning the legal process into a punishment. What they seem unable to do, however, is make a strong argument in court, or base what arguments they have made on factual information. There is an uncomfortable feeling that the Federal Government feels it can continue its efforts to bury us in legal proceedings indefinitely.”

Cypress County confirmed in a letter that evidence used by PSPC and Justice Canada regarding the assessment process applied to CFB Suffield is not based in fact. The evidence described an assessment process whereby large, unserviced lands were used as comparables to establish the value of CFB Suffield. It also stated that a downward adjustment for existing infrastructure was applied to SFB Suffield when calculating assessment. The County, however, disputes that this has ever been the case.

This evidence, as entered by PSPC and Justice Canada, suggested that Cold Lake is an anomaly in the approach taken to assess the value of CFB Cold Lake. Cypress County’s approach, however, confirms that the process used in Cold Lake has always been consistent with the approach used to establish assessments for federal properties in other municipalities in Alberta. It is also consistent with all legislated requirements.

Interestingly, PSPC has recently informed Cypress County that it will begin the use of large, unserviced lands as comparables for CFB Suffield’s assessment evaluation, along with a downward adjustment to account for existing infrastructure. This recent notice is all the more interesting given that PSPC had argued that this approach was already used in Cypress Country for the assessment of CFB Suffield. Cypress County went on to advise that, to the best of its knowledge, this is the first time this approach will be used to assess CFB Suffield, and that the County has not consented to this change in assessment approach.

There is a sense of uncertainty surrounding the actions of the Government of Canada: It is unclear if the government is exclusively targeting Alberta municipalities in its efforts to minimize its PILT payments for municipal services, or if the government intends to apply these new assessment methods to municipalities across the country.

“As this dispute continues, the government’s actions feel increasingly underhanded, but our principals dictate that we continue this fight,” Mattice said. “We cannot sit and watch while the federal government treats its own taxpayers this way. It is squandering its own people’s money fighting to prevent paying them for services when, in reality, all the government has to do is pass legislation to change its own rules – the very rules it is breaking. This is about more than money: This is about how we expect our own government to treat its own citizens and taxpayers.”

Represented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), several Canadian municipalities have expressed serious concerns regarding the Federal Government's recent actions in Cold Lake concerning the PILT Act.

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