Doug Cuthand: Ontario tax grab behind Attawapiskat's woes

HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"

NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)

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fahrenheit451

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Doug Cuthand: Ontario tax grab behind Attawapiskat's woes

posted on Apr 22, 2016 10:29AM

Things could have been different at Attawapiskat. According to Gallagher, the De Beers company and the chief and council in Attawapiskat had worked out an agreement in 2007, based on the provincial tax rebate of five per cent as a northern mine and the fact that Ontario agreed to a 10-per-cent tax on diamond production. This allowed De Beers and the First Nation to negotiate an Impact Benefits Agreement (IBA).

However, a change to the provincial budget saw De Beers lose its remote mine status, and the tax on diamonds raised to 13 per cent. Less profit for the company meant fewer funds to be shared under the IBA. In effect, the provincial government’s tax grab pulled the rug out from the IBA, which dearly cost the people of Attawapiskat.

As Gallagher wrote: “Critically needed economic development money was being siphoned off in a last minute tax reversal.”

The tax grab by the Dalton McGuinty government set back all the resource projects in the Ring of Fire area and created the climate of distrust between the First Nations and the province. So when the media lament the missing economy in Attawapiskat, they don’t have to look further than to Queen’s Park.