By J. Bradford Nixon Walker Poole Nixon LLP Re: February 21, 2013 – First pre-budget consultation held by the new Minister of Finance, Charles Souza. I appeared in my capacity as President of the Canadian Property Taxpayers Association: “The Canadian Property Taxpayers Association offers you congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Finance. The [...] Read more »
Kitchener Frame Ltd. v. City of Kitchener: Who Framed Who?
By: J. Bradford Nixon, Walker Poole Nixon LLP This application for a vacancy tax rebate was heard by the Assessment Review Board on July 22, 2011. Kitchener Frame sought vacant unit rebates under section 364 of the Municipal Act, 2001 in respect of vacant areas in the building. The Board rejected the application stating “the evidence indicates that the [...] Read more »
Supreme Court of Canada Confirms Reasonableness Standard of Review of Administrative Tribunal Interpretations of Home Statutes
Submitted By: J. Bradford Nixon The latest ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada on standard of review of administrative tribunals is Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v. Alberta Teachers’ Association, 2011 SCC 61. The majority of the Supreme Court confirmed that deference to the tribunal will usually result where the tribunal is interpreting its own statute [...] Read more »
To MAF or Not to MAF: That Is The Question!
Steelcare Inc. v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation By: J. Bradford Nixon, Walker Poole Nixon LLP Steelcare was a long-term tenant of a portion of rail lands in the City of Hamilton owned by Canadian Pacific Railway (“CPR”). On the 14.4 acres which it leased from CPR, Steelcare constructed a 167,000 square foot single storey industrial warehouse with [...] Read more »
Ebrahim v. Continental Precious Minerals Inc., 2012 ONSC 2918
The Decision of the Superior Court of Justice in Ebrahim v. Continental Precious Minerals Inc., 2012 ONSC 2918, released May 22, 2012 adds to the jurisprudence regarding the role of expert witnesses and the admission of expert testimony. This was litigation arising from dissident shareholders seeking an oppression remedy from actions of the corporation, which relief [...] Read more »
Is the Law a Donkey?
J. Bradford Nixon This is a note about two legal decisions regarding retroactive assessments by MPAC. The two are a recent decision of the ARB (Martino v. MPAC, R. 13, 2012 CarswellOnt 4213), regarding omitted assessments, and an older decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Ontrea Inc. v. MPAC, 2008 CarswellOnt 6721, 51 [...] Read more »
Confusion in Ontario
By David G. Fleet The subtle intricacies of assessment and taxation legislation in Ontario often lead to parties and decision-makers confusing themselves. Two recent cases provide examples. Ashforth v. MPAC Ashforth v. Municipal Property Assessment Corp., Region No. 17, 2011 CarswellOnt 2136 (ARB) rendered March 23, 2011 concerns the jurisdiction of the Assessment Review Board [...] Read more »
Kitchener Frame Limited v. City of Kitchener, (2011) Assessment Review Board, unpublished WR111015
In the recent case of Kitchener Frame Limited, the Assessment Review Board (“Board”) again considered the question of what constitutes a “use” with respect to a vacant unit application under s.364 of the Municipal Act, 2001 (“Act”). The property located at 1011 Homer Watson Boulevard in Kitchener (“Subject Property”) was constructed as a sport utility [...] Read more »
New Supreme Court Justices to be Appointed
Karakatsanis and Moldaver are set to be named as the next Ontario Appointees to the top court. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/10/17/pol-scoc-appointments.html Read more »
Domtar v. MPAC (ELK LAKE)
Recently, the Assessment Review Board began a hearing in the above referenced matter with a determination that there was an appearance of bias among all of the parties major expert witnesses. The Board determined that the experts involved would not be qualified as experts. The decision was made prior to the hearing of any evidence [...] Read more »