A deal that's lost the city of Saint John millions every year in property tax is being cancelled.
Since 2005, Irving Oil Ltd. has been paying $500,000 of property tax annually on the Canaport LNG property – just 10 per cent of what it should be.
But the New Brunswick government is saying that’s no longer going to happen.
"I'm very happy about this because I'm a great believer in fairness and I think it's fair to the city of Saint John that this be reassessed," said Ed Doherty, Minister of Service New Brunswick.
The deal was originally set up to help lure the industry to Saint John, and was supposed to be in place until 2030. But the Saint John Common Council made a request in 2015 for the province to repeal the legislation that allowed the deal.
New legislation will be drafted in November.
"The property will be reassessed providing the legislation is proclaimed and it will be reassessed for this coming year,” said Doherty. “It will be reflected in the tax bills in March of 2017."
Newly-elected Progressive Conservative Leader for New Brunswick Blaine Higgs says he wants to work more with municipalities, and because it was the city of Saint John that requested this, he agrees with it.
Kevin Lacey doesn't often compliment the government, but this time says he's happy to do so.
"This is the right decision by the provincial government,” he said. “I’m glad they're not dragging their feet on this any longer."
Lacey says the move sends a message to the average taxpayer that one company is not going to have a special deal over everyone else.
“It empowers the municipal government to set the type of tax policy that they believe is best for their own residents," he said.
CTV News reached out to Irving Oil, who said in a statement that they will continue to respect the process and its outcomes.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
