Thank you.
I appreciate that in my comments there's a crossover between the provincial mandate and the federal mandate, but I thought it important to deliver the whole message of the challenges that a small municipality sees in the face of a large port. I really need to preface this by saying that we're very thankful for that large part. We embrace the development and we encourage more. One of the advantages of Prince Rupert is that we're not congested and there's opportunity to grow. I want to come out strongly on that side.
The PILT system, or payments in lieu of taxes system, is one of those friction points wherein the port of Prince Rupert and the City of Prince Rupert are locked in an adversarial system. The port is arguing it's their fiduciary responsibility to pay as little tax as possible and that to fail to argue those taxes down would be a breach of their duty, and the city is saying it just needs predictable long-term cash flow so that it can borrow to do the work it needs to do within the municipality. I think both parties suffer in that relationship. It's unfortunate, and what happens is that as you go back and forth through the process, there's a whipsawing effect. It gets argued way up and it gets argued way down, and neither party can predict where it's going.
I don't know what's required on the inside of the port and its mandate. It would be nice to have a system that's far more collegial and negotiated to say, “This is what we can afford to contribute and this is what the city needs to move forward.” It's one in which both parties come together rather than being adversaries in a court system that is costing both parties a lot of money. It's a friction point that really shouldn't be there.