My partner and I attended an event at Dwight Hall the other night. It is an amazing hall, built by the mill.
While talking to a longtime resident we were reminded of how community-minded the original owners of the mill were. Of course, the conversation inevitably turned to a comparison to the current mill owners who are still enjoying the large tax break they demanded in 2009.
Read a recent article in the Peak [“Catalyst optimistic about future,” April 19] and you might forget there had ever been any controversy surrounding the tax break. The tone suggests Catalyst was given relief by generous Powell River residents.
In the article, Catalyst general manager Fred Chinn said the company appreciates the support the community has given the company through the relief over the years.
It all sounds very amicable until you take a short trip down memory lane. On June 30, 2009, the last day Catalyst could pay its taxes to City of Powell River that year, the company presented a cheque for $1.5 million instead of the $4.6 million it owed. That was all Catalyst was going to pay, period.
In January that year, Kevin Clarke, Catalyst CEO at the time, threatened Powell River and three other coastal communities: North Cowichan, Port Alberni and Campbell River. If they did not give in to his bullying tactics he might just close one of the mills.
The four communities were owed $22 million. Catalyst refused to pay any more than $6 million, $1.5 million for each. But that is where the similarity ended.
City of Powell River council at the time almost immediately caved and we all took a $3-million hit. Port Alberni and North Cowichan rejected the ultimatum and demanded full payment. Catalyst then sued North Cowichan all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled unanimously against the company in January 2012.
But Powell River continued with the tax break, increasing taxes for everyone else to make up the difference.
City council should have known better. All it had to do was examine the so-called tax burden Catalyst was complaining about. Municipal taxes represented just 0.6 of 1 per cent of Catalyst’s total operating costs.
In other words, cutting the company’s taxes has had virtually no impact on its bottom line. Here’s an analogy: a family member comes to you saying they need $1,000 to pay rent. If you offer them $6 you would be helping them exactly as much as the tax break helped Catalyst.
Ironically, Chinn provided compelling evidence that the current tax break (council increased Catalyst’s taxes to $2.75 million in 2014) contributes very little to its bottom line. He admitted that between 2014 and 2016, Catalyst’s Powell River operation reduced costs by $34 million.
In the same article Chinn said, “We look forward to the day when we can happily be paying the tax rate, whatever it is, to support the community.”
If Catalyst was a truly responsible corporate citizen it would take money from that cost reduction and pay its full share of taxes now. If it does not do so voluntarily then city council should oblige it to this fall when the tax cut comes up for renewal.
Murray Dobbin is a Powell River freelance writer and social commentator.
