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Campbellford - CAFTA rally takes on MPAC at council
by Brian Schuette
10.13.05

If it wasn't for the angry voices chanting "MPAC's outta whack!", you might have mistaken the noise for a Stanley Cup victory celebration. Passing cars honked their horns, adding to the cacophony of banging metal, shrill whistles blowing, bull horns blasting through opened council doors, bells ringing, and crowds banging on the chamber windows. This was no celebration, however, as outraged taxpayers marched on Trent Hills council chambers to let the assembled representatives of Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) inside know their feelings about recent property assessment hikes. The frustration outside was palpable as marchers angrily sought to find some way of getting through to the McGuinty government that they're not going to take this erosion of their financial security lying down. Homes are being lost and families displaced as a direct result of MPAC's system of assessing property on its sale value, rather than finding a way to set tax rates on a system that people can afford without duress and hardship.

Protest organizer and founder of Canadian Advocates for Tax Awareness (CAFTA), Paul Hazell said before MPAC's presentation, "We have to send a message back to Queen's Park that Canadians are not going to take it any more. If McGuinty has any measure of decency in him, he will call for the conference we've been asking for so that we can sit down and finally get this thing ironed out." He cited examples of people being forced out of their homes and cottages, some in the families for decades, because MPAC won't listen to the people. According to him, one woman in Green Acres earning minimum wage contacted CAFTA when she saw her house assessment rise 50 per cent. Hazell says many are seeing increases of 25 per cent or more and it's crippling their finances and future security.
People attending the rally came from communities all across the region, from Belleville to Port Hope, from Tweed to Peterborough, and as far away as Orangeville. More than 200 angry demonstrators came to voice their opinions to MPAC, only to be stymied by council procedure. An hour into the council session, MPAC's reps for Customer Relations, Chris Burden and Heather Colquhoun, took the floor. Mayor Hector Macmillan opened their presentation by advising the protesters both inside the council chambers and out that they would not be allowed to ask questions of the reps nor comment during the proceedings as they were "not on the agenda." He threatened to halt the meeting if protesters disturbed it and wouldn't resume until they stopped. Those in the room hooted and laughed at the announcement as their compadres outside kicked their noise up a few notches. Surprisingly things settled down and they held their disappointment in check for several minutes at the news. Macmillan advised everyone that he would invite MPAC to return to a public forum in the near future where questions and comments would be allowed. A larger venue will be used for that meeting.

On hand for live coverage was CKOL's Dave Lockwood. Protesters outside listened to the MPAC presentation over their car radios, and after about 20 minutes they began shouting into the meeting that MPAC wasn't giving them any information they hadn't already heard before. They banged on windows again, and threw the doors to the chambers open and began chanting loudly, drowning out Colquhoun's presentation. The mayor stepped into the doorway and spoke to them over the radio. "I want to hear the rest of what MPAC has to say," he told them, "and at that time you will hear what council has to say." He then threatened the crowd saying, "If I do not get the opportunity to continue with this meeting, I will call the police." The protesters responded by booing and taunting him to go ahead, saying the holding cells weren't big enough. "Try me," the mayor responded.

Things settled down a bit and after the presentation ended, council put their questions to MPAC. The mayor said he had a number of concerns, and explained that he agreed in large part with CAFTA's views. He said he found Current Value Assessment unfair to taxpayers, and asked the reps, "What does council do to help these people that are obviously upset with their new assessment?" Colquhoun's response was, "MPAC's not really in a position to tell you how or what to do with regards to setting your [municipal] tax rate. Unfortunately, I can't help you on that."
Following the meeting, outside protester Everette Steele said he opposed CVA and felt assessments should not be tied in with the real estate market, which is so inflationary. He added that Lou Rinaldi "should be the person that is doing this. He should be considering people's concerns. They're really concerned, and you should be able to turn to your provincial member for help. He should take this to the government. The people need his help, and there's a growing concern all across Ontario over the outrage that is happening."

Paul Hazell also provided a wrapup of his impressions of the meeting. "It was the standard approach by MPAC. They're really not concerned about what' s going on with the property owners who are at the point where they can't afford to pay their taxes anymore. It's a system that has to be changed. It's going to take a lot of protesting by taxpayers to get the government to listen to people. They know there's a problem there but the bureaucracy doesn't want to change things. They've really got a good thing going for themselves."