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Bravo to vanguard cottagers

John Barber

July 26, 2007

The old cottage-country grapevine ain't what it used to be, having been superseded by new technology consisting of sealed plastic baggies push-pinned to the dock, with all the latest news and notices folded neatly inside. But it works when it has to - especially now, with the baggies emitting a clarion call to resist the massive property tax hikes Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara is planning.

Do you think the minister is worried about the barking-dog threats made by the bold deferrers of Toronto council as he sits on his dock, sipping the last of the marvellous Chablis he will enjoy before his own bugle sounds and the gruelling election campaign begins? Nonsense. He's tuning in the cottage-country grapevine, eager to know what his most influential and potentially dangerous opponents are up to now.

They didn't enjoy such influence when they were "just cottagers" complaining about the inequitable distribution of property taxes in their rural townships.

But when they metamorphosed into the Coalition After Property Tax Reform, embracing groups from city and town suffering the same punishment, they admirably focused attention on a grievance successive governments have ignored.

Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak was first to respond, tabling a private member's bill built on CAPTR's key demand: a 5-per-cent limit on the permitted increase in the annually assessed value of any property, regardless of market values. The NDP followed suit with a similar scheme to cap runaway assessments, the Hudak cap became Tory party policy, and a panicky McGuinty government postponed the latest reassessment until after the election.

Suddenly, CAPTR was in demand at Queen's Park. But the bubble burst when Mr. Sorbara rose in the legislature last spring to introduce a new budget that specifically ruled out assessment caps, which the minister characterized as a gift from struggling Rexdale to wealthy Rosedale, opting instead for a tweaked status quo.

With that, winning reform meant defeating the government - a task made more difficult by the same government's cleverly scheduled, temporary freeze, with its welcome, although potentially anodyne, effects.

But the struggle's not over. The baggies are flowing as innumerable cottagers' associations prepare for their annual meetings. Our own group promises CAPTR chairman Bob Topp at the local marina next weekend, to explain why Mr. Sorbara's tweaks fail to address the group's central grievance. Cottage Life magazine has produced a handy chart in which CAPTR outlines and grades each party's property tax policy.

As they demonstrated last year, summer cottagers are the influential vanguard of a far greater army of equally aggrieved property owners - and not, contrary to ministerial quips, just the wealthy. The largest cohort includes those who live in the central areas of the biggest cities, especially Toronto.

CAPTR's latest nugget is a compelling refutation of that charge, using data purchased from the same government agency now implementing Liberal policy. It shows that 80 per cent of all residential properties that would benefit most from assessment caps - because their assessments are increasing faster than the average amount in their municipalities - are worth less than $300,000.

The actual rich would enjoy little benefit from assessment capping, according to the data. Real-world data show that caps help the little guy. Suspecting the minister was blowing smoke with his Rexdale-to-Rosedale remarks, CAPTR fed $1,000 into his own assessment machine and proved he was.

Bravo, cottagers. We all rely on your leadership.

Source: globeandmail.com

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