Saint John council focuses on Energy East and new taxi bylaw

Saint John residents crammed inside city hall for a four-hour council meeting where the new councillors explored the benefits of the proposed Energy East pipeline, weighed possible changes to the new taxi bylaw and heard about a potential "bold" tax cut plan.

The new Saint John council settled further into their new roles on Monday night with their second meeting since the May election.

The lengthy meeting included presentations by several groups, but the majority of citizens packed inside the chambers to hear TransCanada Corp. representatives discuss the Energy East pipeline project.

• TransCanada report says Energy East will pump $297M into economy
• Energy East pipeline has 64% support among Canadians, poll suggests

There was standing room only at the beginning of the meeting for the Energy East discussion. A queue of people formed outside the door with those interested to hear what the Energy East representatives had to tell the newly elected councillors.

Louis Bergeron, the vice president responsible for New Brunswick and Quebec for Energy East, highlighted a number of facts that the city had often heard, including the hiring of Saint John labour, the possibility for permanent workers and the potential of environmental impacts.

When the presentation ended and the councillors had asked their questions, the room quickly cleared out, with only half the spectators staying for the rest of the meeting.

The proposed Energy East pipeline would bring oil from western Canada to Saint John where it could be refined at the Irving Oil Ltd. refinery and then exported from a proposed marine terminal.

Taxi bylaw concerns

Mayor Don Darling also put forth a motion to schedule an update on the effects of the new taxi bylaw that came into force on June 1.

He recommended the taxi inspector and the taxi advisory committee report back to council at the next meeting with an update on the bylaw.

One of the most hotly contested sections of the new bylaw involves the installation of meters in all cabs.

• Saint John taxi advisory member calls new bylaw 'a big mess'
• Saint John cab companies plan to charge less than meter rate

The bylaw states that the drivers cannot charge more than the meter rate, but a loophole has led to many companies publicly stating that they will continue charging the zone rates, which are most often less than the metered fare.

"Most of the feedback I've received has been about rates," Darling told councillors.

"But frankly, it's not as black and white as people suggest, because I've actually received feedback and calls from people in the industry and outside the industry saying the rates are fine."

The mayor said he would like the advisory committee to sort through all of the feedback and make recommendations to council.

Darling said the city is open to a bylaw amendment if necessary.

A bold plan to reduce taxes

Coun. Gary Sullivan also put forth a motion to reduce the taxes in Saint John by a penny per $100 of assessed property value each year.

"I believe that tax rates for citizens should be a priority for council and should be something we talk about early before we start spending money," he said.

• Saint John politicians look to Alberta tax rules for industry
• Saint John's 'have-not' status debate revived amid equalization questions

In his proposal, he explained that Saint John has the highest tax rate of all the local municipalities and neighbouring cities, and outlined the fact that changes in the tax rate over the last 10 years have been erratic and haven't followed a long-term plan.

Coun. Greg Norton said in a tweet afterwards that it was a bold plan and one he voted for.

But the rest of council decided to table the motion until it came time to propose the next budget.