NEXT TAX THE CHURCHES
Bryn Levy - Star Phoenix - TODAY
Ailsa Watkinson presents to city council's finance committee, calling for conditions on organizations that receive property tax exemptions.
Bryn Levy - Star Phoenix - TODAY
Ailsa Watkinson presents to city council's finance committee, calling for conditions on organizations that receive property tax exemptions.
(Saskatoon StarPhoenix / Michelle Berg)
Ailsa Watkinson said she left Saskatoon’s City Hall building hopeful there will eventually be a provincial conversation about the public money that flows to religious institutions.
“It needs to be looked into, and I think we need to have some say,” Watkinson said after delivering a presentation to a meeting of city council’s finance committee.
Watkinson, a retired University of Regina professor, came with a request that council find a way to set conditions on the property tax exemptions commonly given to groups like churches, schools and charitable agencies.
She called for council to follow “the spirit and intent” of a recently passed bylaw in Iqaluit, which requires institutions to apply for tax breaks, and then prove they operate for the common good in a way that aligns with the city’s long-term plans.
Watkinson said she’d like to see a Saskatoon version include language tying tax breaks to support for the rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.
She pointed to recent controversy surrounding Saskatoon’s Mile Two Church and its affiliated Legacy Christian Academy as reasons for more scrutiny of the community benefit of tax breaks.
A group of former students have launched a class-action lawsuit naming several former staff and officials from the school and church, and alleging patterns of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. These include instances of children allegedly disciplined by being struck with large, wooden paddles despite a Supreme Court prohibition on corporal punishment in Canadian schools.
Watkinson said she’d like to see an end to the public’s subsidy of this type of alleged behaviour.
“It is crazy that we are funding that kind of thing,” she remarked.
In Saskatchewan, the provincial Cities Act largely governs who gets property tax exemptions. During Monday’s meeting, city chief financial officer Clae Hack noted all but two exemptions on Saskatoon’s property tax rolls are mandated by the Act, and the city has essentially no say in their application.
Watkinson said she was aware of the province’s say on the issue, and she hopes the city will eventually lobby for more discretion to tie conditions to tax breaks. She said she’d also like to see tighter wording around who gets to claim status as a religious organization.
“There’s just no transparency. Who gets to decide? They just call themselves a church?” she said.
Coun. Bev Dubois noted she’s had questions from residents since the allegations surrounding Legacy became public. She moved for city staff to report back in more detail on the concerns Watkinson raised about tax exemptions. Mayor Charlie Clark said he’s also interested in getting “some clarity” on the Cities Act definition of a religious organization.
Dubois’ motion passed unanimously. Coun. Randy Donauer was absent in order to attend to work with the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.
Donauer, a longtime member of Mile Two, has been accused of using a paddle to discipline a child in at least one alleged incident reported to Postmedia . He has denied any wrongdoing, and the allegations against him remain untested in court.
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Ailsa Watkinson said she left Saskatoon’s City Hall building hopeful there will eventually be a provincial conversation about the public money that flows to religious institutions.
“It needs to be looked into, and I think we need to have some say,” Watkinson said after delivering a presentation to a meeting of city council’s finance committee.
Watkinson, a retired University of Regina professor, came with a request that council find a way to set conditions on the property tax exemptions commonly given to groups like churches, schools and charitable agencies.
She called for council to follow “the spirit and intent” of a recently passed bylaw in Iqaluit, which requires institutions to apply for tax breaks, and then prove they operate for the common good in a way that aligns with the city’s long-term plans.
Watkinson said she’d like to see a Saskatoon version include language tying tax breaks to support for the rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.
She pointed to recent controversy surrounding Saskatoon’s Mile Two Church and its affiliated Legacy Christian Academy as reasons for more scrutiny of the community benefit of tax breaks.
A group of former students have launched a class-action lawsuit naming several former staff and officials from the school and church, and alleging patterns of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. These include instances of children allegedly disciplined by being struck with large, wooden paddles despite a Supreme Court prohibition on corporal punishment in Canadian schools.
Watkinson said she’d like to see an end to the public’s subsidy of this type of alleged behaviour.
“It is crazy that we are funding that kind of thing,” she remarked.
In Saskatchewan, the provincial Cities Act largely governs who gets property tax exemptions. During Monday’s meeting, city chief financial officer Clae Hack noted all but two exemptions on Saskatoon’s property tax rolls are mandated by the Act, and the city has essentially no say in their application.
Watkinson said she was aware of the province’s say on the issue, and she hopes the city will eventually lobby for more discretion to tie conditions to tax breaks. She said she’d also like to see tighter wording around who gets to claim status as a religious organization.
