Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 28th, 2009

[Martin Egan]

Again, it's site specific. If there are children going to the school, then there would have to be some kind of tuition agreement.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

No, I understand. I'm talking about taxes now, property taxes.

[Martin Egan]

Property taxes would cease, as we know them.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Interesting. What about businesses that are on the property? Are they subjected to taxes?

[Martin Egan]

The first nation would have the ability to put a tax bylaw in place so that it would be--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

But are they subjected to federal and provincial taxes?

[Martin Egan]

Again, it's a site-specific situation. If it's a first nations person, some tax exemptions would potentially come into play, but businesses in general would have to pay taxes.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Could it be conceivable that in a municipality--whichever, Calgary or Ottawa, for that matter--a piece of land becomes part of a reserve, and businesses or an office building locate on that property. Is it subjected? The business owns that, whether it's aboriginal or not. What is the tax treatment of that business?

[Sara Filbee]

We're not absolutely sure, so if you don't mind, we'll get a written response to your question with respect to the actual tax treatment. We can guess, but I'd much prefer to get back to you with accurate--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

That's good. Not guessing is good, thank you.

Do I have some time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

You're still good for another minute, Mr. Bélanger. How about that?

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Wow, a minute. I won't even get time to ask my question, so I'll save it for the next round.

One minute is an eternity.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

All right.

Now we'll go to Mr. Albrecht for all of five minutes.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to follow up in that same vein.

In the statement talking about the municipal governments, I think when you were explaining it in response to a previous question, you said that Saskatchewan has a 21 times--

[A witness]

It's 22.5.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

So will you explain that again to me? Saskatchewan has 22.5 and Manitoba has 5 what, and for how long?

[Martin Egan]

If a first nation chooses land in a rural municipality in Saskatchewan, under the Saskatchewan framework agreement there is a pot of money that the municipal government would then be reimbursed or compensated for out of that pot. If the annual tax bill was $1,000, they would get 22.5 times that as a one-time payment.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

One time, so it's not each year.

[Martin Egan]

No, and in Manitoba it would be five, so you can see there's an incentive for the municipal governments to play ball a little bit more in Saskatchewan than--

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Then in terms of ongoing services that are supplied, that would be done on an arrangement--

[Martin Egan]

On a fee for service.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

--between the first nations people and the municipal government.

[Paul Fauteux]

And that's ongoing.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

So it's like taxes, but it's an agreed-upon, negotiated fee for the services that are provided. Is that accurate?

[Martin Egan]

Yes, it is.