Municipalities launching campaign to end property tax subsidy for telecoms

OTTAWA, April 27 /CNW Telbec/ - Representatives from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the City of Vancouver will be at Vancouver City Hall on Thursday morning to launch a new grassroots campaign to protect municipal property taxpayers from subsidizing telecom companies that lay cable and install equipment on public property. A 2008 study conducted by FCM found that municipalities subsidize telecommunications companies to the tune of almost $ 110 million per year

FCM vice-president Karen Leibovici and the FCM's legal reprentative, Stéphane Émard-Chabot, will be available for interviews following the launch. Councillor Raymond Louie and Peter Judd, Acting General Manager of Engineering Services, from the City of Vancouver will also be on hand to answer questions.

Following the launch, media will have the opportunity to record visuals during a site visit to a nearby telecom installation.

    
    Date:        Thursday, April 29, 2010

    Time:        10:00 a.m. (PT), 1:00 p.m. (EDT)

    Location:    Vancouver City Hall, Media room
                 Main floor
                 453 West 12th Avenue
                 Vancouver, BC
    

Municipalities are hopeful that a recent CRTC ruling involving the City of Vancouver and telecommunications company MTS Allstream will help municipalities eliminate these subsidies. Now the spread of new technologies and changes to telecom foreign ownership rules are bringing a new sense of urgency to the issue.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has been the national voice of municipal government since 1901. With more than 1,775 members, FCM represents the interests of municipalities on policy and program matters that fall within federal jurisdiction. Members include Canada's largest cities, small urban and rural communities, and 18 provincial and territorial municipal associations.

For further information: Eric Collard, FCM Media relations, [phone], [email protected]; Corporate Communications, City of Vancouver, [phone], [email protected]