“There’s just no transparency. Who gets to decide? They just call themselves a church?” she said.
Coun. Bev Dubois noted she’s had questions from residents since the allegations surrounding Legacy became public. She moved for city staff to report back in more detail on the concerns Watkinson raised about tax exemptions. Mayor Charlie Clark said he’s also interested in getting “some clarity” on the Cities Act definition of a religious organization.
Dubois’ motion passed unanimously. Coun. Randy Donauer was absent in order to attend to work with the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.
Donauer, a longtime member of Mile Two, has been accused of using a paddle to discipline a child in at least one alleged incident reported to Postmedia . He has denied any wrongdoing, and the allegations against him remain untested in court.
Related
Former Christian school students file complaints against Saskatoon city councillor
Murray Mandryk: Duncan's handling of Legacy Christian worst of bad lot
Opinion by Murray Mandryk - Sept 14
Education Minister Dustin Duncan needed to step up when it came to the government's handling of independent schools and Legacy Christian Academy.© Provided by Leader Post
Education Minister Dustin Duncan’s handling of Legacy Christian Academy may be the Saskatchewan Party government’s biggest disappointment this summer, which is saying much.
There’s been all too many government disappointments from which to choose.
The summer began with Premier Scott Moe’s assemblage scouring the province to stir up federal government dissent by holding “ economic sovereignty” meetings. So restrictive is Ottawa’s yoke that Moe was handing out $500 to every Saskatchewan adult.
In between the Ottawa crisis and the cheques, there was that other crisis of federal health inspectors trespassing on farmland (or public ditches) to take samples of pesticide levels.
Alas, such pandering still might not be swaying some rural voters enduring the brunt of health-care delivery through closures of X-ray and emergency services in places like Kamsack.
Meanwhile, signs suggest our health system may continue to buckle under the weight of COVID-19. Currently, all 46 residents of one Regina Extendicare facility have been hit.
In fact, wastewater samples suggest it may be a long winter and fall under a government that vows never to reintroduce restrictive health measures.
As such, Health Minister Paul Merriman, Rural and Remote Health Minister Everett HIndley, Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre and Environment Minister Dana Skoropad have all put in rather disappointing performances this summer, so singling out Duncan may seem a tad unfair.
After all, the problems with Legacy Christian Academy occurred before Duncan’s recent watch as education minister and may go beyond his purview.
As per the reporting of the StarPhoenix’s Zak Vescera, church officials for decades urged congregation members to take out bank loans and sell farmland — $1.3 million in personal loans to support what is now Mile Two Church.
Its pastors received personal gifts, including a Lexus and a $187,000 contribution toward building the then-pastor’s home. But this was not government/taxpayers’ money.
As for the Sask. Party government pumping $4.7 million to the church from 2013 to 2021 to fund Legacy Christian Academy, this was largely before Duncan’s watch as education minister began in November 2020. (But Legacy might have been able to qualify for up to 75 per cent of public students’ funding this year, but the ministry has said it won’t approve an increase pending investigations into the school.)
Similarly, the complaints behind the private lawsuit filed by 30 former Christian Academy students alleging abuse or any findings of the Children’s Advocate also contemplating an investigation may be beyond Duncan’s ministerial scope.
Finally, if there is cabinet blame in this matter, it should likely lie at the feet of Moe, whose immediate response a month ago to calls to freeze funding for the now Legacy Christian Academy was: “ We don’t do that.”
The question now is: “Why the hell not?”
Well, this takes us back to a minister’s role and responsibilities — why Duncan was the summer’s biggest disappointment.
An MLA since he was first elected in 2006 as a 26-year-old, and a cabinet member for the past 13 years, Duncan has long been thought of as one of the brighter cabinet lights; many thought he could be Brad Wall’s successor.
But it didn’t require superior political skills for Duncan to have reacted when the allegations were first raised to him privately months ago.
Surely, Duncan’s interest should have been piqued by stories of potential illegalities like a charitable organization donating to federal and civic politicians — let alone stories the now adult former students are telling of past abuses.
Wouldn’t a minister want to get ahead of these stories?
But this wasn’t about the political gamesmanship we are seeing from other ministers or even the complexities of seemingly unsolvable health problems.
This was about Duncan doing his job, which is to not only protect taxpayers’ money, but, more importantly, the well-being of kids. This is about setting biases and politics aside.
“I don’t know if I really can comment on that,” Duncan recently said, regarding allegations of private schools violating the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. “People have a right to education. People have a right to faith-based education … I can’t say for sure.”
As education minister, Duncan needs to say for sure. This is massively disappointing.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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