Supreme Court of Canada rules against Catalyst Paper in its appeal over property taxes assessed by North Cowichan, British Columbia, on the papermaker's newsprint and directory paper mill in Crofton, British Columbia

Sandy Yang

LOS ANGELES , January 20, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) –

In a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada, Catalyst Paper Corp. lost its more than two-year battle against local property taxes assessed on its newsprint and directory papers mill in Crofton, British Columbia, reported The Canadian Press (CP) on Jan. 20.

The court dismissed the Richmond, British Columbia-based papermaker’s appeal and sided with the district of North Cowichan on Vancouver Island.

In a 7-0 decision, the court rejected the Catalyst Paper’s argument that its taxes were excessive because they bore no connection to the municipal services its mill in Crofton actually received.

In the ruling, the court stated that the district’s tax bylaw was not unreasonable as jurisdictions can assess different tax rates for different types of property, the CP reported.

The tax dispute between Catalyst and North Cowichan began in 2009.

The first case was pled to the British Columbia Supreme Court, which ruled in the district’s favor, according to the News Leader Pictorial Oct. 19 report, which was carried on IndustryIntel.com the same day.

A subsequent appeal by Catalyst was heard by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which also ruled against Catalyst Paper. This led the company to take its case to the nation’s highest court, according to the same article.

Catalyst Paper is currently in the process of debt restructuring.

The Crofton mill is integrated and has an annual production of 291,000 tonnes of newsprint, 145,000 tonnes of directory paper and 310,000 tonnes of northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp, according to the company’s website.

The primary source of this article is The Canadian Press, Toronto, Ontario, on Jan. 20, 2012.
 

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.